Elbow Cay...March 26 thru March 30

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
After a skinny water approach to Sea Spray Marina and after a successful  "very close quarters" docking it was time to mix a Jack Daniels and watch the winds go from 18 knots to almost 40 knots in the next hour. That's a Captain that calls the arrival time "too  damn close", but that's living on the edge.....

A good nights sleep with the sound of surf crashing on the beach was all it took to call it another great day in Paradise.

So, off we go to Hope Town to  get the Ipad re-loaded for data. Did that in Green Turtle but it failed to work...
"Dat's Da Bahama's Mon"

This shot is taken from the golf cart on the way to town.......

Our second time to visit Hope Town and little has changed in 5 years. Although, the outlying area is building fast. Lots of new homes, especially beach front.

An old town with a lot of history. Cute little houses painted all different colors...
We must be in the Islands.

First stop was at the local clinic to get the Admiral some meds she had ran out of.

She has quite a story to tell about the Practicing Physician here in Hope Town. She was thoroughly impressed with her knowledge and experience.

Very refreshing to find in the out Islands.

Next stop the BTC store...Hours Mon. thru Friday 8 to 5.....
it's Tuesday and they are closed...
But the two men on the porch are there to deliver a sign for the store.
The woman works for BTC but not in this store......she asked to see Christines I-pad...tapped a few keys and said "There you go" it was not configured properly....

Well, my little chick magnet is reeling um' in here in the Islands.

She captured the hearts of two pretty little English girls, heavy English accents and all.

She just couldn't quit hugging Annie....

This gal said she was born in England, dad was in Conn. and she spent a few years in North Carolina.
Said she really likes Southern Country boys because they are more "Gentleman Like'...
I made sure she knew I was a "Southern Country Boy" but I think she meant new country....not classic country..

Found this Memorial with quite a view up on a hill in town.

Dedicated to all the souls that died out there on the Elbow Cay Reef...

Many ship wrecks are recorded to have happened on the reef..

A beautiful picture of the Lighthouse across the bay from town.

The anchorage is full and turning down boats every day.

There is quite a history to this old lighthouse. More on that later.

One more video of our ride back from town.........

Then it's back to Mystic Lady to get cleaned up and off to a Birthday Dinner for Michelle.


We had a nice dinner with Dave and Michelle at the Boat House here at Sea Spray Marina.
It was a fun filled day and ended with a even more fun filled evening with good friends.








Wednesday, March 28

Since Michelle wanted to go back to Hope Town to get a SIM card for her phone we decided to unload the dinghies and motor over to town.

Winds are strong but out of the East so we were able to hug the Leeward side of Elbow Cay and that provided for a great dinghy ride.
This is the channel coming into Hope Town...very busy.

It was also a good opportunity to visit the Lighthouse again. Dave and Michelle had not been here and it's one of those places you just don't want to miss when in the Abacos.

The view from up here is awesome and for me, I really like to check out the 1800's machinery that keeps this thing operating. It is the ONLY totally manned lighthouse in the world.

Goggle it sometime...

Pets are not allowed and Christine said...Thank You..
She said "Been there Done That" so I will just skip those 101 steps to the top.

They are patiently waiting at the bottom...

I can't possibly relay the beauty of the water around here but from the Lighthouse you get a good idea.

So many photo ops, so little time to put them on a blog..

A shot of the "Step Climbing Trio"....from up on the observation deck..

I wish I had got a shot of Michelle climbing thru the rather small opening to the deck..but she probably wouldn't have liked it anyway.


Now for the 101 steps back down.

I missed the best shot here too...Michelle climbing back down to the dinghy.

Dang, it's hard to hold the dog, keep mama stable, untie the line, get the Admiral down the ladder, unlock the dinghies, hold Dave's beer, bring in the anchor, and take pictures too.
Whew......

After the Lighthouse Adventure we motored across the bay for lunch at a place Dave and Michelle found yesterday,

What a view, this is from our table looking out over the Elbow Cay Reef on the Atlantic side.

Great lunch too...

And it's back to the dinghy dock, proceed with the process of loading, unlocking, pulling anchor, etc.......

Great times in Hope Town.

The weather is forecast to take a turn for the better in a couple days. Looking forward to being out on anchor for a week or so.

Got back to the marina and Christine and Annie wanted to walk the beach at sunset.

Wow...the wave were crashing and roaring....

Too late in the day to bathe Annie so we didn't turn her loose.
She turns into a Sand Junkie if allowed to run free.

Annie is about to call it a night...
One more day here at Sea Spray and then we will move to an anchorage near Tahiti Beach.

Weather is forecast to be Fantastic for the next week.




Thursday, March 29, 2018

Not a lot going on today, The Admiral is baking bread for dinner tonight..Yummmm.

Dave and Michelle are coming over for soup and bread.

Getting ready to pull out early tomorrow while at high tide.

Also the last chance to wash the boat for a while.

We now know how this marina got it's name, "Sea Spray"..     Mystic Lady is docked about 200 yards from the beach.
The salt spray has been real bad with these high Easterly winds.

It's a dirty job, but somebody had to do it.

The "Whale Passage" to Marsh Harbor/Elbow Cay

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Time to check out of the wonderful "Bluff House" marina.
Most guests have pulled out already but we are waiting on a favorable tide.

Our five foot draft creates a bit more challenge than most of the boaters over here.


After a week at Green Turtle we were anxious be on the move. Green Turtle Cay is a great place to stay a week but it would help if the weather would cooperate. We had a couple days to dinghy around but the rest of the week was too windy.

Luckily, we got a decent day to make the passage around "Whale Cay"..

..one of the most dreaded inlets in the Abacos. We experience 3-4 foot swells and choppy conditions but the forecast for tomorow is 9 foot swells. Not fun.

Entering Marsh Harbor after clearing the Whale.
Beautiful day across the Sea of Abaco....

The Whale wasn't a bad ride, just not as good as forecast.

We are facing the wrong way for a sunrise shot....plus a very busy day scheduled for tomorrow morning so I thought I would take a Sunset shot instead.

I don't think you could possibly get another "Blow-Boater" in that anchorage if you had to.
Been that way everywhere we go......

Monday, March 26

Not very many pictures today...very busy...lots to do to get ready to move over to Elbow Cay. We've got a cold front (yeah, another damn cold front) moving in around 4:00 p.m.

which usually would not be a problem but we MUST arrive at Sea Spray Marina at mid to high tide. Skinny water over there. So re-provisioning must be complete, check out done, and everything ready to cast off around 1:00p.m. in order to have enough water under the props and still get there before the 30 knot winds hit Elbow Cay.

But I will take time today to introduce you to two fine young men we met at Green Turtle and again at Marsh Harbor..
The one with the most clothes on is Brandan. He single handed Captain's the 75 foot Yacht in the background called "MoonDance" for a California owner. He is only 27 years old and quite an impressive guy.
Very knowledgeable with tons of experience.

The practically naked guy is Paul. That's Brandon's brother, he is only 31 years old and lives on a sailboat with his new Polish girlfriend he met somewhere in the Lower Caribbean. He sails freely but spends most of his time in the Bahama's working odd jobs...total opposite of Brandan. Both have great personalities and I was quite impressed with their life stories. Cool guys doing what they love.

Green Turtle Cay/ Mar.19-24

Monday, March 19, 2018

Planning on a week here, great place to hang out...Nice private beach...with bar.  One of the better facilities in the Bahamas's (IMHO)...
May not be able to get around Whale Cay for a few days anyway.....damn those Nor'Easters.

Hey, it's tough being "Captain Kirk of the StarShip Enterprise" and CEO of "Chafton's Journey" along with all my other chores so I asked the "Admiral if she would be so kind as to fix my breakfast while I worked.....

She came through in High Fashion with Pancakes, Eggs, and Sausage....what a woman.

So after breakfast I am washing the salt off Mystic Lady and look down to see this shark laying on the bottom.

Water here is about 9 feet deep.

It never moved the whole time I washed the boat.

So after all the chores were done we unloaded the dingy "Little Mystic Lady" and took off to check out the area.

It's been a while since we were here so we wanted to see what changed or was damaged during the previous storms.

Annie plops her butt down on the bimini top and says "Let's Go"....

She just loves to hang her head over the bow and watch the water go by.

She's like someone else in the family..She likes to live right on the edge.

The Sylvers from "Just Us" and the crew from "Mystic Lady" did a little exploring today.
We went over to Coco Bay, then to Black Sound, then over to New Plymouth...that's the big city on Green Turtle Cay.

Here all three girls pose for a shot at the public dock. We had lunch at the "Wrecking Tree". Best grouper and fries in a long time......

This was the power lines and Bahama Telephone Company lines across the street from where we ate lunch.

Just had to take this picture for the electricians in the family, namely Austin and Greg.

A shot of the waterfront area from the public dock....

This little town has a interesting history being one of the first settlements in the Abacos.

The Loyalists migrated here it the 1700's to flee the newly founded country of USA...
This port was the center of the salvage trade that was so big during that time.
The salvage men had to be licensed to work the wrecks and salvage the goods...they would meet up under a big tree on shore and count their booty...it then had to be shipped to Nassau to be auctioned off. They would receive about 50% of the money. That big tree was called "The Wrecking Tree".....we ate lunch under that tree....that's their story and they are sticking to it.

And after returning to the boat we decided to take Annie over to the Beach to let her run.

Well, we found the beach....not just any beach. This is the "Tranquil Turtle Beach" at Bluff House Resort and Marina.
Much improved from 5 years ago. More lounge chairs, more Tike Huts, Beach Games, etc.

Did I mention Annie likes the water. She had so much fun running and rolling in the sand.

This video should say it all.....

Tuesday, March 20

GOOD MORNING BAHAMAS


Sunrise from the back deck of "Mystic Lady"....

A new neighbor....with the next Nor'Easter screwing up our waters tomorrow (that's 4 Nor'Easters in one month)....several boats are looking for safe places to wait out these upcoming winds.
they are forecast to be 25-30 knots gusting to 38 knots tomorrow. Cap't Brandon brought this one over from Marsh Harbor. He says the anchorage is full of sail boats and doesn't want to be near the MayLay when the winds pick up. The anchorage here at Green Turtle is already full and only a few slips left at the marinas. Things might get interesting around here tonight.

But that doesn"t keep Cap't Jerry and Mate Annie from doing our daily cruise on "Little Mystic Lady".

Annie is ready anytime.....

The crew on "Just Us" was getting restless (they don't have an Annie to keep them busy)..
So we rented a golf cart and toured some of Green Turtle Cay.

This shot is on the Atlantic side of the Island looking out at the Reef Laden waters.
It's easy to see why the salvage business was so good back in the early 1800's..

Michele and Annie are checking out the shoreline.

I have never seen someone have so much fun driving a golf cart than Michele.

It was her first experience and driving on the left side of the road made it ever more fun.

We motored our way over to "Pineapples" for a sunset drink by the pool.
Not what you might think, it's a rough gravel road to a quaint little bar in their backyard overlooking the New Plymouth Bay.

True Bahama's .......

And this is why we work so hard to find these little Out-Of-The-Way places..

It's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Dave says...how in the hell did you find this place. I just said it's part of the job....

Arriving back at the marina after dark we walked right into the Nightlife. Live Music and Bar on the deck of BallyHo...
We sat and listened to the music and watched people dance while we talked about the bad weather arriving tonight.

But it wasn't long until Annie fell asleep, Christine started yawning, Dave dozed off and I couldn't remember how to dance. Michelle gave up and said "Oh Well"........It had to be 9:00 by now.
I guess we should have done this stuff when we were 40, not 70.....so we waddled off to the boats and called it another good day in Paradise..

Wednesday, March 21

Well, all that bad weather is either not here yet or it turned out to be a big "Nothing Burger" because it was a beautiful night with some showers and light winds. We'll see what happens today....

Looks like another great day on Green Turtle Cay so Annie and I are up early...exploring new trails when we discover this observation tower. It looked solid so I climbed up to see what the view looked like.

Next pic please..............

Seems the Real Estate Company put this observation deck up so people could see the view before buying a building site.
The view would improve with a two story house.

Annie and I weren't impressed, we like the view from Mystic Lady a lot better.

So once the gang got up and at'em....we rode into New Plymouth to do some more exploring.

This memorial is to the founders of the Abacos and especially Green Turtle Cay.
It describes why the Loyalists left the Colonies following the Revolutionary War.

You can tell the people are very proud of their heritage. The park is kept up and very clean.

The Memorial Park has about 15-20 of these bronze busts located around the main statues.

The one on the right in this picture is Mr. Albury. The Albury family is still operating  several businesses in these Islands.

All that's left of the Old Jail here in New Plymouth. The bad guys are taken to Marsh Harbor now.
It appears to have had a wooded structure on top of the jail cells.
Probably outhouses in the background.
The solitary confinement room is to the right of the jail. Only the rock foundation is left, about 8x8 square with a hole in the middle.

After our downtown visit we continued to explore until we came across a beach that the Admiral and I had visited 5 years ago.

Great place for a Photo Shoot..
                                                                                             March 2018

When all of a sudden we realized we had our picture taken at this same beach back when we were here in 2013..

I dug out the picture and "viola", little different kind of day but same smiling faces on the same stretch of beach.

June 2013

Michele having a little fun balancing on a rock while surf comes in.

Her and Annie walked a long stretch of beach before we headed out looking for new spots.

Just another picture of this gorgeous place.

Good place for picture taking but too rocky to walk out or swim out...

Gonna find a better place tomorrow....

When we returned to the Marina we decided to stop by the "Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar" and get a late lunch.

This sign was swinging from a tree near our table...
After some coaxing from the rest of the crew, Annie and I volunteered.......


Tuesday, March 22

Yeah, I know....I'm queer for sunrises.....

But when you're my age and you get up as early as I do you have time to relish the fact that you are truly blessed to get another sunrise..........so, you take a picture of it.