Great Loop & Cruising Adventure Blog

Back to the West End today. Seems like we just got here. Six-and-a-half weeks sure flies when you are having fun. We finally met up with Andy and Mary on Good News and Brad and Patti Salvage on Salvage Crew. They have been waiting a week at the West End for the weather to cooperate for a smooth crossing back to the states.

It looks like everyone is waiting for Tuesday, early morning, to venture out across the open ocean. Pretty much a mass exodus from the West End which is virtually full this Monday night. We did manage to hook up with Magic the lobster man one more time and bought four nice sized tails. He brought them down to our boat and cleaned them right there. He is one happy guy, as you can see from the photo with Charlie and Linda, especially today since we think he sold out.

Mary, Patti and I (Lisa) were out for a walk and stumbled upon this crab. He scurried around where we were walking trying not to get too close to us. A worker nearby said he thought it was a land crab. Sure am glad this guy or a bunch or his buddies didn’t climb into our boat. But if you wanted to catch him it might make a nice dinner. Just kidding.

Photo (above) courtesy of Mary Sarver

Last dinner out in the Abacos with the Looper group that is here. Good times, fun people and memories to last a lifetime.

Photo (above) courtesy of Mary Sarver

After the harrowing experience through the Whale the next stop was Green Turtle Cay, Black Sound, again a short, ten-miles from Treasure Cay and this will be our last short Abacos water day.

We had a leisurely day walking into and around town, one last time, just to make sure we would remember what it feels like to be on these small islands.

Back at the boat we headed up to Pineapples with Charlie and Linda on Freedom’s Turn and had one last round of celebratory drinks at Pineapples. I guess you could say that we were celebrating a cruise well done and a narrow escape in the Whale Passage earlier in the day.

We hit the hay early this evening in preparation for a couple of long travel days ahead of us before we finally reach Florida.

In order to get from Treasure Cay to destinations north/south in the Abacos a boater has two choices to travel through the Whale Pass, which is totally exposed to the ocean for about 4 miles.

Going on the outside of the pass, into the ocean (we took this going south back in February) or the Don’t Rock passage where you head out towards the Don’t Rock (rock) and make a sharp turn to portside (going north). The passage through Don’t Rock is shallow with a sandy bottom and has to be taken at high tide with reasonably calm waters.

When we left for the passage all indications were positive however once we entered it the waves kept getting bigger and bigger and before we knew it we could not turn back even though we desperately wanted to. So we pressed on riding the cresting waves which reached at least ten feet several times. These were the largest waves we’d ever been in and our Fathom 40, Kismet handled them well, better than we did actually. The captain showed calmness under pressure and got us through the whole ordeal, safe and dry. The only casualty, besides our shattered nerves, was one boat hook. The entire passage lasted about thirty minutes but it was a VERY LONG thirty minutes.

For an example of how unnerved we were, this is the ONLY photo we have of the event. The last thing Lisa wanted to be doing was taking photos and if you know Lisa this is saying a lot. If you look to the very left of the photo below (taken from the pilothouse window on the starboard side) you can see the wave starting to crest and we are going right into it.

Treasure Cay was another short ten-mile run and a place we’d never been to before however we have heard rave reviews from other boaters about the long beach and we didn’t want to miss seeing it this time around. We stayed at the marina which was fairly well developed and had all the amenities a boater might need short term.

Treasure Beach is a three-mile, horse shoe shaped, beach that was everything and more than we’d heard or read about and it was just a short walk to it from the marina. It features a fine white sand almost like powder, velvety turquoise water, that is in great contrast to the breakers moving over it under the almost violet sky, shallow waters good for wading and a shell littered beach making this one of the finest beaches we’ve ever seen.

We heard from a woman on the beach that the sand dollars here have six holes in them while back in the states they only have five. We thought this was interesting information, it reminded us of the cats at Hemingway’s house in Key West. Many cats there have an extra digit.

Trying to make our stay in the Abacos last longer, we have been dragging our feet by only traveling a short twelve miles to Guana Cay on our first travel day as we migrate north back up the Sea of Abaco.

Tightly secured to a mooring ball we dinghied to shore at low tide to explore a beach side restaurant/bar called Grabbers as well as the ocean-side party bar, Nippers. We are only staying one night so we just had the afternoon to reacquaint ourselves with Great Guana Cay.

We remembered this tractor (below-left) from our last visit here and we were intrigued by the Poisonwood tree (below-right). It actually is a poisonous tree and you should not even touch it.

Need a STOP sign? Got a can of spray paint? We got a kick out of this stop sign (below-right). It certainly is simple, as life in general seems to be here, and must have saved the town some $$$s.

We left Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay this morning to start heading back to the states. We plan to stop at a few different islands on the way out. Jim took this beautiful photo of the ocean, beach and clouds, you can almost feel the salty sea spray that was always in the air. We had an amazing month on this island and we have only positive things to say about this marina, its people and the location.

We got to know Junior and Rodney a little during rides to town and as their amazing band played on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Junior, the General Manager at Sea Spray, told us a lot about his growing up on the island and about the little school he attened in Hope Town (when they get to high school age they have to take the ferry over to Marsh Harbour for schooling), the state of the island’s economy and always answered any questions we might have. As Junior said himself he is a real “Go Getter.” Rodney shared with us some stories of some hard partying on the islands. He’s a happy guy and you can tell that he enjoys life.

Rodney (bottom-left) and Junior is the drummer (below-right)

One last trip into Hope Town, for internet, the bank and to walk around the town one last time so that we can savour and preserve in our minds how perfect this little town is. Only three, narrow, cement streets run through the length of town with even smaller paths cut across. The houses resemble a little girl’s playhouse with fresh coats of paint in a variety of bright pastels. Gulf carts serve as a popular mode of transportation  in this little island town.

Everything is just simpler here making it easy to relax and wind down a notch or two. The people are more than friendly and willing to help in any capacity. We’re sad because it may be a while before we return but in the meantime Hope Town on Elbow Cay is one of our favorite spots on this beautiful earth.