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. 

No Big FISH Stories, YET!

No Big FISH Stories

As usual time slips away when we are having fun.  But, mostly we have been relaxing on the hook away from the world of WIFI.  We spent three nights behind Lynyard Cay just opposite Little Harbour.  This gave us time to explore on the dink and check out the settlement at Little Harbour plus some of the reefs in the area.  No big fish were caught on the way up from Schooner Bay, nor were any bugs found as Steve explored the reef.  We did find the gallery in Little Harbor of interest as well as the story of the Johnston family who settled here back in the 1950s.  Although their first residence was in a cave on the harbor, these days we found a modern if quaint gallery and pub.  The foundry established by Randolph Johnston, the father, and pottery of his wife, Margot, are still in use today by the son and visiting artists.  Their bronze cast sculptures displayed on driftwood and gracing the compound were clearly inspired by this setting on the water. Most depicted sea creatures like rays, turtles and fish. As beautiful as they are, we managed to leave without any new bronze.  Steve, however, had to sample one of the pub’s signature rum drinks, and he reports they lived up to their reputation.  Fortunately, we did find our way back to our boat without any issues. (It is rumored that those who partake of these drinks occasionally have difficulties finding their boats.)

From the Little Harbour area we took cover from the approaching cold front in Bucaroon Bay – while it did not offer much protection as the wind shifted to the north, it did reunite us with our buddy boat, Alizann.  Once again we enjoyed their hospitality in celebration of Suzanne’s birthday. Our contribution was Champaign and lime-quila pie (Julia’s Key Lime pie spiked with some Tequila ). Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

One side note is needed – to get the flavor of our days.  Before we reached Bucaroon Bay, we stopped behind Cormorant Cay in hopes of find better shelter there.  After four failed attempts to set the anchor in likely looking spots we moved on to Bucaroon.  Each attempt requires the dropping of the anchor and 120 to 150 yards of chain then pulling, waiting, setting the anchor alarm, and finally Steve jumping in to check if the anchor has set and is holding.  Three swims later, we finally gave up on the Snake and Cormorant area and moved on….. Steve finally had a positive report when we dropped the hook in Bucaroon. Needless to say, he got his exercise swimming and Julia got hers raising and lowering that anchor.  It also consumed much of a day – but then what else do we have to do when the weather is too rough for snorkeling? Enjoying even the less than perfect days in the Bahamas. 

Just so you know we have not lost touch with the world, on Sunday we joined Alizann at Cracker P's to watch some Bball and enjoy adult beverages..... The dink ride from our anchorage gave Julia a chance to test her rain gear....