Saturday February 5, 2011

Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abacos Bahamas

Once again I woke up at 5:30AM and was unable to go back to sleep. It seems that when you go to bed at 8:30PM, it is easy to wake up before sunrise. I perked a pot of coffee and sat in the cockpit waiting for the first signs of light in the east. The stars were still out. I was excited. Today, again was a travel day for WaterMark and FinniIrish. We planned on weighing anchor at Man-O-War and traveling to Hope Town. While it was still dark, I programmed the route to Hope Town into the GPS.

Just as the sky was turning light, I made a batch of pancake mix and cooked myself a huge pancake. I still had a little butter left from the Florida provisioning so I buttered up the huge pan sized pancake and then covered it with Log Cabin syrup. The pancake was better than you would get at IHOP. (Sorry Marty)

Once the sun was up my first order of business was to change the oil in the Honda. The oil had not been changed since starting and the Honda was due. I crawled into the dingy and positioned myself carefully so as not to loose the oil plug by dropping it into the water. I carefully removed the oil plug and drained the old oil into a used and empty plastic milk jug. I let all of the old oil drain out of the motor. I then carefully replaced the drain plug. This was the hard part of the job. I did not looses the plug or spill much oil into the water. I congratulated myself on a job well done and heated up another cup of decaf coffee.

I then pulled up the anchor and tied off to a mooring ball that was close to the boat waiting for the proper departure time. At 9:30AM I started the Honda, threw off the mooring line and motored to the harbor entrance. FinniIrish was just motoring out of the Harbor at the previously appointed time.

I followed FinniIrish from Man-O-War Cay to Hope Town. This trip was 5.3 miles. Once into Hope Town Harbor, Jim and Ellie jumped into their dingy and helped me pick up a mooring ball. Seems that the harbor is so small and the number of boats so large, that they had to go to a mooring ball system to keep boats from dragging anchor and crashing into one another at night. The cost for a mooring ball is $20. Quite expensive, but then it comes with a hot shower. And hot showers are a luxery.

Once the boats were secure, we motored into see the dock master and pay the mooring fee. With the business part of the day concluded, we motored to the other side of the harbor and walked the quaint streets of Hope Town. Like Man-O-War this Cay was originally founded by Loyalists in1785. The main street of Hope Town is wide enough for one gulf cart to pass through. Small Toyota trucks have a problem but can make it down the “Queens Highway” if there are no pedestrians. The cottages are beautiful! Many restored. The prices for these quaint cottages starts at about $500k for a dump and one million plus for a restored home. Some are large type bed and breakfasts and other small homes owned by the locals. I saw a place that Sandy would absolutely love. The price tag was $2.4 million. I guess that I won’t tell here about it.

We wandered through the streets looking for the best place to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. We found a place called Capt Jack’s that said it had 4 TV sets. I could only see two, but the owner Capt jack said that he would be bringing in more for the game. Once the batteries in the computer got enough of a charge I was able to boot the IBM laptop. I then Skyped Sandy’s cell phone to let her know that I was in a new port and that I was safe. I also told here that there was a Catholic Church here and that I would be able to attend Mass on Sunday.

I ordered a BLT and a Kalik (Bahamas Beer) and fully charged the batteries in the computer and the iPod. The batteries were finished charging about the time we finished eating. Once our bellies were full, we wandered over to the ocean side of the Cay and walked along a spectacular beach.

All of the Cays here in the Sea of Abaco have an Atlantic Ocean side and a Sea of Abaco side. The distance between the two bodies of water is a short walk. Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean, you see turquoise blue water. It will change colors based on the bottom. There are coral reefs on the ocean side. The reefs are a great place to hunt lobster. The sun was out, and it was down right hot today. I worked up a sweat on the hike.

After the hike we dinged back to the boat and I tried to take a nap. It was impossible to sleep, so I jumped in my dingy and motored over to the showers. The water was warm and soft. A shower feels so good when you are hot and sweaty.

Once I was clean, I hiked a short distance to the candy striped light house that is a major land mark here in Hope Town. The light house was build in 1863 by the British Light House Service. It is still working after 148 years. I climbed to the top and took several photos of the harbor. The sun was setting and the photos should be amazing.

At sunset I jumped back into the dingy and motored back to WaterMark. Again it looks like and early night. I cooked a steak and crawled into my aft berth and fell asleep watching the stars. I wish I know their names. Orion is prominent and easy to identify so is Venus. At sunset the moon looks like a sliver of silver and sets about an hour after the sun.