Easter Sunday!
27 March 2016
We decided we would attend the 11am Easter Services at the beautiful St. James Methodist Church in Hope Town. The first chapel was built in 1820 and had three feet thick limestone block walls, it was later destroyed by the hurricane of 1932. We enjoyed a traditional Methodist service and were one of the many that stood up to introduce ourselves and give a shout out to our hometowns. There were people from all over the US/Canada and the church was packed, pretty awesome experience.
We had made lunch reservations at the Abaco Inn Beach Resort, located about 3.5 miles from the center of town. Most folks rent golf carts (think Bahamian Bald Head Island!) when they travel to Hope Town, seeing that it was Easter week, the carts had been long sold out. We had learned the day before if you make a reservation at any resort for dinner or lunch they'll send the resort shuttle or cart to pick you up. Transportation solved for gimpy! As we had rode bikes to the North End of the island the previous day, we both knew it was too much for David to reach the south end.
Abaco Inn sits on a narrow stretch of land. Atlantic Ocean to the left, Sea of Abaco to the right. It was an incredible location to enjoy Easter lunch. In addition to providing transportation to any resort on the island, all of these beautiful properties allow you to use their pools, beach chairs, etc..as long as you spend some $ on food and drinks. I've never traveled anywhere resorts open their doors in such a welcoming way.
We had planned accordingly as we prepared to leave the boat for a full day.... church services, lunch, beach, in that order....bathing suit under my dress, sunscreen and of course a backpack with beer for the beach afterwards! (I'm sure we were the only ones in St. James with a cooler that morning).
We tipped our shuttle driver well as he dropped us at the door to the Abaco Inn and explained that if he was able, we love it if he could take us to Tahiti Beach after lunch. This picturesque place is located on the southern tip of Elbow Cay, about 2 miles too far for David to walk. The sandbar was endless as we arrived at near low tide.
This had been our best day of the trip, (my opinion) but the icing on the cake was meeting our new friends from Maine & PA, Anna,Erin, Matt & Holly respectfully! Anna and Holly had gone to boarding school together 40 yrs prior, Matt & Erin lived in the same area as Anna. After a few beers together we bummed a ride from them (as we weren't convinced the shuttle would actually come back as there had been a shift change). Matt & Erin offered to walk back to their rental house and we convinced them the Mack Daddy of all golf carts could handle the six of us! The plan was for us to go back to the Inn, but after the invitation to view their ocean front home (Peace & Rice) and enjoy a few drinks at their pool, we couldn't resist...new friendships had begun.
Good people come into your life when they're supposed to...
26 March 2016 | Hopetown
We spent 8 days at Boat Harbour Marina in Marsh Harbour. Being in the "big city" allowed us to get to the clinic for David's leg, get a new panel to replace the one we lost at Abaco Glass, re- provision, etc...
It was an interesting place, as the "regular boaters" certainly had their click of cruising friends and we weren't in it! David continued to finish loose ends with work, as the wifi was really good in his new "office" (inside the lounge area that had a TV with cable and sometimes bar service!) The staff was genuinely friendly and that is sometimes often not the case in the Bahamas, regardless of how much money you've spent.
As David was still limping and walking really slowly, people started remembering him as he gimped by...It was our last evening there,(we left for Hopetown in the am), and the nicest man stopped by our boat. He had talked to David several times as we were on the same dock as his beautiful Nordhavn SV. He clearly had some physical challenges that were apparent from the way he walked, but we weren't sure what issues he had going on. He stopped in front of our boat, as David and I were sitting on the aft deck and said "what can I do to help?" "I have a mobility scooter onboard and you are welcome to use it" WOW, someone who clearly has issues he deals with is offering help. We quickly assured him that we appreciated his offer but we had found a local cab driver that had become our "driver" and that wasn't necessary. David then asked, " Do you have back issues?" (from the way he sometimes carried himself on the docks) He response "No, was diagnosed with Parkinson's last year" Such a nice guy, willing to help and clearly faced so many challenges himself.
We had made reservations earlier in the day for the Wed. night Ribs at the Jib Room and were thrilled to find out our new friend Richard and wife Karen (and their guests from MN) would also be in attendance. Their boat guest Michael was actually the entertainment that evening and we bought on of his CDs! We had a great time getting to know them better.
Today on a different island (6 miles away) we by chance ran into Richard and crew leaving the 102 step Lighthouse of Hopetown. ...saw it as a sign this Easter weekend.
Arrival to Hope Town/ Capt Kirk
26 March 2016
Hope Town is located on Elbow Cay an eight mile-long cay in the Abaco Islands. With David's limited mobility we decided it would be best to have a local Bahamian Captain travel with us from Marsh Harbour (short distance of protected water but a chance to see this guy in action!) We had big plans for this Captain...he was going to eventually help us make the 80 mile trip to Eleuthera sharing his skill of fishing along the way.
He arrived about 20 minutes late (no problem Bahama time I get it) and as David was sorting out our marina bill this guy starts to untie lines. He throws the power and cable lines in and that's when I said "hey my "tidy man" likes things secured not just thrown in the cockpit and I like to have a plan as to what lines are coming off & in what order etc..AND my husband isn't on the boat yet!" We were off to a bad start. Just short of the entrance to the harbor he asks David to take the helm (we were in 4.5'
water) and goes off the back of the boat to vomit, thankfully I wasn't aware of what he was doing at this point. After getting secured in our new location Capt. Kirk quickly left David and I as we were in mid sentence and walked over to the cottages near our slip. I said "David he's puking" and that point we both realized that's what he had done earlier when he had to leave the helm. At that moment we decided his relationship with us had just ended!
"If Pigs Could Fly"
22 March 2016
We arrived in Marsh Harbour exactly a week ago. Our first night here we met two families from California on a father/daughter fishing trip. We became fast friends and enjoyed hearing their "fishing" stories each evening as they returned to the resort. Our paths seemed to always cross at the pool bar...
"Latty" and David competed in ping pong, ring toss, and of course drinking. When he and CJ asked David to join them on the last evening for the "pig hunt" it seemed (to me) a must do! He actually said "No" a few times and I was the one that convinced him to join his new friends on the nighttime adventure.
Latty & CJ had hired a professional fishing guide for the week, it was this same person that hosted the hunt. He provide the truck, riffle and 2 pit bulls. As they rode in the truck, David settled into the truck bed with the dogs sitting on the spare tire. The journey to the jungle was close to an hour, plenty of time for Dog Whisperer to turn one of the pit bulls into a friend giving David kisses as the truck rolled on.
When the truck reached it's location the guide, David and the dogs headed out. The guide was equipped with a riffle, the dogs had GPS on their collars' and my husband...well he grabbed the truck's tire iron. Latty & CJ remained with the vehicle, when they heard shots it would be the plan for them to come and "fetch" the pig! It became obvious the one pit bull was only interested in staying close to his new friend David & NOT locating a pig. After an hour of no luck the guide and David returned to the truck, but not before David fell into a hole. This hole was 5 feet from the safety of the truck.
The story was good when the guys returned to the marina, mean while the girls and I had enjoyed a nice dinner in the dining room. It wasn't until the following morning that David realized he was really in some pain...
Fast forward 3 days and now it's finally Monday AM and the clinics are open. I had taken out trip insurance to cover any unexpected travel costs associated with a medical emergency. My first call was to them, to find out what what the next steps should be. After many calls and 2 power outages that morning we had an appointment for 3pm. No Xrays were taken, but David enjoyed his 45 min conversation with Dr. Hull and felt convinced only muscles had been strained..."walk normal and try and not limp' was the medical advice he was given. Awe the the joys of Island Time......
Goat Rodeo Day
17 March 2016
There aren't many things I miss about having a sailboat other then the lack of large panels of glass. Glass and water are not a good combination, especially if you get into any kind of weather. We had a nice flat crossing and as we were making our final approach into Green Turtle Cay a large panel of glass on our starboard side popped off the boat. No wake, dead calm water and splash, off it came. We had all had a long day and decided we'd deal with the window in the am.
Captain Joe decided he'd sleep in, regardless of how much noise I made in the galley (which is right above the cabin he was sleeping in). David and I launched the dingy ourselves and finally Joe joined us on deck. We decided Joe and I would search for the glass via dingy, and David would get us & the boat cleared through customs.
After an hour of looking for the panel I told Joe we'd just have a new panel made in Marsh Harbour. As we prepared to leave I asked David "why is the dingy line so short?" I quickly figured out that Capt. Joe wasn't ready to give up on the piece of glass. He stopped Tambourine Girl in the middle of the narrow channel as David and I spotted the glass beneath the bow of the boat. David dove in and quickly realized he wasn't going to be able to lift the glass in the strong current as the tide was coming in.
Finally we were on our way to make the short run (20 miles) to Marsh Habour, (where I had booked Joe's flight home the following morning). As I sat up I the helm with Joe I said "I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to the water looking like it's only 3' deep" Joe, as he clearly was not paying attention says "OMG that's because we are in 3' of water" he quickly puts the boat in reverse, running over the dingy line, tangling it in our starboard engine causing it to cut off, in NO WATER! He continues to back the boat up with the port engine looking for deeper water. Once we got the boat in more water we dropped our anchor and Joe dove to untangle the line. It was quite tangled and it took him almost an hour to free the line. As David went to raise the anchor the windless wouldn't work, not sure why as it worked fine in Georgetown, SC. As he hand pulled he noticed the anchor was hung up on a cable in the sand. Capt Joe got back in the water and freed the anchor and we were back in business, mind you it was almost 3pm and we had left Green Turtle at 11:00am and I could still see the entrance to the marina. I couldn't deal with Joe's constant chatter trying to make light of the situation so I just decided it would be best for me to stay down below on the aft deck and enjoy some piece and quiet and well deserved wine.
Joe left on schedule the following morning, not sure our paths cross again!
Crossing the "Stream"
16 March 2016
Anyone who knows me knew how anxious I was about crossing the Gulf Stream. I'm part chicken, I also have a healthy respect for mother nature, but mainly I'm just afraid of dying! Weeks before leaving David and I both came to the conclusion I needed someone to travel with us. An insurance policy of sorts. He would take this boat to the Bahamas all day by himself, he does lots of crazy things (like renting a motorcycle in Australia when he hasn't been on one in 25yrs!) not me, I like playing it safe. Captain Joe came recommended by the diver we used while in Palm Beach. He came with an impressive resume of many deliveries to the Bahamas.
I had been watching the weather for weeks, comparing 3 different forecasts each day. Thankfully the perfect weather window opened on the start of David's vacation Monday, March 14th. S,SW winds 10-15kts and seas 2-3' PERFECT! We left the dock at 5:30am (up at 3am) the time change had occurred on Saturday, so it was really dark. It was really dark going out the inlet and it felt like I was never going to see the sun come up on the horizon. We traveled about 10 miles south to take advantage of the Gulf Stream current. I realized I'm not much a fan of the ocean at night. The only lights you see are from large ships, kept me wondering if we were showing up on their radars. Thankfully around 6:45 we could finally start to see, by this point the FL coast was long gone.
At 9:30am we saw the first Antennas of the West End, I was happy to leave the deep ocean and have the depth start reading again (it stops once you reach 600') I know anything over 6' is over my head but being in water that's thousands of feet deep makes me uncomfortable.
What I didn't realize was once we got into Little Bahama Bank what really would stress me was the lack of water. We were in a couple of areas where the depth was reading under 5', our draft is 3.5 AND the water is so clear it feels like the boat is in inches of water! I was thankful to have a Captain explain the local waters, coral heads, etc... We all took turns at the helm and all managed to nap as it was a long day with an early start.
We reached Green Turtle Key at 5:30pm, 12 hours door to door after experiencing more shades of turquoise water then I knew existed.