This is a view of the Atlantic Ocean that we see from our bikes on our way each day to Tahiti Beach. The house that you see in the foreground is available for rent.....$7,500 a week. Hey, it's just money!
Today was a glorious day! We biked to Tahiti Beach at the end of Elbow Cay and looked out the cut to the ocean which was filled with incoming waves and lots of spray all crashing on coral and sand. There were conchs lying everywhere but not collectibles. I did find some sunshine shells which I've never seen before-very pretty. On our way back to Hopetown we stopped at the Abaco Inn for lunch and met a very cute curly tail. Walt tried the local Bahamian brew called Kalik and I had a rumrunner with my lunch. Seated next to us we met Tony and Bente who have cruised for 18 years and now have an Endeavour 44 Power Cat named Side by Side. They invited us to their boat for cocktails later. We heard tales of their trips to Bermuda, Venezuela, and the Caribbean....they even were hit by a small rogue wave in the dark.
We attended Mass today outside near Sunshine Park on 7 wooden benches in about 15 knots of wind. The priest came from Marsh Harbor on the ferry at 12:30 and returned by ferry. There were about 12 people in attendance...it is very hard to find a Catholic Church in the Bahamas! WE walked to the ocean side to check the waves but decided instead to use one of the pools near our boat at Hopetown Hideaways Marina. The whole side of the harbor has been bought by someone in Florida and is being turned into an upscale resort.
We visited the lighthouse here in Hopetown which is at the entrance to the boat basin. It is the only lighthouse that is lit each night and uses kerosene which puts out a yellow light .....5 flashes with a five second pause and it can be seen for five miles. The views of the harbor were spectacular!
We picked high tide to attempt the entrance to Hopetown on Friday and we had no trouble navigating the narrow and shallow channel that winds its way into a beautiful basin surrounded by the quaint loyalist village of Hopetown. We immediately decided to stay a week on our mooring ball which is right across from two swimming pools. The town has a dinghy dock, many small streets with pastel colored houses lining the way. There are no cars downtown and the atmosphere is festive. The lighthouse marks the entrance to the basin which we intend to visit later. We have coktails Friday evening aboard Tortola after spending a few hours in the pool. We see lots of boats that have crossed from Marsh Harbor.....I could spend the winter here!
On the ocean side of Marsh Harbor is the exclusive Abaco Resort and Marina with lots of mega-yachts tied to beautiful docks surrounded by condos, a swimming pool, tiki bar and beach. It's separated from the rest of Marsh Harbor and a world unto itself. At $4.00' we didn't see too many sailboats!
Marsh Harbor is the third largest city in the Bahamas with Maxwell's and Save-A-Lot grocery stores not too far from the dinghy dock. The streets are very narrow with few sidewalks so walking is a challenge...forget the bikes. Marsh Harbor Marina offers slips for $.85' and the photo shows the back of the marina overlooking the harbor. In between the 25-30 knot winds all week we did sneak in to the tourist section of town and visited Harbour View Marina, Iggy Biggy, Curly Tails and even the beach at Boat Harbor Marina. As far as provisioning and being a safe harbor in a storm I'm not too impressed......unless forced I would not return here!
We crossed from Lake Worth to the Abacos on Thursday with Tortola, a trawler and Spartina, a 39' sailboat. We had tried to cross on Wed but the wind was from the east, on the bow at 18 knots and we could make no headway so we turned back. We rested and left at 3:00 AM on Thursday with winds 10-14 out of the ESE and had a great crossing to Memory Rocks and then to Great Sale where we anchored at 6:30. Up early on Friday to get to Green Turtle, then around the Whale and Tortola and Waves of Grace pulled into Marsh Harbor to wait out the predicted blow. Spartina anchored at Treasure Cay and came to Marsh Harbor on Friday. We only left the boat twice in 6 days...it was gusting to 40 mph on Sunday and there was chop everywhere but every anchored boat held fast! This is a photo of the front as it approached the harbor and also one of the celebration onboard our boat with members of our buddy boats.
We are anchored here in Lake Worth for the second night and are departing for the Abacos tomorrow morning at 5:30 with two other couples aboard their 39' cutter. We'll anchor in Great Sale Cay tomorrow night and then continue to Green Turtle where we'll clear customs. We have a weather window to get around the whale and into Marsh Harbor for the week-end. Hopefully I can pick up wi-fi from there. Today we spent a great morning touring Peanut Island which was created from material dredged to make the Lake Worth ocean inlet. In 2005 the $15 million Peanut Island Enhancement project was completed and is open to the public. There are campsites, picnic tiki huts, beaches, nature trails, great snorkeling, reef boardwalk, and boat docks. What a great place to visit!
We spent the night in Biscayne Bay in a nice 8-9' anchorage in front of Hurricane Harbor with a view of the city....quite awesome. Early this morning we followed the ICW north into Miami and then out Government Cut into the ocean via Fisherman's Channel. The winds were 2 knots and the ocean was like glass. We motored past Ft. Lauderdale and around 12:30 a front from the north hit us at 21 knots....we still had 34 more miles to do before Lake Worth...yuck! We turned around and headed back to Ft. Lauderdale for the night...we're in no hurry as we can't cross to the Bahamas til next Wed or Thursday.
