Hope Town, the city hub on Elbow Cay, is a very picturesque, small, harbor town, the only way in or out of this island is by boat. The streets are narrow, not much larger than a sidewalk, the houses a very colorful with pastels and bright summer colors.The focal point of Hope Town's harbor is the red and white striped Elbow Reef Lighthouse. England decided in 1863 to build a lighthouse at Hope Town to warn ships away from the extensive…
Elbow Cay is our home in the Abacos for the next thirty days. We were greeted by Junior and Rodney as we pulled into Sea Spray Marina, along with our friends on Charlie and Linda on Freedom’s Turn. Sea Spray is located in a small bay with the Atlantic Ocean no more than 200 feet up and over a hill from the bow of our boat.We wake up and go to sleep each day to the crashing sound of the…
As a boater, when you read or hear the words “DANGER,” you'd better pay attention.Whale Cay Passage, just south of Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos, is one such place. In order to get to destinations further south in the Abacos all boaters have to travel through the Whale Cay Passage. The reason this can be so treacherous is that you have to leave the relative safety of the Sea of Abaco and the lee of the Cays out into…
Look closely at the bank hours (below-top/left). It seems they have to come from another island to open up this office only half days, two days a week. This was an interesting bottle of rum that we had never seen before. (below-top/middle) We found out that the burial society meets regularily on mondays at the coffee shop. (below-top/right)We heard that there was a fundraiser in the little town of New Plymouth today so we headed over in the dinghy. They really know how…
One of great things about the Bahamas are the friendly people. Lisa and I decided to walk the 3.5 miles into town because the waters were too rough to use the dinghy for transportation. We had not even walked a third of the way when we were offered a ride for part of the distance. As it turned out we walked about a third of the way there and received two rides, going back we again walked about a third…
Off early this morning to make our way south into the Sea of Abaco and Green Turtle Cay. The winds are 15 to 20 knots again, making the ride a little lumpy, but manageable. We arrived early enough to secure a mooring ball in Black Sound for the night. When we entered the harbor we were searching for an empty mooring ball to tie up to and were having a hard time since the harbor was quite full. After a…
We left on Tuesday morning with our friends from Freedom’s Turn to make our way to an anchorage in Great Sale Cay, an island in the middle of the Little Bahama Bank, 50 miles away from the West End. One enters the Bank from the Ocean through a break in the coral reef about a mile north of West End. The channel is narrow and the water is shallow so it’s important to take your time when navigating up onto…
After a nice calm crossing it’s nice to sit for a few days at Old Bahama Bay Marina, a first class marina resort complete with restaurant, pool, beach-side bar and entertainment.A dip in the pool, a walk on the beach, a cold rum drink and watching the sunset over the Atlantic were our first order of pleasure.The winds kicked up the day after our arrival preventing us of leaving so we ended staying three days... darn good I say cause Lisa…
After keeping an eye on the weather for over a week our original plan was to leave Fort Lauderdale on Friday early morning to cross over to the West End in the Abaco Islands. But as Thursday night arrived we started to see that a north wind was showing up on the weather maps. It was still there early Friday morning as we checked again and we all (Freedom's Turn, Charlie and Linda, is our buddy boat) decided to abort and…
The divergence of waterway activities from Boca Chita to Fort Lauderdale is remarkable in that the journey started with 15 miles of reef protected open water in the Biscayne Bay to the busy Miami area, up the ICW to Ft Lauderdale (considered one of the boating Mecca’s of the world. The Miami skyline grows larger the closer we get and the closer we get the greater our anxieties grow. For six weeks we’ve been used to the laid back life…
Boca Chita Key, an island located in Biscayne Bay National Park, is a small island approximately 12 miles south of the Cape Florida lighthouse on Key Biscayne. Boca Chita is a quiet oasis for boaters cruising to and from the Keys. Previously the island was privately owned but now is owned and operated by the U.S. National park services. The facilities are well kept up with warm ocean breezes and an amazing sunset view.HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM!!! Today we met up…
We left Marathon on Monday and were headed north to the Tarpon Basin but were diverted from our goal by a call from our friends Wade and Susie on Miss Happ. They were calling to say that they were in our area, actually we soon realized that we were only ten miles apart. They were headed to their slip in Taviner and we decided to cut our day short so that we could see them. We had been trying to…
We’d only planned on staying one night in Marathon as we make our way up the Keys towards Fort Lauderdale to wait for a good day to cross over to the Abacos, however back to back cold fronts brought high winds and waves making it necessary to stay put for four days, and counting. But it really is all good as it gave us time to pal around with people we love to spend time with.On Thursday, Charlie and Linda…
Bella Luna, C-Life, Sunshine and Wanderin’ L&M, Our Turn, Blue Max, Footloose, Highlander and Shore Thing are all boats that we’ve had the pleasure to travel, dock, anchor, sightsee and laugh with over the last five months. They have become friends and we look forward, with great anticipation, to meeting up with them whenever possible. Because of this we were excited to leave Key West and head for Marathon where all of these boats were docked for a month or…
We thought this houseboat in Marathon had enough lines on it. Don't think it's going anywhere.
As soon as we got tied up Jim had to rinse off the boat as it felt and looked like someone had sprinkled kosher salt all over it. Apparently this manatee liked all the fresh water around our boat.On the way to lunch one day we saw this big turtle right next to our dinghy.
That's how fast our time went in Key West. We enjoyed the city, sights and sounds but most important... the people, so, we'll be back.Prior to departure for the days cruise to Marathon I checked the weather and the waves inside the reef were forecasted for two-footers with a light chop close to shore. WRONG, more like four to five-footers on the beam with no light chop in sight. Forty-five miles of rocking and rolling and Lisa, who often gets…
Our first day here we met the Foster family. Dave, Vickie and kids Gunnar, Maxwell, Trey and Christopher. They welcomed us to the marina with a big plate of homemade cookies. During our stay they have provided local knowledge, given us directions, lent us their bike, shared a movie on the history of Key West with us and had us over for dinner on their 58' Gulfstar sailboat. This is an adventurous young family who intend to do some traveling…
