After so much activity and a series of onboard guests, it was strange to be back to just the two of us again. Groceries were low, the boat was a mess, we had no clean clothes, and dive gear was everywhere. We needed a semi-civilized place to regroup and do some planning.
We chose Spanish Wells, 50 miles away in the Eleuthera chain of islands. The sleepy little town and marina had everything we needed…. a small but lovely swimming pool, laundry, groceries, liquor store, and some walkable/bikeable roads. Ahhhhh….
We found a restaurant on the beach with great service, reasonable prices, and terrific food. The trifecta!! Almost impossible to find in the Bahamas. The poke nachos and fish tacos were delicious, the beer was cold, and the view was super relaxing.
There was even a homemade ice cream stand, open only for 2 hours each evening. Locals lined up on their golf carts and bikes. We joined the line on foot, and enjoyed chatting with folks as we waited for the two flavors that were being offered that night. Yummmmmm….
After a few “catch up” days, we had a plan for the rest of our Bahamas getaway. These whiteboards show a typical 2 week look ahead plan. We’ve used this method for most of the loop. It works pretty well for us.
It has helped a lot to have a visual reminder of our plan, but so many things can cause a change…. Weather, getting to a place and discovering that it is way less or more cool than we imagined, meeting new people and getting their recommendations, etc. In fact this plan was subject to the eraser several times before we actually got to West Palm Beach!
In general, we wanted to spend a week traveling around the Abaco Islands, anchoring out and snorkeling as much as possible before making the crossing back to Florida.
So we headed to Little Harbor, which was filled with 25 or 30 boats on mooring balls, and some at anchor. Crowded, considering the only area attractions were a protected harbor, Pete’s Pub, and a bronze metal casting gallery. We dropped the hook, ate at Pete’s, and spent a night there. Check out the Johnston Art Foundry. Gorgeous work!
The next morning we headed north and did a mid-day snorkel at Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park. We anchored the big boat and dinghied over to what we thought was the snorkel site. Really, it just looked like a big stretch of open water. But as the current became slack a boat showed up, and then another, and then another, all with snorkelers aboard. We felt very lucky to be there at the right time and place. The coral and fish varieties were abundant!
Our destination that night was Hopetown Marina on Elbow Cay. It was a newer marina and quite civilized, with a restaurant and swim up bar. Yay!
We walked around the cute little town and came upon a local ice cream maker. She was offering “hand rolled ice cream”…. The Bahamas version of Cold Stone Creamery, but with little ice cream burritos at the end!
And in the morning… another day, another island….
We cruised to Great Guana Cay and anchored out for the night at a (hopefully) good snorkeling spot. We used our snuba systems again, and dove around several huge coral heads with lots of fish. So much fun!
The next stop was Green turtle Cay, where we stayed at Donny’s Marina, another backyard set of docks, with basic services and a lot of hospitality. We took a walk around town. Charming. Several stores and a thriving shipping dock. Many of the buildings damaged by Hurricane Dorian (4 years ago) were still unrepaired. Take a look at the Customs Office. Yikes.
We filled our time there with lunch, grocery shopping, a twilight snorkel, dinner poolside at the local beach hangout, and a morning bike ride to breakfast and “sand dollar beach”, where there were no sand dollars to be found. Nevertheless, I think we really maximized our (less than) 24 hours there!
It was starting to sink in that we only had a few more days in the Bahamas. We really wanted to do some more cool anchorages.
The anchorage at Pensacola Cay was nothing special. Ho hum, just another pretty stretch of beach and lovely water. We had it all to ourselves…. How spoiled were we?
We took the dinghy in to shore to look for the ruins of an old missile tracking station. Again disappointing since it was just a bunch of overgrown concrete slabs. But hey, it was a gorgeous day, so we decided to walk along the beach to “the signing tree”.
And when we found it…. Wow!!! So quirky and funky and ornately decorated! For years, visitors have collected trash from the beaches mixed with signs and artifacts from their boats, to make a very creative art installation.
The hiking paths around the area were dotted with artfully composed arrangements of junk, including the “trail of orphaned shoes”! What a cool place.
For our last anchorage, we decided to go to Double Breasted Cay. We had seen it on an episode of “The O-Kelly’s”. They described it as one of their favorite spots in the Bahamas…. gorgeous, isolated, and very very shallow. Perfect for us!
And to top it all off, we “accidentally” spotted a Cape Canaveral Starlink launch! Weird that we could see it all the way down here, over 150 miles away!!
Then it was on to Grand Bahama Island, where we stayed at the Old Bahama Bay Marina. It was relaxing to sit poolside with a drink and enjoy our last night in the Bahamas. But we were kind of sad. But also excited to go back to the US. But also kind of sad….
We geared up and left the Bahamas for another crossing of the Gulf Stream, this time headed for West Palm Beach, and the official end of our loop.
I would say it was uneventful, but then we ran into this!
A pod of Right Whales (?) or some kind of small whale. We stopped and hung out with them for a while. We later wished we would have jumped in to snorkel with them. But maybe it was a good thing we didn’t. The Gulf Stream was ripping, and who knows which species they really were. In any case, they were super cool!!
The crossing took 4 or 5 hours, and just like that, we were done with the Bahamas, back in the US, and our loop was complete. Inconceivable.
To see our current voyage path with Gary’s photos, click on this: G&P Voyage Map
NOTE: Obviously, I’m not writing in real time…. We are actually back home in Oregon, and the boat is for sale in Florida. One more post to do and then all of this newsletter fun will be done.