Tuesday April 29: Hopetown

There was a weird cloud formation last night at Man-O-War. I wondered what that was all about ....

Should have known it was a sign of the winds returning. Evident when we left this morning. Not the picture perfect calm but the water colors were still wonderful to see.

Our destination for the night was Hopetown - a short 6 miles away.

It wasn't hard to find our way there as the lighthouse is visible from just about anywhere in the Abacos.

Definitely on the top of the list to see while there. This history of the lighthouse is pretty interesting especially since it is one of the last manual lighthouses in the world. For more info CLICK HERE.

First though was a dinghy trip to town. There are no marinas on the town side  of the harbor so even though we were tied to a dock, we still needed to put the dinghy down to visit town.

More of the older homes are preserved here than at many of the other settlements. This is the Wee House. Not sure if it's called that because it's small or that was the family name!

And of course there were the beaches and reefs. The reason the lighthouse was built here was because of the extensive reef system off of the northeast of this cay - which caused shipwrecks galore. Not everyone was happy the lighthouse was built: primarily those that made a living off of the wrecked ships. Not unlike the Florida Keys.

Sadly, the reefs are no longer living coral reefs (too shallow??) but they still work to protect these cays from the potentially damaging waters of the Atlantic.

We had dinghied over at low tide - fortunately the dinghy docks have multiple ladders that can be used to get up and down. It's still a challenge though!

Back to the boat and then when it cooled down a bit, we walked over to the lighthouse (which is right next to the marina at which we are staying).

Steve tried to find some cinnamon rolls here at the bakery but no luck. No problem - we'll be back to Marsh Harbor and we know right where to get some!

There is clearly a belief in natural selection at this lighthouse. The hours are listed: 10 am to 5 pm. But the door is wide open.

A couple of signs near the door to please not touch anything. No other warnings, locks, iron guard rails, impenetrable doors or anything.

So in we went :-)

The view was AMAZING. Yesterday's Dream is circled in red in the lower left 1/3 of the picture below to give you some perspective of where we were staying. The town is across the harbor.

Only 20 more steps to go (total 101 not that I was counting :-) ).

We did manage to stay out of the "No Entry" area of the upper lens part of the tower ... but didn't manage to NOT TOUCH  the main rotating lens base - that moved by barely pushing on it!







Note that it's Steve pushing it not me ...

The inside of this huge Fresnel lens was really something. It was hard to see but we got a good picture of it. Want to know more? CLICK HERE.

The light runs on compressed kerosene so I'm thinking that's what is in the red jugs.

And more opportunities playing with things that say Danger and Don't Touch!

We did manage to stay away from the obviously, seriously don't touch stuff :-)

We had just walked down the steps when we met a couple just coming up to the lighthouse. They were going to ask the keeper if they could watch him light the lamp.

Me? No way was I going to walk back up there - Steve had the camera so I would live the event through him and pictures :-)

It seemed pretty cool although Steve said it was really hard to actually see what the keeper was doing. But he got some great shots.

From the boat I kept seeing what seemed to be camera flashes. Yep - that was Steve taking pictures! Anyway - great experience here in Hopetown.

Tomorrow - back for a last visit to Marsh Harbor.

Monday April 28: Man-O-War Cay

It was an early morning getaway again yesterday morning from Tilloo Cay. Flat calm again.

If we are ever going to get out on the ocean side, this is it - so off we went.

The reports (from Cruiser's Net - on the VHF where water conditions, weather, etc are reported) were that the passages were good all the way around the Abacos.

We were about 1 1/2 hours away from the opening at north Man-O-War Cay where we hoped there would be good diving/snorkeling (according to the guidebooks).

It was a GREAT dolphin day - even though it was only a single dolphin. Steve was at the helm and he said it was like a torpedo was coming toward the boat. The water was that clear.

It stayed around long enough for him to get a couple of shots of it - one as it was completely under the water and then as it jumped and played!

Good camera work, Steve!!

The seas were as promised as we looked out over the cut between Fowl Cay and Man-O-War Cay.


But I have to be honest - heading out toward the breaking reefs was a little nerve wracking!

The mooring balls that were supposed to be here - weren't.

So we anchored - I stayed with the boat and Steve again checked everything out.

Again - not what we were expecting :-(  Maybe Pennecamp in Florida really IS the best place around??

A dive boat came so we moved out farther - but no better. Mmmm  .... we clearly need more intel.

But while we're out here, might as well fish, right?!

The 'drop off' was AMAZING!! The depth was rather gradual from shore out to 200 feet. Then within a distance of 200 feet, the depth went to 600 feet. WOW - not expecting that!

Sadly no fish though. Deep blue water of the Atlantic were incredible.

More intel needed for the fishing also, I guess.

So we headed back and found a nice anchorage on the north end of Man-O-War Cay for the night. It was a relaxing day once we were in for the night.



This is our record 6th night away from a marina and power. The solar panel we bought for Guppy has worked out quite well - along with the 2 generators on board :-)   Never underestimate the peace of mind that multiple sources of power can provide!

Sunset was great. Thought we might see a green flash since it would be setting over water but with south winds, the humidity produced clouds.

Still, it was amazing.

But it was time for a marina - wash clothes, get off on land, bike ride, etc.

So this morning we headed off to Man-O-War Marina a short 2 miles away.

And you want me to go in there??? With another boat coming out??? I thought it best to let the boat coming out get out and then I went in. No problem. It's almost high tide anyway.

Within two hours of tying up the laundry was completed, bikes were off and we were out exploring.

Very small island, narrow streets (and not many of them). Easy riding - mostly but not all flat.

Fun pink post office and a building down the street that was just cool looking. Not wrecked or anything - just in need of some repairs and a paint job.

The ocean was easily found on the other side of the island. Blue as could be as the surrounding reefs were easy to spot with the breaking water.

Our (well, at least my) main goal was to find Lola's Bakery. No problem - followed the map of town given to us by the marina and went straight there .

Sadly, it was closed. No cinnamon buns for us today - but we'll be back at Marsh Harbor and I know where to find them there :-)

Need something delivered here? Check out the delivery boat. Huge barge unloading quite a bit of stuff the the shipbuilding place just down the way. Fun to watch.


Tomorrow: off to Hopetown as the wind will be dictating what we do for the next few days.

They have a cool lighthouse there that is on the list of things to do ......

Saturday April 26: Tilloo Cay

It was a beautiful calm day when we left Little Harbor early this morning. High tide had come and gone so it was time to get moving. Several sailboats were up and out before us as I'm sure they would have had an even bigger issue than us getting in and out of this harbor as most sailboats draw at least a foot more water than we do.

With the low winds and calm waters, it was decided that we should seek out any of the other snorkeling areas at the southern end of the Abacos as we were now turning back north to retrace our path down.

The water was mesmerizing! I'm sure I was zigzagging all over the place as I was so focused on watching the bottom as we passed over sand and sea grasses. Again just crazy clear. Sea stars and sea cucumbers were easy to see along the way.

There were two small reefs off of one of the island near Sandy Cay and then another one at the top of the same Cay. Basically we would anchor and off Steve went! Seriously? I think he must be part fish sometimes. He never seems to tire of snorkeling :-)

One of the spots was pretty good – lots of fish. Like a school of 1000 mangrove snappers. All swimming TOWARD him. Wouldn't you wonder why??? But there didn't seem to be any giant fish lurking anywhere (unlike when he saw the 5 foot bull shark at the reef the other day – yikes!)

Light winds predicted so our plan was to anchor in Buckaroo Bay near the Angel Cays. Steve checked the anchor (it was so tough to see!) and then we were off in kayaks to check out the area. Mmmm …. lots of nice rocks but no fish.

No problem, we'll dinghy to the farther away rocks. Found a nice shallow sand bar on which to anchor the dinghy – Steve headed out to 'check it out' before I jumped in (how sweet :-) )

No go again. This looked like such a promising area. Oh well, just one of the problems with being someplace new. Just have to learn the territory. Guess we just got lucky at Snake Inlet to find the many fish living around the rocks nearby. And the conch as well.

Lesson Learned today: when the winds pick up (not they were supposed to mind you), the dinghy is WAY harder to get up with waves that are trying to slap it all over the place. And the wind is coming from the East – we are on the Western shoreline. Not good.

But no problem. We moved a short 5 miles to the eastern side of the waterway and joined several other boats anchored for the night. It was quite the difference in winds and waves.

Nice sunset – good for the night ….

This is a spotted eagle ray - not a picture Steve took but this is what the two rays he saw the other day looked like. They glided along with him for a while, turned and went back then circled around again. Definitely worth the trip :-)

Friday April 25: Little Harbor

Steve ended up making cracked conch with the three keepable conchs he found. By the time he cleaned the third one, he was getting pretty good at it!

Not a skill I am going to learn, thank you :-)

Pound the heck out of it with a hammer, cut into small pieces, coat with bread crumbs, fry in a perfectly healthy oil of some kind and done.

Excellent afternoon snack.

The lure of a better place to snorkel had us up and moving pretty early yesterday. The weather was nice, the winds out of the south at 5 to 10 mph. Not bad at all.

Sandy Cay is where we headed. It's actually a designated preserve so no fishing or taking of conch.



So we dropped the dinghy and headed over to the reef a bit before slack tide. Because we are just inside the cays that break the ocean from the Sea of Abaco, the current can make the snorkeling less fun.

It was a very pretty reef with lots of reef fish and some very nice staghorn coral and other invertebrates.

The best was the sighting of two very large and graceful eagle rays They are so fun to see (no pics though :-(  )

Steve headed out in his kayak to check out the shoreline south of us.

By the time the tide came in, our "protection" from the south winds had somehow gotten a lot smaller!

Apparently they were just low sand bars that were mostly covered by the tide. Fortunately the main island was still there.

As we watched the sunset, little did we know that we were not going to be getting much sleep!

Lesson Learned: if an anchorage is labeled as "surge" next to it, what they really mean is your boat will roll with the incoming tide (for us this was midnight to 6 am) so as to not let the occupants get any sleep.

Definitely noted for next time ....








By the time we left this morning, there were 5 other boats that had come in. Hope they don't plan on anchoring there all night!

It was another good snorkel for Steve as I dropped him off at the reef and then just kind of floated around until he had his fill. Saw the two eagle rays again!! A definite score at this reef :-)

Our destination today was a short 7 miles to Little Harbor and Pete's Pub.

This is the farthest south we'll travel before turning around and heading back toward Hopetown and several other places we skipped on the way down.

The entrance to Little Harbor carries only 3.5 feet at low water so we anchored outside to wait for low tide to come and then a rising tide to start.

Of course Steve found a small reef nearby :-)

We thought about just staying anchored right here and just dinghy in but on the chart were those words "surge". NO WAY - can't do two sleepless nights in a row.....

So we picked up a mooring ball from Pete's Pub and were settled by 3 pm.

Of course we had to attend happy hour and try their signature drink - the Blaster. Ok but nothing to write home about :-)

The harbor is full of mostly sailboats and catamarans - and a few of us trawlers thrown in to keep all of them honest.

Thunderstorms threatened but never did anything other than make some noise and a few sprinkles.

The ocean is just a few steps over a small walkway from Pete's. The waters are amazing.

Funnest thing today? The Bahamian speed bump.

Made for a long quite fat length of rope. Didn't seem to do much from what I could see :-)

Tomorrow? Not sure yet. It is supposed to be the calmest day yet. Perhaps a fishing trip to the ocean side??