Easter Week in Hope Town BAH

Easter Week in Hope Town BAH

After several weeks roaming the back waters, we tucked into Hope Town harbor for a taste of city life.  Hope Town is cute, cute, cute and chock full of history.  No fake cute either as many of the cottages in the picturesque village have long roots back into the 19^th century.  This community has links to the Loyalists who moved here after the American Revolutionary War, but traces its history much further back than our revolutionary period.  The earliest inhabitants were the Lucayan Indians that suffered after Columbus visited these islands. We met a “native”, Red Boy,  who now makes and sells his homemade ice cream in White Sound and claims to be a descendant of the first true settlers on Elbow Cay. He was mighty miffed that the museum in town is dedicated to Wyanne Malone the purported founding lady of Hope Town rather than his family the Sawyers. Whatever the truth of his story, the ice cream was fantastic.

Hope Town surrounds a beautiful secure harbor on Elbow Cay on the eastern edge of the Sea of Abaco. This gives visitors access to the Atlantic reefs as well as the mostly calmer and shallower waters of the inland sea.  The channel into the harbor, however, is shallow for our nearly 5 ft draft, so we had to wait for a rising tide to make our entrance.  We had scouted the harbor and made a reservation with Captain Jack for one of his mooring balls just inside the harbor.  It was a prime location for access to the dinghy docks in town and the amenities such as groceries, shops and restaurants, but it also was exceedingly close to the nightly entertainment.  Our host, Captain Jack, also runs a restaurant that has special events such as bingo and trivia nights as well as music for dancing that can be heard throughout the harbor.

 following the rules ?

The sights of Hope Town and this scenic location have more than made up for any noise pollution.  The harbor is guarded by a striking red and white lighthouse – 120 feet high and visible for 20 miles (or so they say).  It is the only light reported to still burn oil.  The tanks and equipment were visible when we climbed the lighthouse to enjoy the view of the area.

Is that chicken guarding the tank???

Our stay here also included a few bike rides like our jaunt with Marty and Suzanne out to Papa Nasty’s BBQ and White Sound – home of the Abaco Inn and Sea Spray Marina (as well as the Food Store where Red Boy sells his ice cream). The number of hills we have found on these coral islands have challenged our mini boat bikes and made us envy the full size bikes Alizann cleverly hoists on and off their boat.

Surprisingly between chores and relaxing, we also managed to walk out to the north end of the cay for some amazing views of both the BIG pond and the little pond.  Steve went diving on the reef one morning, and we took the boat out into the Atlantic (BIG pond) for a day chasing Mahi and tuna – the fish won yet again. 

Somehow the days slip away as we float on this mooring field watching the “action” in the harbor and on shore – the prevalence of bikinis on spring breakers has only added to the show….. Although truthfully, most of the cruising boats, both sail and power, seem to be occupied by folks in our age bracket. Once again we have enjoyed meeting several experienced hands who are generous in sharing suggestions and recommendations. In fact, as a bonus, we crossed paths with Martha and Parker who we first met back in 2013 on the Erie Canal.  Martha kindly provided advice on all the most important stops along Lake Michigan – her home cruising waters as well as getting us a recommendation for a Detroit area marina.  The world of cruisers is indeed a small one. Easter Monday we are off to Marsh Harbor to see our friends Rick and Debra.