Hopetown, Elbow Cay
14 March 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 0209
I went into the marina to settle up for the mooring-$17.00/night. I was very happy to have beenon it due to the high winds. The anchorages in the Abaco's tend to be seaweed and sand. The anchors don't hold well in seaweed. I went to the store to get some pineapple juice-one of the main ingredients to the rum punches besides the rum.
When I got back in the dingy I saw Passport and Wind Dancer heading out of the harbor, they had to wait for the tide to come up since they draw over 6 ft. I only draw 5. I put in the lat. and lon's into my GPS to head to Elbow Cay/Hopetown. I left the mooring at 1:00. It was only 3 plus miles so I didn't put the sails up and slowly motored. Another sunny beautiful day. Heard that Massachusetts had a foot of snow yesterday. I'm so glad not to have to deal with that anymore.
Hopetown/Elbow Cay
March 3, 2009
When I got to Hopetown this afternoon they said all the moorings were full and there isn't any decent anchorage. I asked what my options were. The marina manager at Hopetown Marina said he had a slip at thge dock for $1.00/ft. That's a great price for my 32' boat. When I tied upm, a perfect landing on the dock, I might add, we talked about me going to a mooring tomorrow for $17.00 a night. I was thinking the 32/night might be considered to have showers etc. I laso heard there is a festival this Saturday called Heritage Day and said I might stay. He ended up telling me that if I wanted to stay to the weekend I could have a slip for $20.00 a night-the same as the mooring. I said you've got a deal.
So, I put my bathing suit on, made a rum punch and sat in the cockpit writing this and getting a little buzzed!
What a life!
March 4, 2009
I eventually went to shore. On the way, I saw a Gemeni 105 Cateraman with the home port of Portsmouth, RI. I stopped by to ask if that is where they are from. There were two older ladies in the cockpit. They said, no, they were from Duxbury, MA. They introduced themselves to me. One of the woman is the liveaboard-I was surprised because she seemed to be in her mid 70's or so and her sister was there for a visit. The liveaboard-Diane, said she doesn't move the boat herself, but has help bringing it to Mass. each year and back to Hopetown for the winter. I was impressed, she didn't seem the type at all.
They told me there was going to be some live music later and they invited me to join them. I said I would but found out that the group was from Cornell University, but a group of men that have been singing for 50 years together-didn't think that was my cup of tea! So I didn't go.
I was kind of in a funky mood for a few days so just hybernated. Saturday I finally got myself together to go ashore for the Heritage Day. Unfortunately, I got there too late for the activities regarding the heritage of the island. Only the arts and crafts things were going on when I got there. They did have the museum open though. I walked around a bit more then went back to the boat.
While walking, I came to the end of the road and saw an old man sitting there, alone, just looking out at the beautiful view, watching the boats coming and going from the harbor entrance. I took his picture from behind. I started a conversation with him. I asked him where he was from, he said I was hatched right here! I said, you were born here? He said yes. I asked him what he did for a living here and he said fishing. He explained his job to me, I found it very interesting: He said he would go out in a small sailboat-about 12', with the captain of the boat, and he would catch crawfish or crayfish-can't remember which. He had a long pole-about 15 feet long to roust out the fish from the caves, caverns or where ever they were hiding. Then would scoop up the crayfish and put them in the boat. He said they would get between 50-120/day. That sounds like a lot of work and muscles. The boat captain had to keep the boat still for him to do what he needed to. He said they would put them in a net to drag in the water to keep them alive.