Cruising the Abacos III
19 April 2007 | Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Jim Lea
Last night after we dropped anchor, I got out the fishing rod and immediately pulled aboard a nice yellow-tailed snapper! But then it got more difficult. But after about an hour I had three other fish, another yellow tail, a small French Grunt, and a "Mystery Fish". So we had supper, accompanied with rice & beans and a vegetable stir-fry, it was delicious. The Mystery Fish wasn't as tasty as the others, but all good. This morning's weather forecast continues to look good for a crossing next week. So we will head in to Green Turtle Cay for only one night, then head out west towards Great Sale, our jump-off point on Monday. That will give us a few more nights in the more remote areas of the Abacos, and tonight we will go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, our 34th, which is actually on Saturday. Just after the forecast, I spoke to Eric Orme on Tabitha. Eric is in Vero Beach, waiting for a weather window to head across the Atlantic single-handed in their Rival 40. We first met Eric and his family (wife Sue and daughters Elspeth and Pita) in Pulpit Harbour Maine, and continued to bump into them as we worked our way down the coast. And in the Bahamas, we traveled from Thompson Bay down to the Jumentos with them and had a great time together. Now Sue and the girls are back in England, and Eric is waiting to get away. But our good forecast is his bad forecast, as he wants to head east, and we are looking to travel west. So he is getting a bit frustrated. But it was good to chat with him on the SSB. But he is talking with Herb Hilgenberg, the Atlantic weather guru from Toronto, and Herb has advised him to sit pat until there is a shift in the weather. After breakfast we set off for Green Turtle, entering just about high tide, mid-morning. And inside we met half a dozen boats we have been with before. This is a popular spot from which to wait for a weather window, so it looks like there will be a crowd on the water next week heading back to the US. We spent the day doing laundry, talking with other boaters, took a walk, and generally just messed around. We would have gone to New Plymouth, but it was too far in the dinghy in the winds, and the golf cart rental was closed (for no apparent reason). So our plan is to leave here tomorrow in winds that will have clocked around to the north-east, making it a nice quiet anchorage off the town tomorrow. Tonight, there was an informal meeting of boats planning to cross to the US next week. We attended, but there were so many different plans and ideas that I left thinking I would just keep our plans to ourselves. Everybody seemed to think his plan was the only good one. But also, no one is going to head north. All are just going straight across, and we want to head further north, so we will see them at Great Sale Cay on Sunday, but probably part ways on Monday morning. Tonight we went in to the marina restaurant for dinner... Bahamian night with a buffet of ribs, chicken and lobster (or, as it is called locally, crawfish) and the usual rice & beans and cole slaw. It was excellent and great fun. We met some more boaters, and were back aboard stuffed (like after a PEI lobster supper). At sunset the wind finally moved into the north-east, which we have been waiting for. So, tomorrow we're off to begin our run north-west and hope to spend a couple of more nights in the cays with some snorkeling and stuff before our departure.