Thursday, April 28, 2016

Green Turtle Cay pics













Around the Whale to Green Turtle Cay

On Wed. The 28th we topped off our fuel and headed out of Treasure Cay.    The trip is probably about 8 miles as the crow flys but the water is a little shallow on the Sea of Abaco between here and there.  We headed out to the North Atlantic  and ran less than 2 miles around Whale Cay and back into The Sea of Abaco and to Green Turtle Cay (GTC). This is a treacherous passage between two reefs which can only be attempted in calm weather. The 14 mile trip was uneventful.

 We are spending a week or so at Bluff House Marina in GTC before starting the trek around the top of the Bahama chain and back to Florida.  My best guess is it is about 340 miles back to Ft Myers to store the boat for the summer.

Back to GTB, the Marina here is beautiful with a great pool, bar, and 2 restaurants. The weekly rate is a buck a ft, .65 kW, and .25 per gallon for water. There are 2 sounds on GTC, Black Sound on the South of the Island where the New Providence Settlement is. We are on the North end on White Sound.  Late yesterday  afternoon we checked the two sounds as they are only about 1.5  miles apart by dingy. We saw another boat like ours and Shazam we are invited for boat Drinks at 5.  Tonight is pitza night at the bar so guess what is up for dinner.

After breakfast we took the dingy to No Name Cay (3.5 miles)to see the swimming pigs.  They are so well feed you have to take the food to them on land.  In the last 2 days we have seen Dolphins, nurse sharks, turtles are everywhere, bone fish,  reef fish, huge rays, and even small rays jumping 2 feet out of the water.
Pics to follow.

Man O War, Great Guana, and Treasre Cay pics













Man O War, Great Guana, and Treasure Cay pics







Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Marsh Harbour and Lubber Landing Key.

Sorry for the delay in postings, Internet is painful,  pictures will follow when we get a strong signal.

We took a day trip our last full day at Marsh Harbour with a guide to explore southern Abaco.  We took about a 120 mile car trip and saw wild parrots, a freash water blue hole, and many spectacular beaches.  While walking through an ajacent Marina we sighted The Mimi.  This is 130' Burger moter yacht owned by Stan Hubbard.  The ship is morred every other summer at our home Port in Stillwater .  We spent an hour  at the pool bar discussing our travels with the ships captain.

On Friday the 22 we headed to an anchorage by Tahiti Beach on Elbow Key and anchored.  At 6 we headed by dingy to Lubbers Landing to attend a full moon party at a bar called Cracker P's.  We had a great buffet dinner and many rum drinks even a little dancing.  The full moon even came around 8 PM,  we cruised the one mile back to the boat under a full moon.

On the 23nd we made the long trip (10 miles) to Man O War Cay where we spent two nights on a Mooring Ball.  We explored the Island by golf cart, and saw the most beautiful beaches yet.  We departed and cruised North another 8 miles north to an anchorage of the shore of Big Guana Cay.  We took the dinks to The dingy docks and went to Nippers for the annual Sunday pig roast, dancing and libations.  The setting was incredible, a front row view of yet another most beautiful N Atlantic Beach. I would guess there were 300 people dancing and basically acting like 20 year olds. We skipped  the pig roast and went back to the boat to clean up for dinner.  At 6 we took the dings to Grappers a beach resteraunt and bar for  Cracked Counch and cold Kaliks.  This just gets better and better.

Yesterday we crossed back West across the Sea of Abaco to Treasure Key.  (8 miles) We are currently on a mooring ball in a resort community using the beach and pool.  Not bad for 30 bucks a night. Our friends on Sum Escape stayed behind at Man O war for a few more days.  Our other good friend DeVere will fly home for a death in the family leaving his wife here for four days.  We will part company in the morning and head to Green Turtle Cay for a week or so. We hope to reconnect and cross back to Florida around the 5-15 weather permiting.  Pictures when I can!

Friday, April 15, 2016

Hope Town & Marsh Harbour

We spent 7 nights in Hope Town, we could have stayed a month.  Great Marina, and we enjoyed adult  
Beverages by the pool watching the Masters! Great people, we enjoyed Dingy rides and several of the local restaurants, and Bars. You have to meet Gary at the Hope Town Lodge best bartender ever. We went to the Methodist Church with a view of the N Atlantic as we enjoyed the sermon on each side of the alter there were Windows looking out. God paints a beautiful picture.  Vernon was the pastor, the  local bread backer and grocery store owner plus he is the justice of the peace. It's for  sale if you want to buy it LOL!!! The operational light house is amazing and the view is spectacular from the top. We have moved on to Marsh Harbour, a mear 10 miles from Hope Town,   this is a great spot to provision.   We took the dink out and had amazing snorkeling at Mernaid Reef.  We also took the boat out through A pass to the Atlantic and went fishing, 4 ft swells. Caught one Black Fin Tuna had fun and  A good meal.
Stay tuned!