After leaving Green Turtle Cay we headed back north to Powell Cay. We anchored on the south end, well protected from the light SE winds.
After anchoring, I (Tom) did some scouting in the dinghy, finding one short trail to a beach near the middle of the Cay and a trail that headed up the hill near the north end. The next morning, we hiked the northern trail not knowing for sure where we were headed. Well, we ended up on a beautiful beach on the north east corner of the Cay! We went for a swim in the pleasant, if not exactly warm water. It was the nicest beach we have seen so far.
The next day we weighed anchor and traveled just a few miles across Abaco Sound to Cooper's Town, a Bahamian town that does not see many tourists. Landing our dinghy near a bench with several Bahamians as an audience, we were glad that we landed the dinghy in a somewhat seaman-like manner. They were very helpful, and directed us to lunch at Richies Restaurant and to the grocery store. Lunch, as usual, was excellent. Although the grocery store was thinly stocked, we were able to pick up some much needed milk and eggs.
Most of the docks in Cooper's Town were destroyed in the hurricane in 2011 and were not yet repaired. A crew was working on the town dock as we walked by. There is an election coming up soon, and we have read that governmental activity shows a spike just before the election, so the current governing party can show their accomplishments. Let's hope the dock gets finished.
From the water, we had observed a large white roof towards the back of the town and we walked up the road to investigate. There, across from the cemetery, was a large, recently built Church of God. As we were looking at it from the road a gentleman came out and asked if we would like a tour of the building. He proceeded to give us a short tour and introduced us to the Pastor.
After we worked our way back to town we passed a very nice house. The gentleman that was checking us out at the grocery store told us to make sure to take a picture of the 'Prime Ministers' house. As he explained where it was, we realized that it was the nice house that we had noticed and went back to take some pictures. At the time we wern't sure if it was the home of THE Prime Minister of the Bahamas, or just an admintrator of the Northen District, which is headquartered here. Well some later research showed that it was in fact the home of the Bahamian Prime Minster. He was from humble roots and was raised and attended primary school there.
Everyone in town was friendly. The kids appeared to be out of school on a Easter break. The younger ones appeared to gawk at us, like they do not see many white people.
By the way, if you remember that we went to Green Turtle early to set up our satellite phone to receive email for weather information. You may also remember that I declared success on that project - well not really. After experiencing continuing problems, I tried another provider -OCENS mail. Well I have been very pleased- it has worked flawlessly! Besides just working well, as a software developer, I appreciate its architecture. It has a common 'gateway' program through which you can route not only email but other types of internet-type services as well. It also allows you to use an email program of your choice, no need to use a special program for satellite email. If you are considering satellite email, I highly recommend OCENS.
As I write this, we are anchored at Powell Cay awaiting a front that will bring 25-30 knot winds. Whether to stay where you are or seek better protection when weather approaches can be one of the most difficult decisions when you cruise. The anchorage here is well protected from the North - East where the winds are predicted. We weathered a squall here last night that had 30+ knots winds so our anchor is well set. While Green Turtle would be even better protected, you never know what moorings or anchoring space will be available. So, we have decided to stay. We are fairly confident, but it is always a bit unnerving to be the only boat in the anchorage. I will provide the outcome in a post script.
*******************************************************************************
PS
Well we weathered it fine. The winds were well up in the upper 20 knot range, but we were well sheltered by the island and our anchor was well set.
*******************************************************************************
After the winds had died down some we headed south to Manjack Cay. The first night we anchored in a small anchorage at the north end, which would have been fine if the winds blew from the east as predicted; however, the wind shifted to the south overnight, giving us a rocky, but safe night.
It did give us a great location to explore the north end of the cay which had had some preliminary development a few years ago. You see this type of situation in so many places, development efforts started, but coming to a crashing halt when the real estate bubble burst in 2008. As Donnie, the man who provided our moorings at Green Turtle Cay said, "Many people's dream homes, turned into nightmares". We have mixed feelings: in a way we don't mind a slowing down of development in many places; however, you really see the impact of the recession in the lifes of Bahamians and others along our travels - you have to feel sorry for them.
After the first night, we moved down to a very secure anchorage near the south end of the island. The beaches on Manjack, were the best we have seen so far! (I bet you think I say that to every beach)
Upon leaving Manjack on the morning of April 17, we traveled south through 'Whale Cay Passage'. Due to shallow water in the sea of Abaco, all but the shallowest draft boats must go out into the Atlantic and back in to go further south. The Whale passage can be difficult to impossible to transit if there are strong onshore winds or swells. We found very benign conditions on that day with 1-2 foot swells and no breaking waves.
Transiting the Whale, is a milestone on our trip, as we leave the relatively undeveloped northern and central Abacos, and enter the more developed Loyalist Cays to the south. First stop will be Great Guana Cay.
Tom
Great Guana Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/ug44r
No comments:
Post a Comment