One night at Tahiti Beach, off Elbow Cay and then back to Marsh Harbor

Monday morning, the wind was still pretty strong from the southeast so Resolve  and their trusty hunting guide decided against a visit to Snake Cay and suggested we join them at Tahiti Beach on the south end of Elbow Cay.  We headed up through the shallow draft entrance as it was almost high tide and made it through comfortably and were anchored in time for a Bloody Mary before venturing ashore.  Easter Monday is a big holiday around here and the place was packed. The beach was crowded and so was the anchorage. Mike and Debbie and a couple they had befriended came over for cocktails and snacks which were "heavy" enough that we didn't need dinner.  Debbie brought lobster pizza and I had made pull-apart cheesy bread with bruchetta sauce...not exactly a balanced meal, but yummy.  Once again, the sunset didn't disappoint.

We also had fun joking about the burning boat....   A group had a big bonfire on the beach, and from our vantage point it looked like the boat anchored off the beach was in flames.

The fire burned for more than an hour and really looked like it was on the boat!

 The weather reports this morning said light and variable winds in the morning followed by thunder storms in the afternoon, so we headed toward Marsh Harbor.  While on the way we stopped at one of my favorite reefs called Mermaid Reef.  It is just outside the harbor and I have seen a great variety of fish each time we stop.  Today was no exception.

I really got a kick out of the expression on this Midnight Parrotfish (top).  A Queen Angelfish and French Angelfish
are in the middle and a spotted ray, grunt and a doctorfish (vertical stripes) round out the group.

Top left is a Queen Triggerfish partially hidden by two Blue Tangs.  Ballyhoos on the right.
Middle is a mish mash of all kinds! and a Blue Parrotfish posed nicely.

I also got a picture of Resolve (left) and Brunelle  from the water ...AND if you look closely at the last shot you'll see the new propeller zinc in place.

Before we hauled up the anchor to head into the harbor it started to rain, not much just a light shower. It followed us into the harbor but stopped long enough for us to pick up fuel at the dock before taking a slip at the Marsh Harbour Marina, across the harbor from Harbor View where we stayed before. The rain picked up again as we were tying up but when we decided to dinghy across the harbor to have dinner at Snappas (we are out of just about everything...kids cleaned us out!!) it wasn't raining. 

 We picked up Mike and Debbie on the way across the harbor (they had anchored out) and had a great diner accented by thunder and occasional lightning, but no rain.  Just a we were finishing up the rain arrived, so it was a VERY wet ride back across the harbor, BUT nothing compared with the squall that hit around 9 pm.  We were rocking and rolling in the slip and turned on the VHF radio to see what chatter we could hear.  Those out in the anchorage were all asking just how much wind did we have, and did anyone drag?  Someone reported 47-48 knots of wind and Mike texted that he heard someone thought it was 140 knots!!  A window blew out of their bimini.  The word is more is on the way,,,  We are glad to be well tied up! ~~~_/)~~~ M&D

Lunch at Pete's Pub in Little Harbor and then back to LynyardO

OK here they are...but in bronze.  These flying fish are at the base of one of Pete Johnson's wonderful sculptures. 

We planned to head back toward the Little Harbor Inlet to have lunch at Pete's Pub, but weren't sure we wanted to take such a long dinghy ride, so after a leisurely breakfast and a trip ashore for Dory we pulled the anchor and headed down to Pete's. 

Dory's morning routine.

One of our new friends from Spanish Wells said he was heading into the harbor and would give us a report of what depths he encountered.  We knew we needed high tide to get in and were worried about getting stuck in there, so we were glad to hear (after we had dropped the hook outside the harbor) that he had run  across 6'2" on the way in....to close a call for us.  The dinghy ride in was pretty wild and we were thankful we weren't going any further than around the corner!  

We met up with the crew of both boats we had crossed from Spanish Wells and had lively tale swapping and a delicious Easter lunch, no ham, just mahi mahi!  After lunch we visited the museum quality gift shop displaying lots of bronze sculptures and walked to the windward beach where we saw an amazing amount of plastic JUNK!! 

We really like the works Pete Johnson and his son create.  You can see the flying fish at the bottom of the tall one.

The wind didn't seem to be that much stronger than yesterday, but the windward (ocean) side of both Lynyard  Cay and at Pete's (bottom right) was plenty roiled.

 

The anchorage outside Little Harbor was pretty rolly so we headed back to Lynyard Cay to anchor for the night.  We were just settling in when one of the couples from yesterday's trip and today's lunch came by and invited us for cocktails.  We took them up on it and headed over to their new "home". They had bought a 49' Leopard Catamaran from the Moorings in Tortola three months ago and sailed it to Miami and then straight back south to Key West to be part of the race committee for Key West Race Week and then headed over here to the Bahamas.  They are headed to Marion, Mass to spend the summer racing J-24's.  The other couple we crossed with came for cocktails also.  They are on a Caliber 40.  They carry 220 gallons of fuel, and 200 of water!!  Don't know where they put it.  

On our trip ashore with Dory this afternoon we were back at the beach where I had found so many sea biscuits and I found tons more.  While I was looking I disturbed a little crab who kindly didn't bite me, just scuttled away, but not before leading me to one of the sea biscuits!

We got a text this evening from Debbie and Mike inviting us to join them for some hunting at Snake Cay.  We were intrigued.  It took a while to find Snake Cay on the chart.  It's right next to Great Abaco Island and they say they plan to hunt for conch and bugs (which I assume refers to Bahamian lobsters.)  Time will tell, and so will I.   ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Once again anchored at Lynyard Cay

Dan and Dory were back aboard just as the sun rose this morning, so we were ready to roll by 7:15.

All weather reports remained favorable as we readied to cross the DEEP on our way north, back to the Abacos.  We were the first to leave Royal Harbor, but were followed quickly by several other sailboats.  We followed our track which was still visible on the chart plotter and made it through the Egg Island cut without any trouble.  Shortly after we passed the sand bank we had visited on our trip Tuesday, the depth sounder blanked out as we headed immediately into depths in the thousands!

With the dinghy up in the davits, Dan was able to get a picture of his ingenious repair with the jury rigged part and some pieces of wire.  I also forgot to report that all was not lost while he and Michael we diving beneath the boat, because Dan replaced the propeller zinc while he was down there.  Last week when I was editing the pictures he had taken of our bottom, I zoomed in on the prop and noticed screws sticking out.  That indicated we were zinc-less!  They are a sacrificial piece of zinc that needs to be replaced regularly (but obviously more often in these salty warm waters.)

A coupling nut that was the wrong thread size was cut to the right length and then held together by SS wires twisted together.

We were surprised just how much traffic we encountered as we crossed the North East Providence Channel.  Our chart plotter has an overlay of AIS (automatic identification system) and it now differentiates the type of boat you see on your screen.  The two sailboat shapes are sailboats close on our tail(we're the black shape) and the big boxy ones are tankers and cargo ships.  We noticed that a few had to change course slightly to avoid collisions with each other!  You can also see some of the depths we encountered.

 The trip went well and in spite of both Dan and myself sitting with cameras ready we still can't show you a flying fish.  I deleted close to fifty shots with possible white blobs and I was reminded of Dan's many attempts years ago to get an eagle shot.  The kids were used to hearing, "See that small white dot?  Really, it's an eagle."  Oh well.....

We came through the Little Harbor Cut and entered the South Sea of Abaco around 3:30,  There were large rollers surging in with us and it made it a wild surfing ride.  We were glad to get in the lee of the islands and drop the hook.

Anchored at Lynyard Cay.

This doesn't really do justice to the surge coming in through the cut.

~~~_/)~~~M&D

All quiet in Spanish Wells and we head to Royal Harbor to "stage" for heading back to Abacos

We were sad to see everyone go.  Such a lot of energy!  One of the days the girls created a scavenger hunt for the grown-ups.  They had rhyming clues stuck with a single shell that led us all around inside and outside the cottage.  The grand prize was figuring out what the shells spelled.  Not all that hard...

What does it spell???

It was too cold to swim on Tuesday after we returned from the fishing trip, so Alice and Clare started to dig all the way to China.  They finally enlisted Grace to help them.  They worked until dark!!

Alice & Daria take a last look before heading in. Their masterpiece was still there Thursday evening! 

In one of the trips driving around the island we went by the bridge that leads to Russell Island and the girls kept hounding us to let them jump off the bridge, so the two grandmothers took the three girls and Daria, the au pair to the bridge yesterday afternoon.  They all jumped, even Daria, but Alice took the prize, climbing back up the rope dangling from the bridge several times to jump again.

I'm the master at getting the after jump splash!  But finally I did get Alice and Clare in mid jump,
 sorry Grace! (she's the center splash...)

Their rental house was very cool with plenty of room and a well equipped kitchen, and a great new washer and dryer.  Most everything in the house was made from driftwood or other findings from the island and the setting was spectacular.

The main house sleeps 10 and you could also rent the little guest cottage if you had more than 10!  Sitting on the
porch was ....just wonderful.

We went over this morning at 6:45 to help drive them to the 7:00 ferry back to North Eleuthera Airport for a 25 minute flight to Nassau.  They are visiting Atlantis for two days.  Quite a change from this idyllic setting.  We wish them well.

We topped of our water tanks this morning as the marina had just finished up installing their RO (reverse osmosis) water system and hadn't raised the rates yet!   We were on our way by 9:30 and had a lazy sail the 5 miles over to Royal Island to drop the hook and mostly relax. 

Dan did have some OB motor work because he and Michael and Michael's dad, Tony had been working on getting the raw water cooling system "spitting" better and lost a crucial SMALL part overboard.  Both Dan and Michael spent time using our "hookah" breathing system to dive down and look for it...no luck. This morning as we were turning our golf cart back to Johnny Underwood (he also takes care of the rental house for the owners) Dan mentioned we needed to make one more trip to try to find a new part from Ronald who had an outboard motor shop and Johnny said "Oh, he's my first cousin, I'll give him a call and make sure he's around this morning (not much is open in Spanish Wells on Good Friday!)  We found Ronald and he had a part that was close enough fit that we headed back to the boat with it in Dan's pocket (no charge).  The Dremel cut it down to size and we have a working OB again!!

It seems lots of people are on the move, there are more than 10 boats anchored here in Royal Island Harbour and as we "lurked" on the radio as others were chatting about their plans, we heard several heading home, some heading to Eleuthera and others, like us heading up to the Abacos.~~~_/)~~~M&D

Spanish Wells Mania!!

We came into the harbor at Spanish Wells Saturday noonish and took our slipo at Spanish Wells Yacht Haven.  The Yacht Haven has been here for years, but has been purchased recently and is undergoing a complete overhaul.  The docks are new and the grounds are rapidly becoming a fancy resort.  There will be several cottages for rent along with a new swimming pool and newly renovated facilities including a new restaurant.  We are amazing how much progress has been made daily since we came in.

 Sunday we took possession of our golf cart and were told we could "load in" to the rental house whenever as the last family had already left, so we made several trips and got the food and sundries settled and waited for the arrival of THE FAMILY... just before 3 pm they made it.

We drove to the end of the island and awaited the arrival of the ferry from North Eleuthera.  Pineapple
Air had brought them from Nassau to N. Eleuthera, taxi to the dock, ferry across to Spanish Wells
and golf carts and pick-up truck to the house!  Daria(aupair from Poland) and Alice, Clare and
Grace were happy to finally be HERE.

We weren't at the house more than half an hour before the girls were in suits and out in front of

the house in the crystal clear shallow water!\

...and it wasn't long after that that they were stunting for the camera!!

 Unfortunately Monday was cold, cloudy and WINDY, so no swimming, stunting etc.  We adventured

around on golf carts and relaxed at the house.  

Tuesday had been chosen to be a day out on a charter fishing boat... the morning didn't look any better than Monday, but the charter captain convinced us he could take us the a sand bar north of  Royal Island that was famous for sand dollars and he had a spot where the snorkeling was good and we could either fish or visit the ruins on Royal Island.  We truly enjoyed the shelling on the expansive sandbar and collected several sand dollars and saw all sorts of other sealife.  The snorkeling was so-so, but the girls got a kick out of it and the fishing was not even so-so (in my mind).  We anchored for about half an hour in rough waters while Dan, Michael, Michael's dad Tony, and the captain, Ryan bottom fished.  Dan and Ryan each caught 9-10" porgies and the girls groaned and froze!!  The ride back was fast and furious!  

Today was a little warmer and only slightly less windy, but we decided to venture out on Brunelle. So the crew of 10 boarded her around 11 am and sailed to the lee(western) side of Meeks Patch (we had only been to the eastern side before.)  We found a nice cove with sandy beach and anchored for lunch and then ventured ashore so sun and swim. Alice and I donned masks and swam half way out toward the boat and dicscovered a starfish that was actually moving across the bottom, granted only at a snail's pace, but I'd never seen one on the move before.

You have to imagine that the starfish moved from the right to the center and to the left ...

We also spied a GIGANTIC ray buried in the sand.  I couldn't get a picture of him from tip to tail and much of him was buried ihe sand, but he was impressive and he had Alice ready to head ashore quickly!

You can see his eyes and the beginning of his tail, also the disturbed sand in front of his eyes was (we think) a warning that he
knew we were bothering him.

Once we were back aboard Alice  wanted to jump of our hard top bimini.  She did several jumps, but I missed getting a shot of the actual jump.

Alice

Clare tried it too, but I was no more successful

Just imagine ...one, two, three, four.. come on Clare GO!!

We powered back home dead to windward, but at least on this trip those that were cold could go below...  Once back at the cottage just about everyone decided they hadn't had enough swimming and headed out on the flats and played Marco Polo!  We went out to supper at the Shipyard Restaurant on the Eastern tip of the island (as if we hadn't had enough wind for the day, we sat in the eastern most outdoor table at the joint!  We had dressed warmly and enjoyed it thoroughly.  The full moon topped off a beautiful day. 

I even  captured the green flasher just above the horizon, purely by chance.

Tomorrow is their last day, we're hoping for a good one.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Second night anchored to the east of Meeks Patch

This is such a beautiful spot we decided we didn't need to go anywhere!  The beach is close and easy to get to, town isn't far away and so we relaxed, Dan did more waxing, I did more knitting and after lunch we headed around to the north side of St. Georges Cay (where Spanish Wells is located) to see if we could find the kid's rental house.  We couldn't get close enough to get a picture because the flats go out for a mile and the swell was running enough that we didn't feel like chancing it.  We headed back and came in the eastern channel to Spanish Wells  to get gasoline for the dinghy motor and the generator.  Sunny as it has been we still need to run the generator if we aren't underway or plugged in.

There was a very light breeze for most of the day, but as the sun sank lower the breeze died and it was actually hot!  We donned bathing suits and took Dory into the beach.

On the way in we spied this ray.  I took a picture as we went over it and Dan turned around and
 I lowered the camera into the water and got a different view of it.

We decided to let Dory get wet again this evening and she enjoyed retrieving her tennis ball:

 

When we got back to the boat Dan did some "surveying" of our bottom!

 

This is my collection of sand dollars from Green Turtle Cay and sea biscuits from Lynyard Cay. I've never seen sea biscuits
this big.

There wasn't a ripple on the water this evening and the anchor chain looks like a sea snake!

We had some pictures of the sunset last night, but I hadn't emptied the camera, but tonight's sky was even more spectacular.

Tomorrow we'll head into the harbor and take a slip at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. We'll miss the idyllic setting here.  We have signed up for a golf cart for the week, so we can try to keep up with the kids!  Looking forward to it! ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Lynyard Cay to Spanish Wells

Tuesday was a lazy sail from Marsh Harbor to Lynyard Cay.  Just a typical BEAUTIFUL Abaco day!
We anchored by 3 pm and watched a group of college kids party on the beach, luckily they had to have the boat back by 5 or something, so they left just as we took Dory ashore for a walk.  Great beach for her and for finding lots of sea biscuits.  Very quiet night, and warmer than we've been seeing.

Sunset, (top) hard to distinguish from sunrise... a little cloudier.

We were up, Dory watered and underway by a little past 7 am.  As we went out the Little Harbor Cut, we realized we were in the company of two other Catalinas!   Empty Pockets, a 42, anchored next to us the night before, and Triumph,  a 350, sailed down from Marsh Harbor with us, but anchored closed to Little Harbor.  It was nice to have boats in sight the whole way across the DEEP (15,280 feet at one point) on the way to Spanish Wells.  Dan said I should get a picture of how blue the water was...

BLUE

His other request, get a picture of a flying fish, kept me sitting on the rail for over half an hour to no avail!  While I sat, Dan worked,  he really doesn't like to just sit around, and the ride south was like crossing a mill pond. We did have the main up, but there was hardly enough wind to keep it full.

Dan polished the entire cockpit on the trip.  Here he has the port wheel off while he waxed.

We didn't see the depth sounder start to record depths until we were coming in to the Little Egg Cut.

Depths dropped from 1725 to 224 to 65 to 16 feet in no time.

We chose to anchor in Royal Island Harbor even though we had read and heard that going ashore was verboten, but Empty Pockets told us they take their dog ashore there regularly.  We saw a caretaker on the shore when we anchored and he told us to use the old concrete pier that leads up to the ruins of an old mansion, so that's what we did.

We had anchored here before, but without Dory with us, we never ventured ashore.  I don't know the
history of the place, but there were several substantial buildings there at one time.  Some people
have left their"calling car'ds" in the for of decorated conch shells.

There were several boats in the harbor including a 131' luxury yacht decked out with loads of balloons.  As we returned from our visit to the ruins we passed close by and when I called out, "looks like quite a party" a woman replied, "...and there will be fire works later!"  Sure enough she wasn't joking!  The 33' "tender" headed over toward the beach just after dark and we were all treated to a lovely display (not quite as good as Sam's 4th of July shows on Lake PaHaGaCo tho).  

Royal Harbor was a pleasant anchorage.

Today (Thursday) we traveled the 5 miles from Royal Harbor to Spanish Wells and anchored outside the harbor and dinghied in.  We checked out the Yacht Haven Marina where we will stay when Julie, Michael and family arrive on Sunday.  We had lunch at Budda's on the recommendation from Mike and Debbie. Very good burgers and lots of atmosphere.  We also checked out the Food Fair Grocery Store because we heard that two supply boats arrived last night, so shopping would be good!  

On our way back to the boat we were offered a ride but a guy in a golf cart.  We got talking and found out Debbie and Mike had told us to look him up!! Small (island) world.  He and his wife sailed, went to the dark side and finally got a house on Spanish Wells and went back to a sailboat (a Marshall 22 catboat---dear to our hearts).  Tom Goldson and his wife, Jean (the expert about the local museum) have a cottage called Done Reach (they done reached their dreams.) Back in the anchorage we recognized a boat from Lancaster, PA that we had seen two years ago in Vero Beach.  They live across the street from our good friends Walt and Allison Carlson!  World is still shrinking!  

We moved a mile and a half to anchor near the beach on Meeks Patch, a group of small cays just off the entrance to Spanish Wells.  We all had fun on the beach.  We finally let Dory have free rein and she enjoyed chasing the ball into the water

Pure joy... and then a little Joy to wash off the salt and sand!!

A quiet night here.  Two other boats joined us, but there is plenty of room.  More exploring of the area tomorrow.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D