Sail Brunelle: Hopetown to Green Turtle Cay

      With our six foot draft we had to wait for an almost high tide to leave Hopetown and faced the same issue for entering the very tight Man O War Cay channel on Friday. Luckily it was only an hour sail between the two, so we accomplished both! We got to Man O War Cay Friday afternoon and picked up a mooring in a very crowded harbor. We then dinghied around looking for another one for Arete and luckily found one. We pooled resources for a joint dinner ashore (we sent Robby to Marsh Harbour on the ferry Saturday morning for an ATM run).
      Saturday was Sojer Day, the first (hopefully annual) heritage festival on Man O War Cay. Man O War is a very religious (therefore dry) community that was established by loyalists right after the Revolution. It is almost entirely white and has a history of fine boat building which still continues today. We enjoyed following the Heritage Trail set up by the residents and were invited into private homes, churches, museums and of course shops! We were surprised that at least half of the people attending the festival were residents and we continually heard exclamations about this or that old relative's picture. After a sumptuous lunch of deviled eggs, conch salad, lobster fritters, broccoli salad, homemade ice cream and chocolate cake, Carol and I did more adventuring ashore while Rob and Dan headed out to Brunelle to "chill."   We had bought some conch chowder at the festival which we took back for dinner.
     Sunday morning found us leaving relatively early to get out before it became too shallow and we took a leisurely motorsail in very light winds, arriving off Green Turtle Cay around 1:00 pm. We anchored out and put the dingy down to check out the three different harbors on Green Turtle. We decided to stay in Black Sound (at the southern end of the cay) instead of White Sound at the north. There is also a small, shallow harbor where the settlement of New Plymouth is located, but it isn't suitable for cruising boats. We are tied up at a brand new marina called Leeward Yacht Club - - so new that the showers and bathrooms are not ready yet! Also no wifi, so we will be sending this from "Pineapples" - a beach bar on the other side of the harbor whenever we go over there. We are pretty sure we are going to be here for 3 or 4 days because there is a major cold front coming through tomorrow and the winds will be strong and northwesterly - not conducive to heading across to Florida. We hope to be able to head off by next weekend, but that will be dictated by the weather!
~~~(\_~~~D&M
Googel Eart track file for 4/3
Googel Eart track file for 4/5

We enjoyed learning all about Man O War Cay at Sojer Heritage Day. Rob and Carol bought a gorgeous half model and Carol and Martha got several great photos from a local artist.