I was up At 4:30 and and had the coffee ready, engines running and started bringing up the anchor and washing it down (we wash it down with fresh water
from our tanks to get all the salt off the chain to minimize the inevitable
rust).
It took some time to bring up 150 feet of chain. Mary staggered up on deck right after I
started. Luckily it was a moonlit night
and dead calm.
 |
| Eerie looking navigation screen |
Anchor was up and secured by Mary as I steered us out of the
anchorage. Our trusty old ship PC running Coastal Explorer (navigation software) is starting to act rather oddly which I’m sure is a
sign its beginning to give up the ghost.
I have a spare machine running the same software, but the interface to the
autopilot could be an issue since all the drivers/cabling are from 10 years
ago.
Anyway I navigated by using my tablets until I got
the PC stabilized. And off we went into
the dark with the bright lights of a few big cruise ships off of the
Stirrup Keys.
These two little islands are owned
by cruise ship companies. The big ships
anchor, or station-keep a mile off the islands and shuttle people back and
forth with landing craft type shuttles. The shuttles are
not small either. The islands themselves
have beaches, and cabanas, and a wide assortment of beach toys. In fact when we poked around the plane wreck
and the blue hole the other day, we ran into a group of jet skiers who were no doubt from one
of the cruise ships.
As we made our way east past the large beach/bay on the east
side of Great Harbor Key, I kicked myself for abandoning the idea of anchoring
here last night. It was calm, and would
have saved us 10-12 miles of traveling today.
 |
| Cruise Ship silhouetted by the rising sun |
The waters were almost dead calm. We past three more cruise ships, easily
picked up on radar before it got real light.
Mary went back to bed and shortly after one big contact I still held
on radar was visible. A large freighter
who was headed right for us.
I altered course a few degrees of my planned route which was
no big deal because the auto-pilot kept throwing GPS data errors which meant no
auto pilot steering my GPS. We had to
rely on the
fluxgate compass and bearing data.
 |
| The freighter a few miles away |
We passed the freighter off about ½ mile. The thing with large, heavily laden freighters is their wake. Its very deep and deceptive because you cant
really see it. As we passed by I turned
perpendicular to it’s wake and we bounced up and down for several minutes until
settling down. Then it was back to a
normal course to Hole in the Wall, the southern tip of
Great
Abaco Island, where we would turn up north for 45 miles to Little
Harbor Inlet.
We crossed over the
Great Bahama Canyon. The channels here are named
Northwest Providence Channel which we crossed going to Hole in the Wall from Great Harbor Key in the Berry Islands. The
Northeast Providence Channel runs up to the North along Great Abaco Island fro Hole in the wall.
 |
| Hole in the Wall. The southern tip of Great Abaco Island |
As we approached the point the swells deepened and the
period (time between crests) shorten dramatically. We found ourselves in 4-5 foot seas, almost
on the bow, uncomfortable this time with that short period between wave crests.
 |
| A long slog through bouncy Atlantic swells |
And so it was 7 hours of beating north in the Northeast Providence Channel through basically
heavy seas. We’d catch a big one every
few minutes which had spray coming up over the bow. Fun!
We arrived at the inlet around 5:45 and much to my surprise
there was no visible reefs outlining the passage. Just water. The shoals were not visible and their depths range from 2-4 feet. Our navigation software was erratic again, updating in a very
inconsistent manner so I also had one of our tablets running navigation software
as well.
Although it turned out to be a non issue, the initial entry
into the inlet was a mildly anxious moment.
 |
| Anchored in front of these two little beaches. |
 |
| Passed these sailboats as we came in |
We went through with 3 foot swells, found the narrow ribbon
of deeper water than ran alongside the reef leading to Lynard Key. We passed three sailboats already anchored
there and went north a bit near a small
pole on the beach and dropped the anchor in a spot of sand. Not wanting to chance dragging we laid out
125 feet of chain even though it looked like we had the anchor dug in sand more
than the grassy bottom so prevalent here.
We had a left overs for dinner, skipped the generator run
and went to bed by 9pm. Tomorrow we’ll
do some planning and get the dinghy down.
We both slept like logs last night. Woke up and there were only 2 sailboats remaining in the anchorage. Further north a
Fleming and Catamaran were just heading out the inlet to go south.
The winds were light the next morning. It was a cloudy day, and we had to take the dinghy
down so I ran the generator for about an hour to give the batteries a boost and
not drain them too bad since the solar panels wouldn't do much to keep the batteries topped up after launching the dinghy with the davit (crane).
 |
| Out with the old |
Being in the Bahamas now it was mandated (by Mary) to change our
burgee from the Gold Looper burgee signifying our completion of the
Great Loop to our
Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club.
Yes we joined the yacht club but its more of an absentee member social society than one of those white pants/blue jacket clubs your probably thinking of.
 |
| In with the new |
We started off with the idea of checking out Sand Key a
popular dive site but it very suddenly started gusting heavily and the waters
turned rough in minutes. So instead of
beating our way there to see probably nothing because it was blowing so
hard, we turned around and went in to Little Harbor. Our intent was to have lunch at Pete’s Pub and maybe get a t-shirt to complement o
ur
collection of Bahama bar shirts.
A little history on Little Harbor and Pete's Pub:
Randolph Johnston was an assistant professor at Smith College in Massachusetts and a sculptor. He and his family decided to move to The Bahamas and discovered Little Harbour in their converted lobster boat. They set up home there, living in a cave for a while until they had built accommodation. Randolph is no longer alive, but his his son Peter is now the sculptor and runs the only pub in the harbour. Pete’s Pub was built from parts of the lobster boat. There is a sizable gallery to visit containing both Randolph’s and Peter’s sculptures.
The harbor is almost totally enclosed except for a narrow
entrance. There is a sand bar there I
sounded near low tide as 3.5 feet. No
real area for anchorages but there are a dozen moorings you can pickup and then
pay ($20/night) at the bar. We would have to enter and leave at high tide though an since the winds are prevailing from the ENE there's no reason to anchor here.
 |
| Wading through the mucky sand |
When we finished eating Mary went to pay the bill while I went out to check the dinghy and sure enough the tide was
falling. I had to either re-anchor the
thing in the soft muck or move it. I
moved it near the little swimming area which is sandy and much deeper. The Pub's small deck overlooks the swimming area and the harbor.
After 2 Kaliks, we walked over to the ocean side, a mere 100
yards, and the strolled up the road which wound around the little harbor. Not much there except for little vacation
cottages.
 |
| Little Harbour looking out towards the entrance |
 |
| Path along the shore of Little Harbour |
The spelling of "harbor" and "harbour" are not in my repertoire of spelling errors but just a variation of spelling. Harbor is the usual American spelling. The rest of the world spells harbor, "harbour". Cay, and Key also mean the same thing, Cay not being the American spelling.
Walking around we met a guy who owns 2 homes here. And 4 boats. Like, why?
We left and went back to the boat, fighting the large swell
from the inlet most of the way. The ocean was as bad or
worse today. Once we were in the lee of
the island, the seas calmed and I sped up. We tied up at our boat for a few minutes before
getting back in the dinghy and heading to one of the beaches on Lynyard Key.
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| Dinghy at Beach on Lynyard Key along with another dinghy |
 |
| Looking out to our boat in the anchorage |
The Key is privately owned but the beaches are public. At least that's what people of told me. Per usual, Mary went one way and I went the
other. The key is very narrow and the
ocean side was, well just ocean and large waves banging on the corral
cliffs. There are no beaches on that
side.
 |
| Riotous beach party. I didn't crash it |
Mary was searching for dead things and I strolled down to
where there was some sort of beach party.
No, I didn’t join in, just turned around and came back. We took the dinghy back in time for our own cocktails!
Next morning we we decided to move up the chain to Tilloo Key, about 10
miles north. Tilloo Cay is a reserve, with an approximate size of 11 acres, It was established in 1990 and is an important nesting habitat for seabirds.
 |
| Leaving Lynyard Key |
We left at a leisurely 10:30 which was when the tide was coming
in.
 |
| North Bar Channel |
The inlet we had to pass, North Bar Channel, was
surprisingly rough, some 5-7 foot rollers came barreling through as we were
headed north.
We went around the Tilloo Bank, a large sandy shallow area that's quite stunning to look at. Not so much to travel over though. So we had to follow a circuitous route around the bank to Tilloo Island.
 |
| Tilloo Bank |
You can anchor anywhere along the island, the favored spot being on the southern end where the sand bar, Tilloo Bank, makes a sweeping arc towards the island. This time though, it was pretty dense with other boats so we chose to anchor abut mid island.
 |
| Approaching the anchorage at Tilloo. |
After we passed he inlet it calmed considerably but the water
depths were shallow, even at elevated tide levels. On the charts some areas were 4 feet. Passing over them our depth sounder read 6
feet. Should be exciting, but we do
stick to the
Explorer Charts published routes so hopefully wont go aground around here like others have.
 |
| Lubbers Landing |
Cracker P's, another of those iconic bars, is closed Monday and Tuesday so as we headed up
towards
Tahiti Beach. Tahiti beach is a cool beach and anchorage and quite popular. And as fate decreed, there, down a hundred yards from Cracker P's was Lubbers Landing, yet another iconic Bahamas bar/restaurant. Maybe every bar in over here is iconic?
 |
| Politics here too I guess (Note the wig) |
 |
| Happy Lubbers Landing patrons |
 |
| Lubbers Landing Bar |
 |
| View from Lubbers towards Tahiti Beach |
Lubbers Landing is really a resort kind of place with cottages for rent. But its bar is rather famous and since Cracker P's wan't open we had to try Lubbers Landing.
Great view and pretty good conch
chowder. I'm on a quest to sample and rate all the conch chowder over here. We had a few drinks too and some
fries but that's all. The bill was $30+ plus which, over here, is not unusual.
After we headed back to the boat and lazed around a bit, we decided to run over to
Hope Town for a few days and then Marsh Harbor. Seems there is a weather system heading here
next week so hope to be securely ties to a pier in
Mash Harbor by then.
I dove on the anchor this afternoon. Water isn’t as warm as the Marathon Marina
pool, but its crystal clear, and maybe 80 degrees. Our anchor,
with 100 feet of chain out and the snubber, looked I fine. It has only one fluke dug in, but we aren’t moving
anywhere since the winds are light.
 |
| Sunset at Tilloo Key |
Nice evening here.
We finally got going 11:30 the next day. Loaded up the dinghy with our snorkeling gear
and went over the Tilloo reef to Sandy Key which is reputed to be a great
snorkeling place. The unfortunate
thing is that is right in front of North Bar inlet, inlet and the swell, combined with stiff east wind just made it too rough. Mary would never be able to get in the dinghy with such large waves. And we didn't have dive gear along, only snorkeling equipment.
 |
| Sand spit at Tahiti Beach |
So we abandoned that idea and went back to
Tahiti Beach near Lubbers where we ate lunch yesterday.
It does look like a picturesque Tahitian beach with sand and palm
trees. The distinguishing feature though
is this long spit of sand that is walkable even during a normal high tide.
 |
| Tahiti Beach |
 |
| More Tahiti Beach |
Only a few people were out on the beach so we had it pretty
much to ourselves. But it was only in the
mid 70’s and felt chiller with the east wind off the ocean.
After a time strolling around on the beach we decided to head to Hope Town, about 3 miles, in the dinghy. But I need
dinghy gas so we ran past
Tahiti beach a short
way and turned into White Sound where the
Sea Spray Marina is located.
 |
| Mary waiting for gas at Sea Spray Marina |
The marina and adjoining resort is more orientated to the 1%, not us poor, scruffy cruiser types. But we usually aren't aware of crossing such class boundaries. We just sort of barge right in. And so I did, but the primly dressed dock attendant took care of us right after the guy in the large go fast boat was filled up. He did arrive after us but I guess class does matter at the resort. His tip wasn't nearly as miserly as ours was. We managed to finally fill up the dinghy tank with 4.5 gallons at the bargain price of $4.75 per gallon.
The marina is actually on
Elbow Cay where Hope Town is located, but at the other end of the island.
(Following pictures are all foggy and seemingly unfocused because the camera lens was coated with salt.)
 |
| Hope Town light house as we passed it in the dinghy |
 |
| Exiting the narrow channel into the harbor |
The trip to Hope Town was maybe 15 minutes beyond the
marina. The Hope Town harbor was crowded. Lots of boats, all on moorings plus a few
marinas stuffed to the gills. And this
isn’t even the high season yet. We rode
around and found several free balls big enough to handle our boat and so we'll cruise on over here tomorrow and grab a mooring ball.
We left Harbor down and then
headed back to stop at
Cracker P's another iconic bar not to be missed, which we did yesterday but its open this time. We tied up at their pier (they stipulate using a stern anchor and bowing into the dock, sort of a modified Med moor) and went up to a relatively quiet bar. Its not the busy season yet, so I was told.
 |
| The view from Cracker P's bar (looking at Tahiti Beach) |
 |
| Cracker P's hot sauce. Superb. I bought a bottle |
 |
| Cracker P;s dock |
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| The resident janitor at Cracker P's. |
Good conch chowder.
Typical hamburger, but to die for hot sauce (I bought a tall bottle). We had a few drinks and chatted with a women who was married to the one of the owners I think. She was regaling us with tales of their dog (name forgotten) that would leap out if second story windows in her younger days to lap up any food remains. Sort of reminded me of Cleo, our old Basenji. Now, the dog wanders around the bar lapping up affection and of course food tidbits becasue we all know people cant resist feeding a cute dog wandering around a bar. Can we Mary?
A little Cracker P history courtesy of http://www.abacoescape.com/Flotsam.html
CRACKER P. PINDER
AKA Paul John Simmons AKA the namesake of the bar of the same name on Lubbers Quarters. Cracker was born in 1879 and hailed from Lexington Ga. He was a veteran of the Spanish American War. His bayonet is mounted in the showcase of the bar bearing his name on Lubbers Quarters. In 1915 his family duck was terrorizing the neighborhood causing a fight between Cracker and sheriff Hickory Cartwright. In the ensuing struggle Cracker shot the sheriff and becoming a wanted man he fled to Florida. In time he caught a schooner to Wilson City (near Marsh Harbour). He disembarked, knowing this was to be his new home.
He worked his way to Hope Town, where he spent his first two years and met Mr. Lucene Pinder, Abacos commissioner. Eventually he took his name. It is said that Crackers family in Georgia sent funds “To Cracker” through Lucene. Later he settled on Lubbers Quarters where he fished and farmed. He planted many sapodilla trees, which is the fruit used in Bahamian Barbecue Sauce. Cracker built a continuously burning cooking fire which wasn't extinguished till he died in 1954.
Cracker had a limited wardrobe and therefore was the first naked person seen by the locals. Some locals say he had a small caliber rifle and was such a good shot that he could hit a fly on the top of the lighthouse. He would pole into town once a month for supplies. Folks would bring him meat in exchange for the vegetables he raised. He lead a truly reclusive life.
Cracker's gone now but his legend remains supported by two pictures and trinkets of his, in the bars showcase baring his name. The sweet sweet dilly - sapodilla trees still grow on the property where he lived, and where the bar now stands. Sitting on the porch you can see the remains of a pier he built with coconut trees towering over it. It's a pastime for local folks to have a drink in this lovely spot, while watching the unsuspecting sailboats run aground on the shoals in this part of Abaco Sound.
Mary wandered off to the little beach there while I paid the bill and bought a shirt. we got in the dinghy and left to return to our boat. I tried to use the the
same route we will be following tomorrow morning when we make our way to Hope Town and hopefully a mooring. Its quite shallow going through here, 5-6 feet and I wanted to get some soundings for where the deep water mi
 |
| Interesting home on the end of Tilloo Key |
 |
| Our lowly craft bobbing at anchor |
Returning we followed the Tilloo shoreline and gawking at this private yacht which resembled an old sailing galleon. And a home along the shore here complete with a castle like turret.
 |
| Lowest depth we found |
We left around 10AM to take advantage of the high
tides. Going through the passage by Lubbers
was, well benign. The lowest depths. I
saw were about 6 feet leaving over a foot of water under our keel. So no big deal.
 |
| Harbor Town parade |
Entering the Hope Town, it was our luck to arrive there with 5 other
yachts, including 2 big catamarans. We formed a little parade going into the narrow entrance to the harbor. But then
coming out and meeting us right at a critical turn were two big sailboats. I shouldn't label random events with labels such as omens. But....
We found several moorings free (had to look for the double
floats because they were able to handle our length and weight). We chose one but couldn’t quite get a line
through the loop on the pendant.
The boat began drifting back so we headed for another mooring ball about 100 yards ahead of the one we gotten snag.
We missed that one
too but the consequences were that we had drifted over the first mooring ball and I
had to put the boat in gear in order to not collide with Bob’s (our eventual neighbor and all round good guy) sailboat. That event was imminent but didn't happen thanks to a couple of guys in a dinghy that happened to be passing by. They took a line from Mary and threaded it through the eye of the pendant and we were secure.
 |
| Secure to a mooring ball at last (we are to the right of center) |
 |
| One of many dingy docks here |
 |
| Walking up the path from the dinghy dock |
 |
| Narrow road ways |
 |
| Harbor Town Harbor |
 |
| More narrow alley ways |
But the effect of having the props turn that mooring ball was foreordained.
It chewed up the floats, and severed the mooring line thus rendering that mooring an non-mooring.
Ouch. Our line cutters in the props, meant more for cutting lines from crab pots etc., did a number on the 2 inch line on the mooring ball.
Here, the procedure is to get a mooring ball and then call the owner who eventually comes pout and collects a fee. In this case we were on a mooring owned by Lucky Strike. His real name is Truman, a sweetheart of a man who owns a number of moorings here and also runs a fishing charter boat named ... Lucky Strike. We left a message with him but never saw him today.
We did go ashore, and eat at
Captain Jacks, a non iconic bar. The island is supposed to be vehicle free, meaning no cars or trucks. And its true most vehicles are golf carts, but there a several big cars and pickup trucks plying the narrow roadways (I'd refer to them as alley ways).
The harbor is sort of at the base of a higher ground which falls off towards the beach and ocean. Walking around town with all the gaily painted buildings seems to be up hill most of the time.
 |
| Our favorite bar tender at Hope Town Marina |
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| Pool. And the pool bar. Quite the ritzy place. |
 |
| Looking east at the harbor from our boat |
After Captain Jacks we walked around the town some and eventually returned to the dinghy and ran over to the big m
arina, Hope Town Marina and a had drinks before returning to the boat. On the way we stopped and chatted a bit with a friendly group on a catamaran in front of us. It was a charter and leaving the next day.
Left another message with Truman about the mooring. And we haven’t paid him yet either!
I took the garbage into the town dock this morning at
8:30 (in the dinghy). The town will accept garbage from
boats in the harbor on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 until 9:30. The town dock is near a little bay which has a
large shoal extending out in the harbor.
I of course drove right over it, but was fine.
When I returned Mary and I dinghied over to the
Hope Town Harbor Lodge for breakfast. They have their own large dock where we tied up. Harbor Town does have three public dinghy docks which indicates just how popular this place is with cruisers. Luckily we are here before the real busy time.
 |
| Walking towards the Harbor Lodge dinning area adjacent to the pool |
 |
| View from the table towards the Harbor Lodge beach |
Nice place. We ate
out on a patio overlooking the ocean next to the pool. There is a large wedding taking pace here
tomorrow. For some reason I bumped into the wedding planner and had a nice conversation with here. She provided all manner of details which I
immediately forgot.
The other reason we went here was for the wifi which I’m
trying to use for uploading pictures.
At every place we stop I ask for the wifi code hoping with our wifi
extender I can get a decent connection
out in the harbor. No joy so far.
We scouted out the beach access and then I tried to stop in
the local
BTC office to get this account access issue cleared up. The office was closed, due to a fire in the building.
So back to the dinghy, and then back to the boat. It was still rather early so we loaded up our two beach chairs, the dive bag,
the beach umbrella and a cooler and went over to one of the town dinghy docks nearest the beach access.
We lugged all this stuff up a short hilly road and then out
onto the beach. It’s a nice one, but not
quite in the same class as the Great Harbor Cay beach. The Harbor Town beach is on the ocean side of Elbow Cay and is large with a pretty big reef extending almost the while length.
 |
| Beach Camp |
We set up camp as it were.
The water was warm. I swam out to
the reef, about 100 yards and didn’t see much of anything. But Mary wanted to snorkel further down so
she took her mask and fins ¼ mile down the beach.
After 20 minutes I wandered down there because she still wasn't in the
water, just sitting in the surf trying to get her flippers on.
 |
| Barracuda, the other one and the shark were just to the left |
 |
| Not much to see on the reef save this little black fish and brain corral |
 |
| The beach. The dark areas in the ocean are the reef, very close by |
After we sorted that out she went off to the reef while I
walked back to get my fins but as I entered the water I caught sight of 3 large
fish which, upon closure examination, appeared to be a shark and two
barracuda. Not small either. I walked back to warn Mary and she then
walked back to our little encampment where we read awhile before I went out to
the reef again and saw only a few uninteresting fish. And no sharks.
The reef here is relatively close to shore and consists of
large areas of corral separated by little gullies of sand. Very nice except the swell coming in from the Atlantic makes it somewhat uncomfortable.
We talked briefly with a couple who are avid divers, as in
world wide divers. She is a Nurse
Practitioner from North Carolina and they had
just finished up sailing school in Marsh
Harbor. They asked me several questions about living
on a boat… yes, they are thinking of doing it when they retire. Course, she’s only 32. Do I feel old?
We hung around another few minutes before lugging everything
back to the dinghy and then back to the boat.
Putting my wifi uploading plan into action we dinghied over
to the large marina here where I have their wifi code. After 1 drink, and 35 minutes I was able to
upload only 21 picture out of over 200. we
decided it would be better to leave
Got connected wit our wifi extender and was able to upload
another 5 pictures before calling it quits and going to bed. Although bed was nice sleep was not. A rap band with this reverberating bass
echoing across the harbor kept us up until 12:30.
We went to shore later the next morning and just strolled
around town. It’s an interesting
contrast to many of the islands we visited in the
Exumas. Paved roads, a few subdivisions
of large, and gaily decorated houses. In
the Exuma’s the roads were usually gravel or just bare corral and there were
only a rare large house standing by itself.
Here in the town, all the homes are bright colors, and the museum which we did visit, has much of the islands history and some artifacts from the early 1900’s.
 |
| Dead road that faces the narrow entrance to the harbror |
 |
| The Methodist Church |
 |
| The main street running along the harbor shoreline |
 |
| Harbor Lodge entrance |
We wanted to stop in at Harbor Town Harbor Lodge again because
they have this marvelous outdoor bar and patio overlooking the ocean with nice cool ocean breezes. But when we walked out to the patio they
informed us they were closed because of the wedding but would be open
tomorrow.
So we walked back and went to Harbor Town Marina on the harbor side
and had a few snacks and a beer. Then we
walked back up toward Harbor Town Harbor Lodge and watched all the wedding guests congregate at
the small Methodist church and continued on up the road.
 |
| One of several posts with mileage signs |
 |
| Bayfield WI? |
We kept walking pass the school which is up and on a little
cliff, where they have a re-cycling barrel.
Further up There a several posts with mileage signs on them. Pretty funny.
We didn’t go all the way, just maybe a mile before turning around
heading to the grocery store.
There are two grocery stores here, Vincent's and another one
near Captain Jacks restaurant, Harbor View Grocery. Vincent's
was closed, but the other one was open and had an impressive, for the Bahamas,
selection of items.
 |
| Idyll Time |
I bought a few things and then we headed back to the boat to
await Truman. I had called him early in
the day and got is wife, Lynn who said he’d be around that evening. We have been trying to talk with him every day to remind him about the mooring we trashed and the mooring ball fee we owed. But he runs a charter
business too and is often out deep sea fishing.
He did wander around to us about 6:30 and we settled up for four nights
and the severed mooring which only cost us about $100. Very nice man.
We noticed a boat we new of from Marathon Marina had just pulled in to a mooring near us.
Idyll Time. We didn't have a chance to talk with them but I suspect we'll be seeing them somewhere moving up the chain.
We grilled steaks tonight and then watched Aviator, a movie
I had ripped sometime ago. Then off to
bed!
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