Heading home

Author: Doug
Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay

Our forecast for today:
TODAY...Our strong to near gale force winds early this morning will settle in to fresh to strong winds ENE-E@20-25K/Atlantic seas 8-11ft

We spent a nice day at Man Jack Cay which is just west of Green Turtle. We anchored in the southern anchorage and took the dinghy north to a pretty sea of abaco side beach, then hiked across the island to an ocean side beach. There are only two houses on Man Jack, but the island's owners are very friendly to cruisers, they even provide free internet in the main anchorage. The only thing they ask is that you pick up trash when you are on the island. The islands motto is "no trash on man jack." As a result it is probably the most pristine of all the abaco islands.

Jen, the boys and I did our part, we hauled ocean side beach trash to a trash pile for about 45 minutes. We built up a pretty big pile really quick. What is it with the lost shoes? We picked up 14 trashed shoes (none of them matching). It makes me kind of sick to think about how much trash gets dumped in the ocean. We can't go on like this forever.

We had a really rolly windy night in the anchorage so we decided to come back here to Green turtle for one last night of "civilization" before heading NW and back toward home. Our plan is to head for Allen's Pensacola tomorrow.

How the Bahamas were formed

Author: Bryce

Man Jack Cay SE Anchorage

Only a small part of the Bahamas are actually above water. The rest are submerged banks that are twenty feet or less deep. The water surrounding the banks is thousands of feet deep.

This happened because hundreds of millions of years ago the banks were built up by the formation of coral reefs and other rocks. That coral then became Limestone. Limestone is a soft, spongy porous rock.

About 200 million years ago the ice caps formed and the water level dropped a considerable amount leaving the Bahama Banks exposed to the waves. The highest of the rock and coral formations poked above the surface and became the actual islands. Soil and sand washed up onto the coral islands with the wind and waves. This formed the beaches and allowed plants to grow on the rocky islands.

Now days the limestone is being eroded away by the waves beating against the soft rock. This leaves gaping holes in the limestone forming overhanging cliffs, rocks and caves. That will eventually collapse. You can see evidence of this erosion in the pictures I posted here. We took these near Marsh Harbor.

As the rock is broken down new land is being formed by the growth of the coral reefs. This is why we have to protect the reefs. If we don't, someday the Bahamas and other island chains like them will be gone.

Come sit with me under the poisonwood tree

Author: Doug

Black Sound Marina, Green Turtle Cay

"The secret to living in Hope Town is to live approximately" Written on the wall in Vernon's Grocery, Elbow Cay.

OK, it was truly perfect weather today. Sunny, about 80 degrees, moderate NE to E trade winds. As I'm typing this at the galley table I can look out the port and see a sky full of stars. The air feels and smells of the tropics.

Monday's forecast caled for a "vigorous ridge of low pressure" to come through on Tuesday with wind gusts to 40 knots and a lot of rain. So we went back to Hope Town harbor (poor us) and picked up a mooring to take advantage of its 360 degree protection. Also, there is a lot to do there that is not neccesarily weather dependent.

The forecasters were wrong. Again. It was a beautiful day.

One of the things I have come to love about this part of the world is that they let you discover things, good and bad, for yourself. A few days ago when we were in Hope Town we wandered about the streets like knuckleheads, thinking there must be a beach around somewhere. There are no "BEACH THAT WAY" signs like we would have in the US. We even considered renting a golf cart to go to one. But we never found the surf and sand.

Allow me to digress. In the light of no good deed going unpunished, if you have followed our blog you know of our firefight in the scrub on Allen's Pensacola. There is a tree that grows in tropical places called a poisonwood tree. They grow profusley on Allen's Pensacola. I'm quite allergic to Poison Ivy. As I know now, I'm also allergic to poisonwood. Somehow I got exposed to this foul, mean spirited, sorry excuse for vegetation, most likely while I was hauling buckets of water up to pour on these very same plants to save them from burning. If I'd known then what I know now I would have laughed while I watched the whole darn island go up in flames.

It started in one tiny spot, but soon My legs and one arm itched. They itched a lot. And they broke out into a rash. Then they oozed, and swelled too. I needed a clinic.

So I went to the clinic in Hope Town. I don't want to pass Dixie Chicks style judgement on my own country, but man, it is easy to get minor health matters taken care of here. Thirty six dollars and thirty five minutes later I was on my way to feeling much better. Also, the clinic was on the road on the way to the beach. So we went. It was a wonderful ocean side beach with breathtaking water colors and pink sand.

The boys and I also discovered a spot on the Sea of Abaco side of the cay where someone dumped a barge, two big boats, two cars and a VW bus (circa 1970) in about 1o feet of water. When we snorkeled the area it was covered in fish of all types. The most we have seen anywhere, including mermaid reef. Simon and Bryce loved that one of the boats had an intact toilet seat inside. Right next to the lionfish, just past the school of rainbow runners.

Wednesday morning we left early for Guana Cay. There is a famous bar and grill there called Nippers which sits high on a dune overlooking yet another perfect ocean side beach. It was our favorite stop in 2007 so we were all looking forward to going back. The boys found some sea glass there and what we think is ambergris. We also bought a really cool conch shell horn from a guy named Milo (don't pay his first price). Bryce can really make it ring, Jen is worried he is going to pop a blood vessel or something.

We left Guana that afternoon and traversed the Don't Rock again on on our way here to Green Turtle where we picked up a slip at Black Sound Marina.

There are 7 guys here in the slip next to us. They arrived just before we did in an old beat up catamaran of indeterminate origin, no more than 32 feet long. They all just graduated from med school at the University of Tennessee, decided to buy a boat in Pensacola and sail it to the Bahamas. Never mind that they didn't really know how to sail, they figured it out as they went along. Seven guys on a small boat is a lot, one of our other dock neighbors said he peeked in the cabin this morning (about 10 am) while they were all still sleeping. He said it looked like a can of Vienna sausages. Their dinghy motor is older than I am.

But they are out here doing it and I respect them for it. At their age, or any age why not take a chance? They may never have the opportunity again.

Today we slept late then dinghyed/walked to Bita Bay. Bita is hard to describe, it is an ocean beach but is actually a shallow cove formed by a large reef and a tiny island that sit just offshore. There is good snorkeling in the protected waters of the shallow cove. Though it was supposed to be windy, 15 to 20 knots, the wind never really came up. Darn near perfect.

The boys put in a few hours of school work again today. They are so fortunate have a supportive principal and teachers.

Tomorrow we head for Mun Jack Cay. Hope the weather holds.

What's for dinner? Mutton, Honey

Author: Doug

On a mooring, Hope Town Harbor

Thursday, we had nice weather so we left Green Turtle and decided to head for Marsh harbor. Marsh is "south of the Whale" which means that it, along with the other islands in what is known as the hub of the Abacos is on one side of the Whale Cay passage. Green turtle is on the other.

Going through the Whale requires about a 4 mile stretch in the open Atlantic, out one potentially bad inlet and in through another. The Whale is known for reaching a sea state that the locals call a "rage," which means the seas break all the way across the inlet. Very nasty and totally impassable. One of the cruise ship companies built a little pleasure island in Baker's Bay, just inside the Whale a number of years back. They even dredged a long, deep channel into the bay, most likely wrecking a lot of the grass and reef that was there. But after using it for a few years they abandoned the whole thing. Often times the Whale was just too rough for them. Too rough for a cruise ship. That's rough.

There is one other way through though, a passage called the "Don't Rock." The Don't Rock is much more protected, though not perfect. Most people in deeper draft boats don't use it though because it is shallow enough that you have to visually pilot your way through. It has a bad reputation as being a prop wrecker.

We had a moderate day, 4 to 6 foot swells in the ocean, the Whale rough but passable. Or a rising tide and good vis for the Don't rock. I figured all those hours of staring at shallow water had to be worth something. We went through the Don't Rock. Kind of an anticlimax in a way. We had 5+ feet all the way through.

Marsh was OK, we stayed at the Jib Room marina. They have a great bar, which reminds Jen and I a lot of The Pub, in Road Harbor, BVI. We stayed there two days, the highlight for me was seeing Simon Rake and Scrape with Brown Tip. We bought a new camera in Marsh as well.

We left Marsh and had a very short trip to Hope Town. A quote from Jen about Hope Town: "I could marry this place!"

In 2007 we had to turn back before we got here, so Hope Town was a real goal for me. It is all I hoped for (bad pun); tiny narrow streets, fairy book houses, clear water, an awesome lighthouse. This cay is much hillier than the others so far. It is very, very cool.

I can't believe how close the moorings are in this harbor, some of the big cats that are on them have maybe 6 feet between them. You could pass the Grey Poupon to your neighbor.

The next morning we headed for Little Harbor and stopped on the way at Tahiti Beach. Truly, Tahiti Beach and Tilaloo Cut must be one of the worlds most beautiful places. Everywhere you look the area is pure magic.

We hung out on the beach for 4 or 5 hours then headed SE. We had strong easterlies though, it was calm and nice in the lee but too rough in two of the passes we would have to traverse on our way to Little Harbor. So I used the 180 I keep in my toolbox and we went back to Tilaloo. On the way I caught a decent Mutton Snapper. We grilled him last night.

We also took the dinghy and went to Cracker P's, a cool bar on a nearby island, Lubber's Quarters. Cracker P's has a great laid back sorta vibe, so we stayed for a while. The boys played volleyball and chased curly tailed lizards. Jen fell in love with a huge dog (musta been 120lbs, more like a donkey really) named Bigfoot and wanted to bring him home with us on the boat. I played Cracker P (the owner) in two rounds of darts and beat him both times.

Not a bad kinda day.

P.S. If you want to post a comment on our blog, just click the green link below each post where it says "0 comments".

Author: Bryce

Anchored Out: Tillaloo Cut, Elbow Cay

After we left Green Turtle we went to Marsh Harbor, it was neat, but I thought we could have gone someplace else. Marsh Harbor is the biggest town in Abaco, it is about the size of Crawfordville.

Our second day at Marsh Harbor we walked to a place called Mermaid reef. I expected just OK snorkeling, but it was unbelieveable. You had to wade out off the beach about 100 yards, but it was worth it. We brought a can of peas to feed the fish. There were so many and they were so tame you could grab them. We saw black grouper, nassau grouper, parrot fish (three differrent kinds), mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, ballyhoo, and tons of small tropical fish I can't name. A ballyhoo looks kind of like a needlefish. I saw one snag a pea on its nose and swim off.

The next day we went to Hope Town. It is a really neat little town, it is famous for its huge lighthouse which was bulit in 1879. We climbed to the top, there are exactly 101 steps. There is only a small light but it is magnified by a huge maganifying glass called a fresnel lens. It send its beam out 18 miles. That night in our anchorgae at Hope Town the lighthouse turned on and the beam of light swept over our heads all night long.

Today we went to an amazing beach called Tahiti Beach. It is near a place called Tillaloo Cut. We found a tree a tree fort built in the mangrove trees on the beach. The fort is called "monkey cay". It is really hidden, I think 95% of the people walk right past it without noticing it.

After that we took the dinghy to a place called "Cracker P's" which is a little restaurant on an island called Lubber's Quarters. We had fun playing darts and exploring.

Simon aka "White Tip" Rakes and Scrapes

Author: Simon

Jib Room Marina, Marsh Harbor

Note: The traditional music of the Bahamas is called Rake n' Scrape, it is played using whatever implements Bahamians could find as insturments. The most common one is the saw.

Yesterday my dad said to me "see that guy over there? He can play music on a saw. His Name is Brown Tip." We walked up to him and my dad asked him if it was true he could play the saw. He said, "Not only do I play the saw, I will teach you how to play it!" He smiles all the time. "I will be at Mangos from 6 to 9 tomorrow."

The next day my dad took me to see him play and to get him to teach me to play the saw.

He started singing Gully Roosters songs and I was in the band. He said I played so good that he was going to give me a nick name. He calls me "White Tip."

If was very easy to play the saw and a lot of fun. Brown Tip is the best saw player in the Bahamas.

Author: Simon

I helped put out the fire by using a pan to pour water and wet sand on it. Mr. Fred was a great fire organizer.

Bryce and I played Marco Polo at the hidden cove with Mom.

The Gully Roosters had really good songs. My dad wants a gully roosters T-Shirt.

Today I want to go to Nippers Beach.