Sojer Day at Man-O-War Cay

After unloading pix from three cameras, (mine, Dan's and Pegg's) I decided the only way to tell today's story is with pictures.

The troops gathered at the entrance to the "other" marina before 10 for the mile walk to the Albury Ferry Dock in Marsh Harbor. The walk took us by some interesting sights including this neat castle-like mansion and some pretty flowers. We boarded Donnie VII (all Albury ferries are named Donnie) for the 20 minute ride to Man-O-Way Cay for their second Heritage Day celebration. We were lucky enough to be here two years ago for the first and were anxious to share the experience with everyone else.

Jay got special transportation - - - aboard Presto! with Roger and Patti Martin and arrived about an hour after we did. Presto! draws less than 2 feet and can anchor anywhere, so there was room for her in harbor - - - no so for the rest of us.

We posed underneath the Lignum Vitae tree while waiting for Jay and decided to make it our meeting place - - which was unnecessary as the island is so small we continually ran into each other all day!

We did not do as good a job of visiting all the numbered special sites on the island this year, but made sure we visited Albury Brothers Boats where we posed in front of our friend George Glatfelter's Albury 23 due to be completed in 10 days! I was also amused by site #6 which was the home of Robbie and Alice (my brother and sister's
names).

The most interesting demonstration was the making of rope. The guy on the left is on a skateboard like contraption that has a crank that he turns continually. The reason he's on "wheels" is that the rope will shrink about 8 feet for the 100 foot lengths of the three strands he started with during the operation. The middle guy has a bullet shaped device with three grooves and he keeps the tension on as the first guy cranks. The guy behind him is keeping the three strands straight. The other end of the process is a large crank that spins three nails on the other side of the contraption each with a piece of twine attached. The process took about 45 minutes.

After a beer-less lunch (Man-O-War Cay is a dry island) we took a walk across the island to the windward side and I, of course, looked for shells. Not a lot to be found, but the views were as spectacular as any we've seen and the road signs are worth a chuckle.

Back aboard Brunelle we ate leftovers from last night augmented by some Conch Salad from Sojer Day and tried out my newly purchased conch horn as we watched the fiery sunset. Unfortunately yesterday's rain wasn't enough and we noticed there was a new fire burning further to the northwest. Jay looks good, but he couldn't get much more than a squeak out of it. I got one short blast, but we both need some practice before our next sunset.

De Plane, De Plane arrived with Jay and Pegg

Gray skies greeted us this morning and luckily they were full of rain. The island has been very dry and the brush fires were getting worse with the strong winds of the last few days, so it was a welcome sight. It cleared around 9:30 and we hiked to the Super Supermarket, Maxells, to provision for the week. Dan also made a side trip to the offices of the local newspaper to make a donation to help support the volunteer firefighters while I started shopping. On the way he ran into Roger and Patty Martin (Presto!) and they decided we should meet at Snappa's for lunch. They met us back at our marina and we all decided to eat at Mangoes right next to the marina on the other side. We lingered over lunch enjoying sharing sailing stories but also because another VERY strong rain storm blew through the harbor. By the time it cleared it was 1:35 and Patty said she heard a plane, so we headed back to Harbour View Marina to await our next crew.

Jay and Dan decided to take a tour of the harbor in the dinghy - - I knew Jay couldn't wait to get a chance to see Presto!, and Pegg and I hit all the boutique-y shops right around our marina and enjoyed an hour or two of browsing. We hurried back in time to finish preparations for dinner with the whole group. They walked over from their marina around 5:30 and we all marveled at how crystal clear the air had become and also pleasantly cool - after four days of hot humid west wind. Tomorrow is Sojer Day on Man O War Cay, we're heading over by ferry because the harbor is small and all the moorings are already taken. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, J&P

Pegg marveled at all the driftwood adorning this conch salad stand. (They were done for the day.)

Dinner was served below but eaten on deck as we watched another pretty sunset. We were pleased to see that it was still light at quarter to eight!

Day 3 at Harbour View Marina, Marsh Harbor

The cloudy skies are from all the smoke of the brush fires, the strong winds today whipped up more trouble and the fires are approaching the airport.

We hunkered down (below) for a good part of today. Lots still to do to get ready for Jay and Pegg AND the smoke and soot were a lot worse than yesterday. Dan worked on re-aligning our shaft as it was off just a little. Unfortunately when we went to test it (starting the engine and engaging both forward and reverse) the tide was very low and we were sitting on the bottom. There seemed to be less vibration, but its hard to tell without really putting it through its paces. I used some of the "resident" mint and purchased parsley to make taboule and also roasted a large pork loin that had been around long enough.

By 3 we needed a break and took a walk in the other direction from yesterday's walkabout. We visited the marina that houses The Moorings charter boats, picked up a brochure and took a look at a few of the boats. Our family has been urging us to move Camp PaHaGaCo aboard a couple of boats in the BVI next summer, and so we thought we'd see what the boats they have now are like and also whether the Bahamas might be a good alternative. Still in the VERY rough stage of planning! We even went aboard a 46' catamaran. I just don't know!! WWR (my dad) would be rolling over in his grave!

As we were getting ready for our evening swim Roger and Patty Martin came walking down our dock. Roger is the designer of the Presto 30 mentioned earlier and they have been sailing #1 throughout the Bahamas for the last two months. A very nice couple and we hope to see more of them and get a chance to see their boat in the near future. We were already scheduled to have dinner at Andiamo and Pekabu III's marina so couldn't even invite them aboard for a drink.

Dinner at the Abaco Beach and Resort was quite elegant and very tasty, especially all the wonderful homemade breads they served. Kathy mentioned that she had "googled" Eleuthera and the Glass Window and learned all about the history of it, so I did the same when we got back. One of the bits of info I gleaned was that Winslow Homer painted it in 1885. So this is what it looked like before the natural bridge was worn away by the mighty Atlantic. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

The Glass Window by Winslow Homer

Exploring ashore in Marsh Harbor

Still had some laundry to catch up on and decks to wash, but we were done just before noon and were contemplating a quick lunch and then a walkabout through town when we were hailed by John and Betty who had already started their walkabout - - so we joined them. We wandered in an out of several different types of stores but were particularly surprised to see so many hardware type places - - - it attests to the fact that so many cruisers plunk their anchor down here and spend the whole winter here. ---and we KNOW how much cruisers like hardware and marine stores! We found a very nice local lunch spot where three of us had the best wraps we've had and Dan opted for the conch burger which looked better than most we've tried. We finalized our walkabout at Maxwell's Grocers and were surprised at the size and scope of it. Good prices and lots to choose from. We, of course, bought too much and had to schlep it back to the boat.

It was hot in town and we were glad to get back aboard, stow the fresh stuff, don bathing suits and head for our Olympic sized swimming pool - - -NOT! It may be tiny, but it hit the spot and we relaxed poolside after our swim and shower before heading back to the boat in time for 5 o'clock.

Another nice feature by our pool is all the herbs that have been planted by one of the regulars that spends their entire winter at Harbour View Marina. We met the husband of the green thumb and he said she was away for two weeks and take whatever I could use!! I have been planning menus around fresh herbs ever since!

I will snip ever so sparingly, but hope to put the mint to good use in making some taboule - - - Abaco seems to have some good farming going on and the tomatoes are plentiful.

Back aboard Brunelle we checked e-mail and found that Ed Dooley had written to tell us that friends of theirs were in Marsh Harbor and we should try to connect. We then checked out the blog of these "new" friends and read that they planned to hit Happy Hour at Snappa's this evening. Snappa's is about 100 feet from the entrance to our marina so we headed right over, picked Dan and Nancy out of the crowd and introduced ourselves. We had a few drinks, swapped a few stories and hope to run into them again!

Nancy and Dan had just been joined by Robert (middle) a friend from home (Minnesota) and asked us to join them for a drink or two. They had met Ed and Connie Dooley in Brunswick, GA.

While we were enjoying our drinks we noticed that the strong winds today had stirred up the several brush fires that have been burning on the island of Abaco for weeks and the sunset took on a very eerie glow caused by all the smoke.

Smoke tinged sunset.

Tomorrow we will venture over to the Abaco Beach Resort at the Boat Harbor to see how the "other half" (or I should say two thirds) live. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Eleuthera to the Abacos

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight - - - that was last night's saying - - -

"Red sky at morning, sailor's take warning" - - - that is what greeted us as we awoke before 7 for our 60 nm trip across the big O on our way to the Abacos. We knew there were severe storms across north FL and the Bahamas weather forecast called for storms late afternoon in the Abacos, but we also knew we had a strong S wind that would get us there hopefully before any storms arrived.

We headed out early from our anchorage just outside the Current Cut and passed through the cut west or Royal Island between Egg and Little Egg Cay before turning due North headed for the Little Harbor Cut - - - the first entrance into the Sea of Abaco and good cruising grounds. We made the cut by 3:00 and we anchored in the "lee" of Lynyard Cay by 3:45, BUT the wind was from the West! The skies were very unsettled and Andiamo's satellite weather was showing us the progress of the storms approaching from Florida, but they were far enough away that we decided to all gather aboard Andiamo for a pot luck dinner. We experienced about 20 raindrops before we all headed back to our own boats to hunker down for whatever was to come.

Two separate storms passed over us during the night, but other than some rain and switching wind direction it was much less threatening than expected. Everyone experienced a bit of angst and sleeplessness, but all in all it wasn't bad.

Andiamo and Pekabu III left early to head into the fanciest marina in the Abacos - Abaco Beach Resort at the Boat Harbor - while we remained anchored until 10 or so trying to decide where to go for the next few days before Jay and Pegg arrive. We finally decided to head into Marsh Harbor and take a slip at Harbour View Marina to do all the mundane stuff like wash down, wash, clean, re-provision etc. We are very happy with the set up here and can't beat the $1/ft. price. Two loads down, two to go, and all the water we want! Quite a change from the Exumas in that respect. Lovely dinner ashore tonight. The rest of the CCYC crew came over to our side of town for dinner at Mangoes - - - their Mango Breeze was yummy and had several of us weaving on the way home! ~~~_/)~~~M&D

The red and white lighthouse reminded us of the famous one in Hopetown on Elbow Cay, but it is just a private home on Channel Cay, a private island we passed on our way winding through the shallows of the Sea of Abaco on our way to Marsh Harbor. The other house was at the entrance to Marsh Harbor and the bottom is the anchorage at Marsh Harbor - - - reminds one of several east coast hangouts!

Sunday Eleuthera adventures

While sailing in Eleuthera Sound we passed two noteworthy vessels, one a Presto 30, a cat ketch designed and built in Maine, but ideally suited to the Bahamas, it draws 18" with the board up and can be trailered. We had heard about the boat from Ben Emory, my first neighbor in Pretty Marsh, Maine MANY years ago. He is getting hull #7 and plans to sail it in the BVI and then the Bahamas. This was hull #1 and the owners are ecstatic with it.


The other was a 1922 Trumpy, and a picture is worth a 1000 words!

We left Governour's Harbour early this morning so that we would have time to take a side trip to the Glass Window at the top of Eleuthera Sound before heading through Current Cut on our way toward the Abacos. The Glass Window was a natural occurring bridge in the narrowest part of Eleuthera Island created by the ocean waves eating away at the limestone. Eventually the natural bridge was eaten away completely and a manmade bridge was built. Then in 1991 a rogue wave picked up the bridge and moved it 7 feet to the west! So for several years Eleuthera was essentially two islands. Just recently they have re-attached the moved bridge to the road and one can now travel the full length of the island again.

The three of us anchored at the north end of Eleuthera Sound at lunchtime and dinghied into the beach to take a look at the Glass Window.

We anchored the dinghy off an adjacent beach and hiked (past this wonderful piece of driftwood - - I didn't even venture to figure out how to get it home!) up to the bridge across the Glass Window.

Upper left shows the Glass Window from the boat - white water is pouring in from the ocean. Upper right is of the ocean eating away at the limestone. Lower left shows the shifted bridge with the deep blue to left and pale aqua to the right. Middle bottom shows a big slab of the former road where it ended up.

After marveling at this natural/man-made wonder we headed WSW for Current Cut. We had been asking around for local knowledge about when to make passage through the cut which is known to have current of up to 6 knots. The consensus seemed to be to use the tide table for Nassau (there are very few places that have tide tables) and go through about one hour after high at Nassau. High was at 3:30 so we aimed to get to the cut between 4 and 4:30 to be sure we had time to study it. We got there right at 4 and had no trouble passing through with about one and a half knots of current against us. We went right by the remains of the old Current Club where I had stayed over 50 years ago on Mar Claro our family boat, and anchored a quarter mile around the corner from the cut close to the beach on the northwest side of Eleuthera. We were treated to yet another gorgeous sunset.

This time it's Pekabu III silhouetted against the fiery sunset.

Tomorrow a long run up to the Abacos. ~~~_/)~~~M&D