David’s last entry in the Blog makes a hard act to follow, but I guess it is back to the travelogue now. While staying in Marsh Harbor we met up with several boaters who were getting ready for their summer season of taking groups Boy scouts (or Sea scouts, or something of the sort) onboard for a week at a time for 6-8 weeks. It sounds like quite the adventure but I’m not sure it would be the kitties’ idea of a good time. Two of these boat owners had built their boats by themselves and we got to talk to them at length about their boats and share stories. We also met the woman who champions the Wild Horses of Abaco and also runs the Marsh Harbour Buck-a-Book store (or storage shed, as the case may be).
It seems that the boating world here in the Abacos is, at least from what we have seen, much different than what we experienced in the Exumas and Eleuthera. In the southern islands there was quite an abundance of REALLY BIG yachts – the kind that have good size fishing boats travel along behind them for whenever they decide to go for a fishing jaunt. H
ere in the Abacos we have hardly seen any of the mega-yachts. The waters are populated much more with smaller sailing vessels, many of which are vintage boats not unlike Carib II. It has been very fun meeting other boaters who will stop by in their dinghies just to say hi and to ask about Carib II. One of the guys we met while we were in Little Harbour is an artist who works from his boat there and we got to see some of his work in a gallery in Marsh Harbour.After leaving Marsh Harbour we did go back to Hope Town
just to see the sites. It i
s such a quaint, quiet, walking town. Very picturesque. This, of course, is where we delighted in sighting Carib III! From there we skipped over to Man-O-War Cay which is just as picturesque but in a different way due to the less ornate style of architecture. There is a wonderful historical museum on this Cay which was great fun because everything on display was just right out in the open – no bars, ropes or barriers to keep you away from the artifacts. 
Man-O-War Cay is also still 
quite a place for boatbuilding and we had some great conversations with some of the long-time residents. Another thing I have to mention – the flowering bushes and trees here on every island are absolutely beautiful! I don’t think I have ever seen bougainvillea like this anywhere else. 
From Man-O-War we m
ov
ed on to Great Guana Cay where our friends from Cocoa, Bob and Chris, stay for several months out of the year on their boat, Leap of Faith. It was such a rare treat to get to see them and they even surprised us with a big homemade welcome dinner! Our second night on the island we went with them to the infamous Nippers which was great fun and good food. The next morning Chris tracked us do
wn around breakfast time and presented me with one of their new Sea Glass jewelry designs – a fabulous ankle bracelet! That night they were able to join us for a tour of Carib II and a dinner aboard. It is such a blessing to have good friends and makes me miss those of you I am not seeing now all the more!
Today we left Great Guana Cay and traversed the Whale area but instead of going off shore around the Whale (for those of you who have not traveled this way – it is an area that can be somewhat treacherous and you have to wait for just the right weather, wind and sea conditions) we went through what is known as the Don’t Rock Passage. This is an area where you also have to be very careful about weather
conditions when traversing this passage but it is also very shallow. The good news is – we made it with no problems at all and the sweet babies didn’t even get seasick today. Yeah!!! So tonight we are anchored off Green Turtle Cay and we just got back from a short walk around the New Plymouth settlement. Once again – a very picturesque place with beautifully maintained old homes, some of which date back to the late 1700’s. We saw an interesting site here – they are actually using old cannons placed end up in the water next to the shoreline as a place to tie 
off your boat line. We also came across what appeared to be a “wishing tree” with old floats hanging from it painted with things like “Get Well”, “Thinking of You”, etc. Since it is Sunday the vast majority of the town was boarded up for the day so we will go back in the morning to take tour of the Albert Lowe Museum and the Model Ship Store and Gallery.
5/18/09
Yesterday some guys came up alongside of us in another older boat built in 1934. They traded stories with David and invited us to their house today for hot showers (yippee!), use of a strong internet connection, dinner and drinks. This life is just blowing me away. For those of you who might be interested, the house is one they also rent out when they are not here. It is a beautiful, spacious place with a great pool and barbeque deck overlooking White Sound in Green Turtle Cay. The whole place opens up to the outside and the breeze is just delicious everywhere in the house. Kind-of-like being on the boat!
ov
ed on to Great Guana Cay where our friends from Cocoa, Bob and Chris, stay for several months out of the year on their boat, Leap of Faith. It was such a rare treat to get to see them and they even surprised us with a big homemade welcome dinner! Our second night on the island we went with them to the infamous Nippers which was great fun and good food. The next morning Chris tracked us do
wn around breakfast time and presented me with one of their new Sea Glass jewelry designs – a fabulous ankle bracelet! That night they were able to join us for a tour of Carib II and a dinner aboard. It is such a blessing to have good friends and makes me miss those of you I am not seeing now all the more!Today we left Great Guana Cay and traversed the Whale area but instead of going off shore around the Whale (for those of you who have not traveled this way – it is an area that can be somewhat treacherous and you have to wait for just the right weather, wind and sea conditions) we went through what is known as the Don’t Rock Passage. This is an area where you also have to be very careful about weather
conditions when traversing this passage but it is also very shallow. The good news is – we made it with no problems at all and the sweet babies didn’t even get seasick today. Yeah!!! So tonight we are anchored off Green Turtle Cay and we just got back from a short walk around the New Plymouth settlement. Once again – a very picturesque place with beautifully maintained old homes, some of which date back to the late 1700’s. We saw an interesting site here – they are actually using old cannons placed end up in the water next to the shoreline as a place to tie 
off your boat line. We also came across what appeared to be a “wishing tree” with old floats hanging from it painted with things like “Get Well”, “Thinking of You”, etc. Since it is Sunday the vast majority of the town was boarded up for the day so we will go back in the morning to take tour of the Albert Lowe Museum and the Model Ship Store and Gallery.5/18/09
Yesterday some guys came up alongside of us in another older boat built in 1934. They traded stories with David and invited us to their house today for hot showers (yippee!), use of a strong internet connection, dinner and drinks. This life is just blowing me away. For those of you who might be interested, the house is one they also rent out when they are not here. It is a beautiful, spacious place with a great pool and barbeque deck overlooking White Sound in Green Turtle Cay. The whole place opens up to the outside and the breeze is just delicious everywhere in the house. Kind-of-like being on the boat!
Posts
I have a question, what do the kitties do while you are ashore. Do they every get to go with you?
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about seeing your friends here, they will still be here when you get back!
Wish I could be doing what you are!