The Abacos week 1
29 March 2017
26 28.49 'N:76 59.55'W
In the early morning on March 22 we made the short run with Estrella Del Sur to the Tavern Point anchorage at Tilloo Cay. We wanted to get tucked in and well anchored before the next big weather event arrived. The anchorage was close to Dave and Michelle Hinton’s cottage at Lubber’s Quarters Cay. We got the hook set and packed up our snorkelling gear just before Dave and Michelle picked us all up on Gypsy II to head out for an afternoon of snorkelling, swimming and a BBQ on the beach.
We arrived back at the boats in the late afternoon. Brad and Julie decided to head back to their dock at Boat Harbour Marina while we planned to remain at the Tilloo Cay anchorage for a few days to ride out the blow.
The next morning was still calm so Dave, Paul, Brendan and Parker headed out at sunrise on Gypsy II for some early morning fishing. They didn’t have any luck and were back by 10 to pick Michelle and I up. We then headed to Marsh Harbour for a few groceries and lunch at Curly Tails. We were back at the boat by 14:00 and right on schedule the winds and stormy weather had arrived. We stayed on board and rode out the 35 knot winds and squalls that continued through the night
The next day was a chilly 23 with a mix of sun and cloud. The winds were still howling but we had lots of confidence in our anchor set so we loaded up the dinghy and made the very rough trip over to Lubbers Quarter’s. We spent this day and the next few days enjoying “Life on Lubber’s” mostly from the front porch of the Hinton’s. We had some great times with neighbours dropping by and dogs running about. The food was fantastic and the company even better! We did return to 2 Outrageous each night but after dark and through some pretty rough conditions. We said farewell to Dave, Michelle, Brad and Julie on March 27 as they were departing the area to get themselves situated for the next weather window for crossing to Florida.
The morning of March 28 was spent doing some cleaning and boat chores. We hauled up the anchors after lunch and headed the short distance to Hopetown via the short cut between Lubbers Quarters and Elbow Cay. Well, the trip was supposed to be short but about 10 minutes after getting underway we were aground right in front of Lubbers Quarters! Good thing for us we had met most of the community and it wasn’t long before someone we knew happened by. Joe and Lisa pulled us over to deeper water and we were underway but decided to take the long way around through much deeper water. We anchored just south of the entrance to Hopetown harbour right beside Ti Amo!