Abacos
Abacos
The next morning we fueled and headed around the north of the Bahamas to the uninhabited Great Sale Cay. This is a low island with few places to land Toby for shore patrol. It is low and covered with scrubby bushes. Not the most picturesque island in the Bahamas. However, when you are looking for protection from northerlies, it looks darn good.
Northerly winds persisted and increased. Great Sale has a well protected bight on the south side where we anchored. We were joined by three other boats, a catamaran, a sloop, and a ketch. The wind blew 25+ knots for two more days. We anchored very near the top of the bight with maximum protection. The first day we held through the worst of it and were comfortable when we went to bed. Through the night when we checked the anchor we could see we were dragging but we had room behind us and chose not to reanchor in the dark. The next day, we upped anchor, went back near our protected spot and reset. Again we held all day without problem and were sure we were OK when we retired. Wrong, night checks told us we were dragging again.
The next day was a breakthrough for us in the use of the single side band (SSB) radio. We installed it new last year and never really had decent reception of anything and it went unused through Cruise #1. A technician found a poor connection between the receiver and the antenna tuner through the summer and now it works well. We also found that if the boat is running 110v, either shore power or generator, there is too much interference to use the radio. Our use of the SSB was much greater this year.
Some cruisers are addicted to their radios. They are in constant communication with someone. There are cruiser groups that convene through the day at set times and frequencies on both VHF and SSB. Weather is broadcast by various forecasters, and many boats travel in buddy groups chatting by VHF along the way. I don’t think we will become that way but who knows? We like our privacy. Once we fill up on it, we may migrate to the more social side of cruising.
Our third night at Great Sale, the anchor held. We were still up often checking our position.
While at Great Sale, we found some water on the keyboard of our laptop computer. We dried it out and it seemed to work OK. We use the laptop for email, weather, and navigating and while we can get along without it, it is a very useful tool.
February 6 we moved on to Powell Cay. We had another fairly rough day but much better than the crossing. We navigated without the fancy software and it was good for us. We just checked position and plotted it on the chart. We got a little practice at finding range and bearing to planned turning points and destinations. We all grow too dependent on the technology.
Like Great Sale, Powell Cay is uninhabited but unlike Great Sale has great beaches and scenery. We spent two relaxing nights and a day there. It took a little work to get the anchor to hold and while raising and lowering to find a good spot, the power windlass quit working. It still functioned manually so I could crank the anchor up with the winch. I was looking forward to months of physical workouts with mixed emotions
Also at Powell Cay, after a brief resurrection, the laptop computer decided that our drying out job was inadequate and died, suddenly and completely. Ouch! No email, no navigation software, and less ability to get weather
February 8 we sailed to Green Turtle Cay in good conditions. We picked up a mooring in Black Sound for $5.00/night and found a mechanic that could work on the windlass. He determined that the gears and bearing were shot. Simpson Lawrence is no longer in business and parts are not available. Lynn decided that she wanted a new windlass for Valentines. Bless her heart.
A few days waiting for shipping and a price not much above U.S. prices we had a new Lewmar windlass.
While waiting we explored Green Turtle and the New Plymouth settlement. We rented a golf cart for 24 hours and drove up to White Sound and lunched at the Green Turtle Club, an upscale resort. Green Turtle and many of the other Abaco islands were settled by Loyalists at the time of the American Revolution. The accents are very different and the mix of white and black faces is weighted toward the white. It seemed a bit strange at first. Some cruisers call the Abacos and Northern Bahamas the “White Bahamas.”
Fortunately, when the windlass was done weather was favorable to go out the Whale cut and down to Marsh Habour. The cuts from what is called the Sea Of Abaco to the Atlantic develop sea conditions called a rage. If there is a northeast through southeast swell, the seas pile up in the cuts and conditions are seriously hazardous. Serious enough to eat ships and take lives. It is, therefore, important to choose your weather before transiting them.
Our next stop was Marsh Harbour. We sailed a bit and enjoyed the day. A short while before reaching the mouth of the harbor we started the engines to go in under power. As we entered this busy harbor with tidal currents running, both engines quit. We dropped anchor at once to avoid being swept onto the rocks, but this is not a good place to be anchored.
Both engines failing at once suggested fuel blockage. During the summer we had installed a dual filtration system and we were able to just switch filters, bleed the system and restart the engines within a few very hectic minutes. We were extremely thankful for the new equipment. Opening the filter and replacing the element would have taken much longer. We upped anchor and were no longer a hazard to navigation.
We didn’t find much to recommend stopping at Marsh Harbour except that it is a good place to provision and the people were typically charming, welcoming Bahamians. We waited in Marsh Harbour for weather favorable to go down to Little Habour. The weather changed and we had a lovely sail down to Little Harbour.
There are so many places we love in the Bahamas that it is hard to list favorites. If we could, Little Harbour would be on the list. The entry is a little tricky in some swells, but inside it is protected from all directions. The settlement was founded by an artist/sculptor, Randolph Johnston. He built a foundry for bronze sculptures and lived in a cave until they could build a house. It is a fascinating story and the tradition is continued by Randolph’s son Pete. Pete also established the open air Pete’s Pub “where the elite come to eat in their bare feet.” The floor is the sandy beach and the hours are from 11:00 am until the last customer leaves every day. We ate a lot of conch while in the Bahamas but perhaps the best was Pete’s coconut cracked conch.
Again we waited for weather then went out the cut and down to Royal Island near Eleuthera. Royal affords a well protected anchorage which we used for only one night before heading to Nassau.