Stars, Sails - the Parallax View

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07 November 2012 | Fort Myers, FL

Little Harbour after 17 years

08 July 2012 | Little Harbour, Abacos, Bahamas
Heather / sunny 88 F / ESE 6-10
The last time we were in Little Harbour was on our last extended "cruising" voyage, 17 years ago. The first thing we saw this time that had changed was the entrance channel: it's now buoyed carefully with red and green buoys. It was still as shallow as ever, but one no longer has to guess where the deepest water is!
Entrance to Little Harbour, from the inside looking out
Entrance to Little Harbour, from the inside looking out. 3' at low water.

The next thing we noticed was that Pete's Pub has a nice mooring field there, well-marked.
Yes, recycled tires are used in the mooring floats
Yes, recycled tires are used in the mooring floats

We picked up a mooring. A green turtle surfaced near our boat -- the turtles still love this bay! How wonderful!

And the cave is of course still a major feature of the western end of the harbor:
Cave mouth at Little Harbour, Abacos

And unlike last time, we could see the bottom... the waters are not gin-clear, but they are clearer than they were when we were here 17 years ago. Of course, that may have something to do with weather or time of year, but I'd like to think it's actually a bit clearer now.

Pete's is all grown up -- two huge docks out front:
Pete's Pub and Gallery with one of the docks, as seen from our mooring
Pete's Pub and Gallery with one of the docks, as seen from our mooring

The gallery seems bigger, too! Pete Johnston's father was a sculptor and professor who moved his young family to Little Harbour decades ago to create a foundry and make his sculptures in peace -- so Pete grew up here (his father passed on years ago), had his own sons here (one of his sons, Greg, just married his sweetheart Heather the weekend before we arrived!), and also learned the ways of bronze work from his dad. As with Bobby Little (coral rock sculptor) in Rum Cay, wherever you go in the compound, you run into Pete's sculptures:
Scratching a living in the natural world of sea and shore
Scratching a living in the natural world of sea and shore

Rays have a beauty that partakes of both the sea and flight
Rays have a beauty that partakes of both the sea and flight

Can you see the turtle above the second ray? Pete grew up swimming with green turtles.
Can you see the turtle above the second ray? Pete grew up swimming with green turtles.

We wandered the road before settling at the Pub for sunset... here's the foundry compound gate.
We wandered the road before settling at the Pub for sunset... here's the foundry compound gate.

While wandering, I noticed that Grant seems to be growing again...!
Grant: still 13 but tall tall tall
If he's this tall at 13, it's possible he really will get to 6'4"!

As with Bobby Little's mermaids, no male sculptor's oeuvre is complete without naked ladies!
As with Bobby Little's mermaids, no male sculptor's oeuvre is complete without naked ladies! But we're not sure whether this one was Pete's or his dad's work.

The area is a sea park. Don't spear fish or catch conch in Little Harbour:
Pete's signs about the sea park and using the docks

It was a beautiful, peaceful first evening!
Derek walking the beach by Pete's Pub dock
Derek walking the beach by Pete's Pub dock, Little Harbour

The front of the Gallery faces toward the beach. There was something interesting on it...
plaques on front of Pete Johnston's Gallery
Plaques on front of Pete Johnston's Gallery

On closer inspections, there was a "Sully" commemorative:
Pete's
Pete's "Miracle on the Hudson" plaque

The restaurant/bar is open 7 days, from noon each day, and only dark Monday night. There are moorings charters out of Hope Town now, and one of the first stops these 37-to-42-foot catamarans make is to pick up a mooring at Little Harbour and visit Pete's. People making trips along Abaco in their cars also stop there. Wow!

There is also a small thing that has connected us to Little Harbour for all these years. Last time through here, we used some of my inheritance from my Mom to purchase a lot from Don Chambers, who had bought the whole hillside behind his house when he came to LH in the 70s. He had decided to sell the lots on the hillside, which were slightly more than 0.5 acres each, and eventually return to the States. So, after a meeting with the LH residents, we bought one. Almost the first thing we did after picking up the mooring was to visit the lot. What had been partially cleared 17 years ago when we walked it prior to buying was now, of course, jungly! But that is also a plus for the neighborhood, in that it preserved a feeling of nature that LH residents tend to value. So, our property is to the right along the road in this picture:
property to the right

Partway up, there seemed to be a thinning under the casuarinas (they tend to poison the undergrowth), so Derek and Grant went in to take a look:
Derek and Grant inspect the property... I think we may need to clear a little...
Derek and Grant inspect the property... I think we may need to clear a little...

The other really nice thing about this property is that there are quite a few mature coconut palms on it. Those will be staying, as much as we can manage.
The
The "narrow" end of the property, along the upper road

We also plan a fruit orchard at the lower end of the hillside, so as to catch drainage and stay well-watered. Mangoes and papayas, mostly, with maybe a small veg garden down there, as far from possible salt spray as we can get it.

We talked with Pete at the pub about gardening and casuarinas (they tend to absorb salt and thus protect gardens, but they also will poison your water supply if their needles fall on your roof!) and solar power. Here's Pete's solar forest on the roof:
Pete's Pub and Gallery: powered by the sun!
Pete's Pub and Gallery: powered by the sun!

We also talked with several other residents abut house-building and gardening; people are wonderful and friendly here! Our next-door neighbor will be Kay. Her place is neatly kept, you can see the transition from our jungle to her carefully-tended coconut palms :-)
Kay's lawn with coconut palms

As you can see from this view shortly after one of our new neighbors threw down some table scraps, disposal of food wastes is not a problem. Those are hermit crabs. As we stood on their deck, more and more of them showed up for some struggles and good eats:
Hermit crab food waste disposal system
Hermit crab food waste disposal system
and more

A lot of privacy hedges near our property are made up of, or thickened with, these plants:
what are these things?
We can't seem to find out what they are. Kay is away, and another resident told us they were pandanus, but they are not (pandanus has a woody stem from which the leaves radiate). These things rise right from the ground with a coloring like yucca but not as heavy a texture, but they get to 8' tall or more! Clearly, they will take over the place if allowed to. Helen, you're the plant expert, can you ID these? They can get HUGE.

Derek has another question, while we're at it: what kind of flower is this? He really likes it :-)
nice flower

Kay has a nice little garden, and there's a path along the bottom of our property line, that we will create another path to join once we start clearing.
Kay's garden
Kay's garden
The path
The path
The path extends along our downhill property line and heads toward Don's -- which makes sense because when we bought from Don, there was an agreement that allowed us perpetual access to the dock by the big house and the right to put in a mooring. Kay probably has the same agreement.

As we headed back to the dinghy and on to Pete's Pub, I took this shot of the NE (downhill) corner of the property, a few very nice palms before the path joins the road, marking the easement.
Boundary Palms in fading daylight
Boundary Palms in fading daylight

At Pete's, we found Pete (in his signature bandana sweatband), and helpful, friendly, funny new neighbors!
Pete's Pub 01

Again, Pete's sculptures make the Pub more beautiful! Last time we were at Pete's Pub, it was a single leaning roof over a small bar on a deck, and it was only open when Pete had a reason to open it. Things have come a long way!
One of Pete's sharks
One of Pete's sharks

Like the Chat'n'Chill in George Town, people's boat tee shirts make up part of the decor as well:
Pete's Pub, one Thursday evening in July

The next day, we took a trip to Bookie's Beach and to visit Anthea and Roland to talk about good construction ideas for a local house -- theirs has survived well! Here's the beach, it faces the Atlantic side:
Derek and Grant love a bit of surf!
Derek and Grant love a bit of surf!

Running into the surf

uh oh...
uh oh...

Splash!
Splash!

Auuuugh!!! ha ha ha
Auuuugh!!! ha ha ha
:-)

Noooo! Don't let that rock get me!
Noooo! Don't let that rock get me!

On the way back, Derek also took a liking to this salt-tolerant ground cover with the succulent-like leaves:
Should have taken that gardening extension course!
Should have taken that gardening extension course!

The Atlantic side of the Little Harbour promontory is a wild and beautiful location:
when the hurricanes come, they move the sand dunes around
when the hurricanes come, they move the sand dunes around

On Tuesday, we are going up to Hope Town at Elbow Cay.
Comments
Vessel Name: Parallax
Vessel Make/Model: 37' Prout Snowgoose (1982)
Hailing Port: Pensacola
Crew: Derek, Heather and Grant
About:
Two astronomers, looking for variable stars and adventure. After cruising the Caribbean aboard S/V Paradox for 18 months in the early 90s, the crew swallowed the anchor and had a child, always planning their next Great Adventure: cruising under sail with Grant, showing him the world. [...]
Extra:
We knew that if we ever got a catamaran, we'd want a name to celebrate her twin-hulledness. Parallax is seeing the same thing from two slightly different points of view, which with our two eyes is what gives humans our depth perception. It's also a good metaphor for one of the benefits of marriage. [...]

S/V Parallax

Who: Derek, Heather and Grant
Port: Pensacola