Hope Town
29 March 2017
We left Tavern Cay early Monday morning and headed to Marsh Harbour in search of propane and a spare alternator belt. We had expected to have to motor most of the 12 miles due to light headwinds; however, we were greeted with a nice 12-17 knot breeze that was perfect for us. We tacked our way around a large shoal and stormed around Matt Lowe Cay on a beam reach into Marsh Harbour. We spent part of the afternoon getting our propane tanks filled and gathering a few other items.. We had planned on leaving town but met our friends from "Gaya" and decided to stay the night. We had originally met Steve and Lise way back on the Hudson River and we spent an enjoyable evening catching up on each other's travels.
As we were planning our trip one of the places that I had circled as a must stop was Hope Town, home to the famous candy-cane striped lighthouse. Steve Martin and I spent a memorable time here aboard "Sunkissed" when we met some friends from HYC all those years ago. Over the last week we had seen it's distinctive light sweeping the horizon and we were anxious to see the harbour and tour the light. This is one of the last hand wound, kerosene burning lighthouses in operation and it is open to the public. The harbour is extremely busy and finding a mooring is next to impossible; fortunately, some friends reserved one for us and we will be here for two nights. The north bound migration has started and we will spend the next couple of days saying good-bye to numerous friends we have met over the winter.