ABACO

For those familiar with some of the personal dynamics, you'll be glad to know there was no bloodshed. Well, actually there was a fair amount of blood shed, mostly by Art as a result of a full body attack by the noseums and the resultant hideous itchiness. All of us got a lot of bites, but Art has the blood that's both attractive and reactive. When I say a lot of bites I mean hundreds. But that was a bit later

Rob arrived at Marsh Harbor on a different itinerary, but caught up with us before we had finished the first bloody Mary.  While Art went off to try to get computer access and a phone that would work here, the rest of the crew started out on a stroll. Rob and I eventually made it to the grocery store, piled up $500 of provisions, got it back with a cab just as Art was finishing his skipper's meeting, loaded up the ship, and started watching the lovely using men on a nearby catamaran doing their work cleaning up after a 42 day crossing from South Africa.

Jubilation is newish with three cabins and two heads, a surprisingly well equipped kitchen with a freezer as well as a fridge ( alas, no ice maker and a only a percolator to make coffee ), air conditioning while connected to shore, lots of laminate paneling, a very spiffy chart-plotter and auto-pilot, and a dodger that one can actually see through.

We cast off from Marsh Harbor somewhat after noon and made our way to Treasure Cay through beautiful almost emerald green water, with hardly another boat in sight.

The approach to the harbor was listed as a bit tricky because of low water and, sure enough, just before the entrance to the harbor we managed to get briefly hung up on a shifting sand bar.

We picked up a mooring...this was one of our neighbors

We took the dink to head into "town", meaning checking in with the harbor master and strolling over to the wonderful white sand beach, where Rob had a dip and the rest of us had a couple of rum punches.

Next morning Rob made us a nice breakfast, which we ate on deck .The animal highlight of the morning was a large dolphin which swam up to the boat, rolled over and seemed to want to rub its white belly on the white bottom of our grey dinghy ( near-sighted and in love? ) After another short stall on the way out we head out through a series of passes and the amazing array of shades of green and blue water, clear enough to see the bottom in all but the deepest parts. We got a slip at the Green Turtle Club in White Harbor and Marina, rented a golf cart and took it into town to visit a museum, where I was reminded of the connection between the Bahamas and Cayo Hueso, including pictures of the sister cities celebration in Key West during the time I lived there

Most of these outer islands were populated, after the elimination of the native peoples by way of disease and slavery, as the American Revolution unfolded, people loyal to the crown took advantage of land grants and in many cases brought their black slaves with them. The two portraits on the wall of this museum are actual people who moved here.

The range of housing throughout the islands is summarized quite well by the following two photos.

Dinner at the club was great food and fun service. After we had been caught adjusting the lights and the ceiling fans and the furniture, the hostess mockingly and with great humor announced that she was going to pray for us. After dinner, while were seated in the bar, she came from around the corner and said, " I could feel that you were there." .The bar was festooned with burgees of a million clubs and the walls were papered with US dollars, signed by visitors. The bartender's first attempt at Grand Marnier proved to be Maker's Mark ( both brown bottles with an M in the name ? ).

We shoved off just after 11 the next morning, made our way back out through the narrow somewhat shallow channel and into the multicolored sea

( including a stretch where the vivid green of the sea was reflected right up to the bottom of a cloud )

Then came a part of that journey which included a bit of time in open ocean which is called the Whale Cay Passage whose nautical characteristic is that in certain weather the deep ocean rising to the shallow Sea of Abaco creates a situation called  "raging", which includes very big waves moving from all directions at once. This is common enough that it is required that we call and get permission to travel through that area and report back once through the passage. The breeze was fresh, so Art decided that we should put up the main sail and sail. .A bit after we had turned off the motor and because of the wind direction and our course, it was time to haul in the sail. As we turned upwind and began that process, the seas went from about 3 feet to about 6 feet and the wind increased in a similar proportion, which lead to a whole lot of just on the edge of frantic moves to deal with tangled lines and a main sail that just didn't want to fall back into the lazy jack. After heading back into the lee of Great Guana things were calm enough to have a little lunch.

Docking at Settlement Harbor was a bit of a goat rodeo, enhanced by a squall which sprang up and stayed around just long enough to push Jubilation in all sorts of ways, and amplified by a few misteps on the part of the crew (us). One of the bow lines was not properly attached and came loose, which sent Rob flat on his back ( luckily not into the drink).

Perforce of all this we got to meet the people in the next slip as we were trying not to damage their boat. It was good they were there as they has to grab our dinghy and use their boat hook ( now with a decided curve)to fend off.
Dinner at the club with Ed and Janet was delightful for the company as well as the delicious conch salad. 

They told us a bit about their very amazing life....professors who designed a walking device for young people with mobility issues which has allowed them to travel extensively in a number of unusual formats, now transitoning into life as authors of " sexy adventures",(The Long Road to Paris) ,meanwhile spending several months a year sailing around the blue and green world called The Bahamas.

The wind blew strong all through the night.

After breakfast aboard ship, Paul and I headed out to find a golf cart, where we encountered a totally different attitude about rentals than at Green Turtle Cay -- no driver's license, no deposit, no need to refill with gas, no instructions…. just a key that is attached to a bottle opener.  In a culture so totally infused with alcohol, I wonder how long it will be before cannabis is legal.

After breakfast it was off to Nippers, famous for their brawl-inducing eponymous cocktail. Art, Paul and I had two, overlooking the reef and big ocean on a deck that had quite a few lubricated guests even before the lunch hour.

               After two it looks like this

Food there was very good, burgers, a tuna sandwich and lobster salad were all judged perfect.

Back in the cart we headed to the north end of the island for a visit to Baker's Bay, created for big cruise ships, who abandoned the idea in light of the above described ocean condition,  now being developed into a residential community.... very upscale if tending toward Disney Bahamas...with the really good selection of wines at really not good prices. Nothing is cheap, but life is rich.

It was amusing to see the local people dressed up and almost complaining as if the weather were cold....but perhaps 70 degrees is cold.
By now all of us now had many many noseum bites, but for Rob and me they were only red spots.....Art and Paul were plagued by itching madness and applied various creams and ointments to not great effect...especially for Art who had to resort to pharmaceuticals in order to get a good night's sleep.

Art got to enjoy a couple of Cuban cigars and while smoking one of them and talking with Ed on the dock, said, "Of course my cardiologist doesn't approve."  Ed replied, "My cardiologist is dead."

Next morning broke with a couple of delightful squalls, seeming to indicate the break up of the weather system that had been producing the very strong winds.

A bit more push-push-push got us clear of the dock and we headed out into the Sea of Abaco, which was still showing a pretty good chop as we headed south into the wind. Again and again the multicolored water, clear enough to see bottom even at 12 feet.

The wind wasn't all that cooperative during this visit, but we enjoyed what we got.

Hope Town was certainly the busiest place we visited. The harbor moorings seemed to all be full, many vessels looking capable of big ocean cruising. 

The marina put us right on the main dock, which made for direct access to the bar.

As the bartender shifts were changing, Chef Niel engaged us in conversation.  A delightful witty man with a deep local history. He's an Albury, "They're horrible people but they make good boats."  with a pretty amazing personal story, including losing over 300 pounds over the course of two years.  Once it was clear that we were all gay, he had a few very clever offerings.  "When my mother was freaking out about my being who I am I told her, 'Look, I'm a chef. If somebody doesn't like what I make they come to me and complain. So, if you don't like who I am, complain to the Creator.' "  He also described a woman as being "so butch she had to kick start her vibrator."  After two drinks we adjourned to Jubilation for a hefty nap in advance of a perfectly fine dinner.  I believe our table of four was the only one for whole evening and Neil joined us for more chat as we had cordials. Paul reeled off to bed a bit in advance of the rest. Here's a few snaps from around town, starting with our marina.

Sunday is still very much observed. There were two active churches, one surrounded by bicycles and full of highly dressed black people carrying on in a polite Pentecostal way, the other full of white people, the men in suits and without a sound coming out of the church. We passed a spot where two blacks were seated and were given a handshake and "Compliments of the Season" by a white couple heading into a restaurant for after-church brunch.  The only other commercial circumstance that was open was the very well stocked liquor store.

The Abaco Inn is a couple of miles down the Cay from Hope Town and set on the Atlantic side. Dinner was delicious, the breeze and crashing surf even more so.  Having drivers from the Inn and ferries from the Marina made for a very relaxing evening. I was solo as I made my way back to Jubilation, along the dimly lit dock, surveying my options for getting aboard ship.  The black skipper of the boat across the dock spoke "How was dinner?"   I jumped, "Whew, I didn't see you." He replied while laughing,  "I should have smiled."  His was an interesting story too.

Here are a few of the Christmas decorations from around the Abacos.

 

 

And here we are at the last dinner in Abaco.