Here at Last

Every cruise is different and you never know just what is in store for you when setting out. Although Lynn and I have encountered unexpected obstacles, we are here at last, moored in the lovely Hope Town Harbour. Like downhill skiing or SCUBA diving, it sometimes seems like the effort of getting there to enjoy the activity is not really worth it. But, when we finally arrived on the Little Bahama Bank and once again glimpsed the calm, clear, blue water, I thought…oh yes, it was all worth it.

Believe me; subsequent blogs will describe the problems we overcame to reach our destination. But I wanted to start off with a blog of how good it feels to be back in this beautiful place. We set out from Lake Worth inlet along with Makani at 4 AM on January 7th. The crossing was a little bit rocky, with about 2 ft waves, but overall quite perfect…actually, probably the best yet. We didn’t see much on the way over. The most interesting thing was passing through a…hmmm…”flock” of Portuguese Man-o-War. They look like little blue balloons and there were thousands floating on the surface of the water all around the boat. We have never seen that before.

At about noon we crossed onto the bank. It’s still a strange feeling to go from 6000 feet of water in the ocean to less than ten feet in about a 1 mile span. Then on the bank the water calms down completely and you can see down to the bottom of the incredibly clear water. As the sun moves lower in the sky, the water begins to look like a big pool of mercury. It is a beautiful site. We watched for the green flash in a perfect sunset, but it didn’t happen. We anchored in Great Sale Cay a short time later. This is the stopping over point for many boats crossing over from the US. There were a whole 4 boats in the anchorage.

We pulled anchor early the next morning and headed for Spanish Cay where we checked in to customs. It was a lovely day on the water and later we enjoyed a hot tub and al fresco dinner at sunset. What a perfect way to enter the Bahamas!

Next up was Manjack Cay (strangely pronounced Nunjack). There we anchored alongside Makani and headed out to the reef to hunt for lobster. It was low tide so we had to walk the dingy across a few sandbars, but we were determined. When we finally arrived on the ocean side, we realized we had forgotten to bring our dingy anchor in our haste. So, Lynn stayed in the dingy drifting around while I snorkeled about looking for dinner.

Lobsters are actually quite easy to find hiding under rocky ledges. I managed to spot four different hideouts, with one sheltering at least five of the spiny creatures. Although I proved to be good at finding them, I was not as good at catching them. I tried to tickle them out, I tried to spear them, but they all managed to retreat further into the cave out of reach or to find an escape hatch. Lynn said it was quite hysterical watching my bottom on the topside as it bobbed around while I tried to snare a bug. In the end John caught two and Kathi caught two, so we all had grilled lobster for dinner.

The next day we pulled anchor and transited the Whale Cay Channel. This is a sometimes treacherous inlet if the conditions are not good, but this time it was perfectly calm. We anchored at Guana Cay later that day. Kathi and John once again headed out to the reef to catch some fish for dinner while Lynn and I stayed on our boat to work on the installation of our new water maker. That night we dined on Yellow Snapper and Chub…both delicious. I can see now that we will be eating well with such good hunters travelling with us!

After a quick stop at Marsh Harbour, Lynn and I came to Hope Town. It was great to pull into the harbour and spot many of our friends from previous trips…it felt a little like coming home. Once settled on our mooring, we hopped in the dingy to tour around and chat with friends we haven’t seen in two years.

Yesterday we wandered a bit around town and made most of the obligatory stops, like a munchies burger for lunch, Vernon’s grocery and of course the beach. Later we had Chuck and Dale over for dinner. Tonight we hosted a happy hour with our old friends Betsy and Jim from Smiles and our new friends Dan and Marcia from Cutting Class. This is still my favorite part of cruising, meeting wonderful people and developing lasting friendships.

Tomorrow we plan to head back to Marsh Harbour and meet up with Makani again. There we will do some chores and watch some football. Then we hope to start the trek south with a stop at Lynyard Cay to stage for our 50 mile transit from the Abacos to the island of Eleuthra. Of course, all is dependent on the weather as always.


Oh yes, it is all worth it :)))