Blown away in the Abacos

Looking back at our log for the week, one thing jumps out right away; it was windy! From Sunday to Saturday the winds rarely fell below 20 knots. "Solid trade winds" the weather forecasters call it. I call it great sailing weather, so long as you're going down wind. But otherwise, it's just a pain. Too rough to snorkel, always a wet dinghy ride and the wind howling in the rigging all night. But I'd surely whine about too little wind either. Feast or famine, that's what it is. Nowhere to go so we make the best of it.

So after the cold front's passage the day before, we sailed the 15 miles from Treasure Cay back to Marsh Harbour, close reaching in 20+ knots of wind. We knew Seaquel was preparing to leave for the States soon so we were anxious to see them before they left. And just as we approached Marsh Harbour, Seaquel hailed us on VHF and invited us out to lunch. Cheeseburgers and fries at this cute little roadside shack were excellent, but the mailboat had been delayed so no ice cream was to be had for desert. I finished the day by retrieving 10 gallons of diesel in jerry jugs after which we camped out at the boat and hoped for more settled weather the next day so we could carry out our plan to head south to snorkel the reefs near Little Harbour.

But listening to the weather report the next day, we knew right away that our plan was going bust. The strong northeasterly winds we had now were set to become strong southeasterly winds over the next several days, ending in another cold front late in the week. We could not bear the thought of sitting indefinitely in Marsh Harbour waiting for better weather and we had seen all of the areas in the Hub of Abaco that we cared to see. With Starlight getting a bit restless to starting heading for Florida, we all agreed to sail north around Whale Cay to the good harbors at Green Turtle Cay.

But before we left, we really did want to see Little Harbour, one way or another. So on Tuesday, we rented motorcycles (100 cc). Really amazing how fast these little beasts go to weather. We covered the 25 miles in little less than an hour, even over the rugged dirt road the last couple of miles in. So what is the attraction? Not a whole lot really. The harbor is snug albeit a bit shallow getting over the 3½ foot low water bar. But Little Harbour is now famous for Pete's Pub and Gallery, and a little recent history. Briefly, Pete's parents were sculptures who came to Little Harbour in the 1950's creating a small art colony. Until they were able to construct some sort of dwelling, they lived in a cave overlooking the harbor. Their bronze sculptures won international recognition and they both became quite famous. Their son now runs Pete's Pub, location of some of the most outrageous parties in the Abacos.

Back at Marsh Harbour, we tooled around areas on our motorcycles that had been too far to explore on foot, including the islands only movie theater. With shows every night starting at seven, we made a plan to come back that night. Bopping around the harbor, we ran into our friends, Fred and Diana on Arawak, a 1971 Ted Hood custom 51 foot sailboat. When they learned of our plan to see a movie, they agreed that they had to come along. So just before dark, we mounted our trusty mopeds and speed off to the theater. About half way there, we passed Fred and Diana, peddling their bicycles for all they were worth; complete with dinghy lights and flashlights rigged for lights. To make a long story short, the movie ‘Drowning Mona' was DOA, but we had a lot of fun escorting Fred and Diana back. Like a police escort, Starlight lighting the way out front, Joyce and I following close behind the bikes, we all arrived safely back to the harbor.

And folks, this was not to be the end of our cultural experiences for the week. No, no...later at Green Turtle Cay, we took in the cultural event of the season. The all-age Green Turtle School's production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The kids really did a great job, especially considering the weather. The show was held outside, in the playground behind the school which is situated on the high hill overlooking the Sea of Abaco. A delightful view, most of the time. But the gusty wind was blowing right up the hill and through the trees, such that the kids meek voices were little competition for the howling breeze.

The trip to Green Turtle turned out to be a delightful downwind romp. To get to Green Turtle from Marsh Harbour, all but very shallow draft vessels must go out into the ocean through Loggerhead Channel and back into the Sea of Abaco via the Whale Cay Channel. Often impassable due to a rage sea condition, this passage can be intimidating and thus gets a lot of discussion over the VHF air waves. Our passage though was only a little rolly with plenty of wind to steady the boat and speed us along. By the time we reached Green Turtle Cay, the wind was over 20 knots gusting occasionally as high as 28 knots making our final approach to the narrow and shallow channels tenuous. But once inside the well protected harbor things were calm once again and we set about looking for somewhere to drop the hook.

Sometimes, anchoring turns out to be the hard part. Green Turtle Cay has two good harbors, White Sound to the north and Black Sound to the south. Black Sound is closer to the settlement of New Plymouth so we chose to try to set the hook there. Well known for the poor holding in thick grass, our first failed attempt at anchoring failed miserably. As soon as we started backing down to set the anchor, we dragged right away. Upon retrieving the anchor we also pulled up a basketful of this thick eel Grass clinging to the anchor. (Small wonder it didn't set.) A second location met with more success and we settled back for day. During our stay, we came to realize how lucky we were to get our anchor to set. We watched many try, fail and move on. Still others we watched set the hook only to drag when the breeze came up. We rescued one charter sailboat on one day and a motor yacht on another day, both dragging anchor towards the mangrove lined shore and when no one was onboard both vessels while they were drifting.

There are excellent coral reefs, perfect for snorkeling, just outside of Green Turtle Cay and we longed for the day when the wind would settle enough to venture out. In the meantime, Joyce set about clearing the beach of all the sand dollars, venturing out every day at low tide and returning with a bag full each day.

But as day after day promised no end in sight to the windy weather, Brian on Starlight grew more and more frustrated. Finally on Sunday, the forecast was for lighter winds so moods cheered and we made plans to snorkel. But Sunday dawned overcast and squally and in a fit of disgust, Starlight dropped their mooring and we sadly watched them head towards Florida. (We learned via email a couple of days later that they stopped only briefly at Great Sale Cay and then went overnight to Florida arriving safety the next day at Ft. Pierce ahead of an approaching cold front.) For the first time since we met up in the Exumas in mid-January, we had finally split with our traveling companions. Our emotions were mixed at wanting to stay with our friends and not wanting to leave the Bahamas so soon, especially on a bad note. As it turned out, the weather cleared and the wind died such that later that morning we were finally able to explore the nearby reefs and we even found three nice sized conch.

We will try to make the most out of the next few weeks enjoying the beaches and snorkeling before we too plan our crossing back across the Gulf Stream and as they say here to that "great supermarket in the west."