Fowl Cay - Yes We Have No Barracuda

Tuesday 11th - We sail to Fowl Cay and in the spirit of you have to get straight back on the horse we go snorkeling. Only see blue tangs, queen parrot fish, yellow tail snappers and sergeant majors but today that's goodness.
We are going to have to hide out for a couple of days so we head for Hope Town but we worry there may be no moorings left. The tide is falling too so we put into Man o' War. After the entrance we decide to go into the eastern harbour (so called because it is to the south of the main harbour). The fear was that if we went into the main harbour first and found there weren't any moorings we may not have enough water to get back into the eastern harbour. Seems a good choice until we find that we can't get any internet from our mooring and we have to dinghy up to the other harbor anyway just to go ashore, which we do and dock and dine it again.

Baker's Bay and the Barracuda

Monday 10th - The weather hadn't cooperated with our plans to go to Green Turtle Cay and beyond so we have time to kill so we relax this morning.

We have two days of light and variable winds ahead of us then come Thursday we'll be hiding out from the wind again. So we take things easy. We go to the grocery store which is quite good here and we're tempted to stay for another night but around midday we shake off the lethargy and decide to sail to Baker's Bay and take the dinghy around the top of the island to the dive sites. Well it seemed a good idea at the time. Here's Baker's Bay looking toward the top of the island.

There is a marina but they've just decided it's only open to members and those who stay for at least two nights, i.e. no riff raff. We anchor. The rather ambitious plan was to take the dinghy round to the Atlantic side where there are reefs and dive buoys. It takes about forty minutes to motor round including having to run between two rocks with waves breaking on either side. We're about to turn around and come back but Syd spots a dive buoy over by the barrier reef. We tie up to the buoy and I jump in (Syd has chosen not to snorkel and is wearing slacks and has a book to read). After a short while (Syd claims it was 30 seconds) I'm climbing back into the dinghy saying "I hate barracuda". I'd reached the reef and ran into a gang of three of them.

I really couldn't just give up after the effort to come all that way so I go back in. Over to the reef again. I swim over the shallower parts in the hope the barracudas don't swim there. I come round a corner and there is the gang of three. I do a 180 trying to look casual rather than panicky. The next corner I run into another. He eyes me steadily swims a little closer while I put my head up to look for the dinghy. Syd is standing in the dinghy and waving his arms. I head for the dinghy with one eye on the barracuda. It's swimming along in the same direction. I notice it has a hook wedged in it's mouth. OK so he's had a really bad day and now looks like a punk with a nose piercing. I swim steadily back to the dinghy and haul myself out hoping nothing attacks my legs as I struggle to get in. Syd says he was really worried about me as something about 6' long and about a foot in diameter swam around the dinghy twice about 3' underneath it. At this point we decide that is enough adrenaline for one day and head back to the boat, with visions of a nice hot cup of tea.

This bay defeats all attempts at connecting to the internet but I find I have a note from Phil which I presumably got before leaving Treasure Cay. It contains the sad news that our friend Martin Trotter died of cancer this morning at 11:30am. A kind, thoughtful and generous man with a great mind. I had hoped he would be able to come on this trip but he'd said no he had to look after his chickens which I think meant he knew he wouldn't be able to do it. We ate dinner on deck as the sun went down and toasted Martin our absent friend. We'll always remember you fondly until there are none of us left to remember.

Treasure Cay

Sunday 9th - We have a great sail to Treasure Cay.

We pick up a mooring. Treasure Cay is a resort developed in the 1960s. It reminds me a little of Hythe Village marina except they didn't get the idea to make the buildings vary so it looks a little manufactured. It's said to have one of the finest beaches in the Bahamas and I can't argue with that, especially if you were talking granularity. It does have a tiki bar and sun loungers and umbrellas on the beach so it has a vacation resort feel to it which is different from the other cays. I've completely lost the plot on what a cay is. I had read that it was an island without a source of fresh water but it seems that everything is called cays now even if it's connected to the main island.

Another good thing about Treasure Cay is that it is protected from all wind directions.

Orchid Bay

Saturday 9th - sailed to Orchid Bay. We planned to stop at Fowl Cay but the sea was too rough. It was also gray rather resembling sailing in the Solent. We walked up to Nippers and then down on to the beach. We walked south along the beach remembering beaches like Bournemouth and Weymouth where you had to first find a space big enough for you then you spread out your stuff to stake a claim on it.

We walked until we had to climb over rocks

and then we followed a trail inland. We came across the now familiar sign,

which on the other side has,

Oops, fortunately they don't have "stand your ground" laws here so we only risk being told off, which no one does. It turns out we are in the Orchid Bay resort complex which is basically the southern part of the island. It is very up market and still under development. They still have empty lots for "cottages". A cottage being like this,

They've done a great job of landscaping the area, and seem to run a nursery to support it.

As a special treat we only paid $1/foot for the night.

We make it to the Dock and Dine at Man o' War

Wednesday 5th - arrive in HarbourView marina in Marsh Harbour. It's too late to cycle to Abaco gas so I take a taxi. Jeff the driver tells me he grew up in Hope Town and went to Nassau to become a teacher, taught for a while then went to Florida to get a degree. Eventually he returned to Hope Town. Lived there for 10 years but then moved to Man o' War because it was quieter. Well OK, about the only place quieter is Man o' War cemetery.

Thursday 6th - Head for Treasure Cay, we're hoping to get through the Whale Cay passage to have some time to explore before I have to come back to Marsh Harbour. It's starts to rain and the forecast is strong winds tomorrow so we put into Man o' War Cay. The entrance is narrow and rocky and then we have to avoid the shoals on either side so it is always stressful especially when the ferry or the landing craft freighter are coming the other way at the same time.

We go ashore for a quiet walk. I want to buy Steve Dodge's History of the Abaco which I saw in a store here but didn't buy. One of the strange things in MoW is that stores seem to hide at times. I was looking out for what turned out to be Joe's Emporium and walked right past it. The only thing I can think is they all look like homes. The map says there is a museum and there is even a weathered sign pointing up hill to the museum but it took three visits before we noticed a sign on a building that said Man o' War Museum. I don't think it opens. Speaking of which we were always puzzled by the ice cream parlour which opened between 7pm and 9pm, an hour after sunset at this time of year.

The Abaco was settled by loyalists who had to leave from New York, the Carolinas and Florida on account of being on the losing side of the American War of Independence. MoW is a family affair that started back when one of these loyalists, Benjamin Archer, had a sixty acre farm on Man o' War Cay though he lived in Marsh's Harbour (as it was known then). When he went to work on the fields he took his 13 year old daughter Eleanor. On one trip Eleanor met Benjamin Albury a sixteen year old boy who had come ashore after his boat was wrecked on the reef. Eleanor is always described as a "well developed" 13 year old which sounds like a clause added to smooth over some Victorian sensibilities. Anyway they fell in love, married and had 13 children and stayed on the Cay. My guess is they got started pretty soon after meeting. In 1977 230 of the 235 Bahamian residents in MoW were descendants of these two. So it's a little quirky but nice in the respect that it is a real community compared with say Great Guana.

We ate at the Dock and Dine which has a good reputation. Being a dry island the boaters turn up at the table with various containers. The food was good but when you ask for the dessert menu they suggest you go down to the ice cream parlour, which we did as it was 8pm. The ice cream was good too.

Friday 7th - We had to sit out the bad weather. Took a walk along the beach.

The Racing Turtle

Wednesday 5th - Went for a snorkel on the rock while waiting for the tide to get through the passage between Lubbers Quarter and Elbow Cay. We hoist the sails and find ourselves in amongst the boats milling about before the Hope Town Wednesday sailing race with 10 minutes to go before the start. After a few moments of shall we shan't we we decided to go for it and went up to the committee boat to ask if we could join in. We had to get off to a slow start because we had no idea what the course was. We think we came last but we had great fun. Here we are having tacked too early and having to use our momentum to get round the mark.

One of the boats racing was the Abaco Rage, a beautiful sloop built on the Man o' War. It is 28' long, 10' wide but has a 38' boom. They have planks, called pries, that they slide out and scoot out on to to balance all that main sail.

Unfortunately we couldn't attend the after race party as we were heading to Marsh Harbour to refill the propane tank and there was some heavy weather days coming.

Syd Arrives, Phil Leaves

Wednesday 26th - We wait in HarborView marina for Syd to arrive from the UK. He arrives on time but frazzled by the journey. His first words were "Gimme your phone I have to ring Jeannie". Turned out the flight from Heathrow was delayed when a passenger was taken ill after boarding the plane and they and their luggage has to be removed. This left him with a 30 minute connection but BahamasAir said they didn't have him on the flight so he had to buy a ticket again. The final twist of the screw was no phone working at Marsh Harbor airport, nor the marina pay phone. He eventually got through on Phil's phone and we went and had dinner in Snappas. The next day was rainy so we stayed at the marina as we had to be there on Friday as Phil was flying back to the snow in MD, then Saturday to the floods in the UK.

Friday 28th - We head for Hope Town and run aground. There are Spring tides with 4 foot range and we expected to have to anchor off and wait for the tide but we hit bottom some half a mile out. Managed to motor off and anchored for a while. Syd loved Hope Town as we all do. Visited Vernon's grocery store and in the line for the checkout got talking to a woman holding two coconut breads. She said they were good, especially as french toast. So we bought a loaf.

Saturday 1st - After a breakfast of french toast with honey we row across to the lighthouse. The lighthouse marina has a Bahamas courtesy flag so now we aren't being discourteous any more. Climbed to the top of the lighthouse and managed to get outside this time. The secret being to push on the door so hard that you are afraid you're going to fly through and over the balcony if it opens. We leave on the last of the flood tide and head down to Tiloo anchoring just south of Tavern Cay.

Sunday 2nd - Sail down to Sandy Cay but it was too rough so we sailed on to Lynyard Cay and went ashore and walked over to the Atlantic side. Syd had a first attempt at snorkeling and finally got the hang of it.

Monday 3rd - Motored into Little Harbor just before high tide. Went over to the caves then went out of the harbor to snorkel on the reef at the entrance. There was a fair swell but Syd snorkeled enough to see a southern stingray. Even though I've had stingrays wrap themselves around my feet in the Cayman islands I can't help but remember Steve Irwin so I don't get too close. We managed to get back into the dinghy a feat that I wasn't sure we would achieve and then motored back into the harbor and went ashore. We walked out to the abandoned lighthouse which the guide book claimed would be a "photo op". It turned out to be a one room building where the roof had long gone and the floor was about to join it. Outside a mast was lying on the floor, presumably it used to house the light. We walked down a narrow path to the foreshore where the waves had scalloped out a little bay about 30 feet wide and and the same distance in through the rock. Walked along the foreshore to Pete's Pub for a late lunch. We thought we were early for dinner but apparently Monday the kitchen stays open to five pm and then shuts for the night. As we head back to the boat the sun has gone down and there is a crowd on the beach. We motor over and ask if it's general admission or a private party. They welcome us in. It turns out to be residents who always get together on Monday night. We meet Gordy of Siccatoo (I have no idea how to spell that). He gives the report from Little Harbor every morning on Cruisernet. Apparently he is some VIP in the US tennis fraternity. He asked if we had taken the tour of the harbor, the disused lighthouse and the fjord. Oh yes we said.

We meet another resident who lives in Connecticut for part of the year but he likes to ski so he comes down to the Bahamas in November and flies back for January and February then returns to the Bahamas until May. He said we're more "mud birds that snow birds".

Tuesday 4th - We rode the tide out of Little Harbor and head for Sandy Cay. We anchor off the reefs rather than go around the island. We snorkel onto the reef and there's a great barracuda about 3 feet long. The book says there are no reports of unprovoked attacks but what constitutes provocation in the eyes of a barracuda? I think of barracudas as being the teddy boys/hell's angels of the sea. You keep your distance from them and avoid any confrontation. Again I had swum with barracudas in the Caymans although the instructor did keep us away from them, but a guy at the Marriott marina in Stuart , FL had made a point of saying don't wear any gold rings or the like when swimming around barracuda and he told the story of a woman who had her fingers bitten off when the light glinted off the ring. Here I am waving the gopro around which is kind of silvery in its case. That's silvery as in fish scales. This accounts for the lack of close up shots of the barracuda. I had also just read a passage from the Johnston's (of Little Harbour fame) book where they talked of being afraid of being attacked by barracuda.

The conditions were about as ideal as they get at Sandy Cay and by the time we left there were about four sail boats and half a dozen small boats there.

We decided not to go to Marsh Harbour but to put into Tiloo. We anchored just above Tavern Cay a short distance from a big rock. I snorkeled to check the anchor and carried on to the rock. It turned out there were quite a few fish there. Someone had dropped building blocks, the sort with two hollow centers and it seemed to be great for the small fish that could quickly disappear into them.