Exploring the Abacos

New Years Day found us waking early to get out of West Palm Beach and over to the Bahamas in one day. We got up at 5:30am with the plan to go under the Flagler Memorial Bridge at 5:45am because it opens on every quarter after and quarter to the hour. It was still dark, but it was a large bay and easy to navigate with all the marker buoys. We were less certain about the Old Bahama Bay, where we were going to so, we wanted to arrive there in the light. Our departure however, was delayed because our briddle was twisted up in a piece of debris. In particular, it was a large 8 foot section of a fibreglass hull with a propeller sticking through it. It took us several minutes to untangle the briddle. We were fortunate that we were able to do this with the help of boat hooks instead of having to lower the dinghy or get right in the water. We managed to get ourselves free and under the bridge at 6:15am. From there, things went very smoothly over to the Bahamas. We chose that weather window because the waves would be small and the trip across the gulf stream would be easy. It was very easy. We had sunshine and minimal waves. It also meant we had no wind, but for this trip we were okay with that. Fortunately we did pretty much nothing but sailing for the rest of the week! Turns out the sailing part of cruising in the Bahamas is a good as we have been told.

We arrived in Old Bahama Bay, in the West End of the Bahamas and checked in to this commonwealth island nation. Kevin had checked in online the night before, but we were still required to send one member from the boat to check in with paperwork at first arrival as well. We decided to stay at a marina at the Eest end because we were arriving later in the day and the local anchorages didn’t provide much protection from the winds expected to blow in that evening and the next morning. We arranged to stay just the one night. The biggest benefit from the night at the marina was the fresh loaves of bread we bought from a local woman; banana, coconut and cinnamon. We also managed to fill up on a little more water while we were there. The waters were already stunningly beautiful as we approached the Bahamas. The teal blue colour I had forgotten about since being in the U.S. The waters are also quite shallow in much of the Bahamas.

The next morning, we had a late departure and worked our way along the north end of Grand Bahama Island towards the Abacos on the far east side. Our first stop was a small island called Mangrove Cay, however, once we got through the initial shallows just north of Grand Bahama, we found we were sailing quite quickly. Plus, the winds were coming from the north and changing to easterlies during the night. So, we elected to continue to Great Sale Cay, which had a little more protection. It meant that we had to anchor for the first time in the dark. Things went very smoothly though. Thanks goodness for very good mapping programs and multifunction displays to help us navigate the shallow waters in the dark. We really enjoyed our sailing day.

The next day we took a short sail from Great Sale Cay to an anchorage outside of Fox Town. Although we were there early enough to go into town, we decided instead to explore some of the surrounding small islands in our dinghy. Simon was very anxious that we would run aground, but we managed not to by using the dinghy oars to test the depth of the water as we went. A portable depth sensor would be very helpful. We saw a ray swimming in the shoals. Unfortunately, the weather in the northern Bahamas and Abacos has proven to be a little chilly for water activities. We have noticed that many of our fellow cruising boats have gone directly to the southern Bahamas, and we suspect this might be because it is a little warmer. We have decided therefore, to make the most of visiting towns, exploring with our dinghy and practicing our sailing.

The following morning, we had a lovely sail over to Nunjack Cay. We are really starting to get the hang of sailing this boat and a grasp on what its limitations are. We are hoping our current diesel lasts for most of the Bahamas. We arrived in Nunjack and it was quite windy so we elected not to go to shore that evening. Instead, the kids and I played around with skip ropes on he foredeck to make sure we got some exercise in. The next morning however, we took our dinghy to shore and walked across to the other side of the island to look at the beach on the open ocean side. There was a fair amount of wind and thus large waves crashing on shore. The sand was unbelievably soft and the scenery in general was so stunning. However, it was mared by the presence of so much garbage! There were numerous plastic pails, jugs, bottles, boat parts and discarded flip flops. It is so sad that a place so remote and so beautiful has been damaged by our garbage. We picked up a bag of garbage ourselves and wished we could have taken more. We wondered from where the garage originated? Likely somewhere across and or on the ocean, given the currents.

After arriving back at the boat, we sailed over to Black Sound in Green Turtle Cay. The town there New Plymouth, is one of the place people check into the Bahamas if heading directly for the Abacos. It is a little town with a resort on the other side of the island. However, walking around the town it is obvious that it was severely damaged by hurricane Dorian in 2019 and they still have a lot of rebuilding to do. That hurricane was a category 5 when it hit the Abacos and stayed for over 24 hours before heading towards the east coast of the U.S.. The damage is everywhere; from flattened islands and cays to towns still being rebuilt 4 years later. It seems that so few of the houses are repaired and many seem like they are abandoned. We walked around town and got ourselves ice cream bars, as well as a Bahamian courtesy flag, which curiously we didn’t have yet. New Plymouth’s small cement streets and friendly faces reminded us of our time in Carriacou.

In Green Turtle Cay we stayed on a mooring ball. This is the first time we took a mooring ball, but Black Sound is very shallowed and narrow and taken up by moorings. Fortunately, it is well protected and we were expecting a mix of winds and directions in the next few days. Actually, our weather program, Windy, predicts a lot of changing winds in the next week or so, that appearing to be switching direction daily. A well-protected anchorage or mooring means a much better sleep at night for Kevin. The entrance into the Sound was so shallow; it was likely only 30cm below our keel while we were going in! Kevin did a very good job navigating the entrance and narrow sound onto our mooring. We planned to stay on the mooring for three nights. Since arriving in the Bahamas the kids have returned to their school work as well. After the trip home, they all seem a little more motivated to get their work done early in the day and spend the afternoon exploring. On Friday, Simon and Norah actually spent the better part of our traveling time working on a story book. I will put it on Simon’s page soon.

The next day was Saturday, and Kevin thought it would be a good day to do the touristy thing and visit the local pig beach! The Exumas are known for their swimming pigs, but the Abacos have a few of their own. One cay over from where we were moored was a beach with pigs to visit. We took a 3nm dinghy ride over and set up to have a picnic while visiting the pigs. It was a pretty rough ride over and the waves were bigger than we expected, especially for the dinghy to be pulled up on the beach. We moved it to a corner with slightly more shelter from the waves, but the waves were still threatening to sink our dinghy so we ended up tieing it up to the dock. It seems we still have things to learn about boat life.

Once our dinghy was secured we ate our lunch, including a conch salad purchased from some locals off the dock. We fed the pigs a little too. The piglets in particular were pretty darn cute! Nobody was swimming though, too windy and cool. So, we look forward to seeing more pigs when we get to the Exumas. After our lunch we headed back to Seasura for a typical evening on the boat. We are still eating our dinners inside, but feel that it isn’t long before we will be able to enjoy our dinners out in the cockpit around the main table again.

The following day had us doing boat jobs again. The kids continued to work on writing stories, but they were working in the crew cabin because they were also started to clean it up for their Nanna’s visit. We are excited to have guests and the kids are so excited that they are actually helping out with the clean up efforts. Meanwhile, Owen helped me go up the mast to do some work that we have left lingering for a long time. In particular, I needed to glue in our deck light that some how has managed to stay attached despite dangling by wires for the last 10 months in wind and sea. Also, I had to put in the spacer puck that fell out between the forward two diamond stays to keep them from chaffing. The puck fell down one night, way back in Carriacou. It was a relatively quick fix, but required a trip up the mast so that meant it was put off. I also re-secured the other two on the port and starboard stays while I was up there. Finally, I gave the mainsail track a good cleaning in hopes that it helps the mainsail fall more quickly when we are dropping it. It tends to stick at points on it’s trip down and this hinders our ability to drop it quickly or to take in a reef quickly if needed. We think that mostly it is sticking because the barrings in the top cars are old and flattening, but we figured it couldn’t help to make sure the track was clean as well. Replacing the barrings will be a job for another day (hopefully in the near future). A sister-ship of ours had great success improving the movement of the cars on the track when they replaced the barrings that were flattened. We also took one more trip into town for a walk. Like many of the tropical islands we have visited on this trip, there are chickens everywhere! No goats though. The kids are eager to see the goats again.

Our trip continues in the Abacos this week. We left Green Turtle Cay at first light Monday morning because it was just passed high tide, when our boat would be able to pass through the entrance to the sound without running aground, but when there was enough light to see our way. Our trip took us outside the barrier islands to go around a sandbar before cutting back in towards Great Abaco Island and specifically Marsh Harbour. We plan to be here several days while strong winds pass through the area.