End of the Abacos

We are leaving for Eleuthra in the morning. This will be the end of our Abaco journey and the beginning of our trip home.

We spent a day in Man o War Cay. The day we ended up there happened to be a religious holiday so everything was closed. It was Whit Monday. This island is very religious. It is a boat building island and is renowned for its craftsmanship.

After Man o War we went to Marsh Harbor to reprovision but the religious festivities were still in full swing so everything was still closed. Marsh Harbor was supposed to be the one place we could find things but with Whit Monday everything was closed here too. We did walk around some and find a nice place overlooking the harbor to have a drink. It seemed to be the only place open in town. It was the establishment that oversaw Moorings and Sunsail, yacht charters.

The next morning we left early for Hope Town. We had to arrive there at high tide to make it in the harbor. We made it in with 6 inches to spare under the keel and grabbed a mooring ball for the day and night. There is a lighthouse there that is one of only three in the world that is still manned and hand cranked. There was nobody there so we had the place to ourselves. We climbed to the top and took of lots of pictures. You can see for 13 miles from the top. Pam said she wanted to get a job there doing light house work.

The next morning we left with the tide on the way south and found an anchorage close to Sandy Cay in the lee of Abaco. It was close to a place we wanted to snorkel. We tried to take the dinghy to the snorkel spot but the winds were not helping and were making it a wet rough ride so we gave it up and snorkled near the boat at a small reef we found in the middle of nowhere. The next day we did make it to Sandy Cay and snorkeled. The elk horn corral was amazing. We saw sea turtles and lots of things.

The next morning we found ourselves in the Bight of Old Robinson. There was noplace to find a protected anchorage so we just dropped the hook for the afternoon and went exploring by dinghy. We found a small creek full of sea turtles. There were hundreds of them. The next day we found a blue hole here that seemed to have no bottom. We also managed to find a nice snorkel spot with a lot of lobsters. Mmm.

Tomorrow we will journey to Eleuthera. It is only 50 miles from here. We will anchor at Royal Island for a day or 2 then head for the Berry Islands and then Florida. We will probably be out of touch for a few days.