Grace Baptist Church, Marsh Harbour

April 22, 2012

This Sunday we worshiped at Grace Baptist Church in Dundas Town, near Marsh Harbour – it was a very special experience and I am not sure where to start, but probably near the beginning would be best.

We came to Marsh Harbour and docked (for the first time in over 3 weeks) to wait out a strong cold front, reprovision, do laundry, etc. On a ‘major’ stop like this, we will occasionally rent a car for a couple days to make the chores easier and have greater mobility to explore the area, which we did here.

One of the things that I (Tom) had hoped to get was a haircut – I was getting pretty shaggy. We have found that it is often very hard to find a barber shop in new places, but that it often turns into an adventure. On the way back from filling a propane tank, I spied a simple sign that said ‘Barber Shop – Open’, so we pulled in. I went in while Joyce waited in the car. The shop was staffed with a barber and a stylist, both African-Bahamians. They were very nice and we had a great conversation as the barber (Ricardo) cut my hair.

As I was leaving, I said “God Bless You” – a farewell that I was encouraged to use by our dock neighbor family and dear Christian friends back in Bradenton (thanks Max & Trey). I have found that almost no one minds (is offended) and it can be a great spiritual conversation starter. When I said this to Jacquie, the hair stylist, I just knew that from her response that she was a sister in Christ.

After returning to the car, I told Joyce that there was a hair stylist in the shop (she doesn’t like to get her hair cut by a barber) and we returned for her haircut. As Jacquie cut her hair, Joyce asked her about places to eat and that we were looking for a church to attend. It turns out that Jacquie is the wife of the pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Dundas Town, the predominately black section of Marsh Harbor. Well we located the church and decided that we would attend there 11 AM service on the next day.

We enjoy visiting different kinds of churches and experiencing different worship styles, and although I never really worry about people being ungracious to visitors, you do sometimes worry about being a ‘distraction’. Well, we were seated in the third row and were warmly greeted both by Jacquie and several people around us, but there was no mistaking that we were visitors.

We were enjoying the lively service, but feeling a bit ‘on stage’ when God did something special. The wind started to blow and it started to rain heavily and after a couple of minutes the lights flickered and then went out. The worship team was in the middle of a song but they did not miss a beat: the electric piano went silent, but the drums continued loud and clear; the singers lost their sound system, but continued to sing out loudly; the congregation continued to sing and praise God. In the darkness it felt to me as we became one in a special way – no longer somewhat separated by culture or race, but united together in worship. In a way a foretaste of what John describes of heaven in Revelation 7:9-10 “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Pastor Shawn began a great message, without the benefit of a sound system, about being chosen by God .

The power eventually came back on and after his message he called Jacquie up to close the service. She greatly surprised us by speaking to us from the pulpit and saying how much we reminded her of a special couple from the states that had been close to her and Pastor Shawn. She then called us up front and they prayed for us – that we would have good weather and that our house would sell quickly in June. It was a very special moment.

Pastor Shawn closed with a need to buy a van for the church, which would be used to bring people to church that would otherwise not be able to attend. This is a very real need in an area with no public transportation. He noted that he had just received a ‘seed’ gift for that purpose. Well, we added a special gift to their church for this purpose.

While I know this is unusual, but if you feel led to help some special people with a real need, they are:

Grace Baptist Church
Grace Avenue
Dundas Town
P.O Box AB-20048
Abaco, Bahamas


Tom
Marsh Harbour
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/ngfkk

Northern Abacos

April 18, 2012

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.
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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

New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay

We enjoyed our time in New Plymouth, on Green Turtle Cay, tremendously, so
this blog entry will be devoted to some of the things that we found interesting
about the town.  After the American Revolutionary War, many of the people who
had remained loyal to England fled to other countries, primarily the Bahamas and
Canada.  New Plymouth was one of the Loyalist settlements that was established
during this era.  The Loyalist Memorial Sculpture Garden contains 25 bronze busts
of Loyalists that came to the Bahamas, with the focal point being this statue
showing Loyalist and slave women, representing the ancestors of the people who
currently reside in New Plymouth.

In the 1800's, many families moved from New Plymouth to Key West, taking their
homes with them.  Currently, New Plymouth and Key West have been declared
sister cities, and, after a hurricane, a group from Key West came to New Plymouth
to see how their sister city was faring.  During the visit, they rejuvenated the
cemetery, fixing the fence that surrounds the property.  As you go down the hill
into town, the cemetery is now a prominent feature.  Exploring the cemetery was
fascinating, and we soon learned that Lowe, Roberts, Curry, McIntosh and Sawyer
were all very common family names.  Many of the businesses in town included the
family name of the people who started them.  This wasn't always possible, an
example being Sid's Groceries.  Sidney Lowe started Sid's, but we're assuming that
Lowe's Food Store already existed, and he wanted these stores to be clearly
distinguished.  Sid's is now run by a son and daughter of Sidney Lowe, and you
can hear, in their voices, that they still miss him 13 years after his death.

During one of our visits, we had lunch at Plymouth Rock Liquors and Cafe.  We
bought lunch and a 6-pack of Bahamian beer, to go.  We could have also bought
some of Tom's favorite Barbados rum at about 75% of what we pay in the states.
 This combination of businesses fascinated us, and I decided that the specialization
that we have in the US is way over-rated.

After the liquor store and cafe, we stopped at Miss Emily's Blue Bee Bar, the home
of Goombay Smash, better known in the states as a Bahama Mama.  Miss Emily's
granddaughter served us, and supposedly, the family has kept the recipe a secret
and they make it in gallon jugs in their house each day.  We each ordered an
original recipe Goombay Smash and drank them at a picnic table outside the bar,
overlooking the town basketball court.  Since neither of us had ever had a Bahama
Mama, we couldn't compare the original to what is served in other parts of the
world.  It reminded us of a lot of other juice and rum drinks, but I felt that I to
have one so I could tell my friend who loves Bahama Mamas.

Thanks for your hospitality, New Plymouth!

Joyce
New Plymouth
Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/ug44r


P.S. by Tom

From this post you would think all we do is drink - not true, we only have an occasion drink, but they always seem memorable here.

Easter in New Plymouth

April 8, 2012

Today, we attended St. Peter's Anglican Church in New Plymouth, Abacos, for their Easter service.  This church has been recently rebuilt (due to hurricane damage), and the members have many fund raisers to help pay for the construction.  We had planned to attend their fish fry on Friday evening, but there had been squalls earlier in the afternoon, and they had lost their power.  We weren't able to get updated information on the VHF, so we decided not to brave the weather to dinghy in and then walk to the town.  But, the fish fry went on without us, and we're sorry we missed it. 

The Easter service started with a procession through town, singing hymns and gospel songs.  The procession started about 11:30 and went down the main street, past two or three other churches which were already in session.  It may have been my (Joyce) imagination, but it seemed as though everyone sang louder as we passed the other churches.  

Since New Plymouth is a Loyalist town, and we were attending an Anglican Church, I assumed that most of the members would be white, but the congregation was predominately black. Most of the white attendees seemed to be visitors; I'm not sure where the Green Turtle Cay Loyalist descendants attend church.  The church is served by a pastor who has five churches in the Abacos, and he officiated at one (or more) of the other churches today.  St. Peter's was served by a priest from Nassau today.

Since I was raised in the Methodist Church and have attended a non-denominational evangelical church for most of my adult life, I was not familiar with the liturgy of the Sung Mass of St. Peter's.  (We did spend a bit of time trying to figure out which book we should be following at any point in time).  And, although we sang a lot, they weren't the songs that I tend to associate with Easter.  But, we both thought that the service was a special experience, and there were many touching moments for us.  One of these moments was during the sermon when Pastor Saunders talked about having faith that God will protect you in your times of trouble.  He enumerated many of these times, ending with health issues.  Although everyone wants to be cured, he reenforced that this doesn't always happen, but don't be afraid because God has prepared a better place for us because of Jesus' sacrifice.  We then sang 'Oh, Victory in Jesus' for a second time, the first time being during the procession through town.

Oh, Victory in Jesus,

My Saviour forever.

He sought and bought me

With His redeeming love.

He loved me ere I knew Him

And all my love is due Him.

He plunged me to victory

Beneath the cleansing blood.

This was followed by a gospel song which included the line 'I know His tomb wasn't empty, it was full of my sins'.  I thought that was a perfect mental picture for this Easter morning.

Since church lasted over two hours, instead of the hour that we had expected, we arrived 45 minutes late for our reservation for the Easter buffet.  But, it was no problem.  When Tom apologized for being late, saying that the church service lasted longer than expected, the hostess/waitress said 'they usually do'.  The buffet included some traditional Easter foods but also island specialties like grouper, lobster, and peas and rice. 

Good food and a very nice day!

Joyce
Moored in Black Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/r82nj

Chicken Roti and Local Culture

April 7, 2012

Barefoot is a semi-vegetarian boat by necessity.  We usually don't eat a lot of meat, but Barefoot has a very small freezer, so we are limited to any meats that we can pick up along the way.  Lowes Food Market in New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay had some nice frozen chicken breasts so I (Tom) decided to make Chicken Roti, a Caribbean dish.

One thing we have found, is that you rarely get fresh meat in the out-islands of the Bahamas.  Due to the shipping logistics, fresh meat is not feasible.

In general we eat from provisions that we carry, supplemented by things we pick up along the way.  Our diet is rich in pastas, beans (dried & canned), and other canned or dry foods.

Lunch today was great, but illustrative.  We had tomato sandwiches - Bahamian bread that we bought at Sid's Grocery and home-grown tomatoes that Donny, who rented us our mooring, gave us and a small side of black bean soup and rice.  It was delicious!

Back to Chicken Roti.  We first learned about the dish years ago in the British Virgin Islands on a charter there.  We had the dish at Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke and really liked it.  It can be described as a stew with curry as the primary spice.

How we learned to cook it authentically is a short story that illustrates being a traveler, not a tourist.  We were having lunch at Marina Cay in the BVIs.  We were talking to our server, an older West Indian woman.  A group of young and quite loud West Indian teenagers came in to have lunch.  They were basically well-mannered, but they were quite loud.  Our server said how rude they were (we didn't think they were that bad).  In further discussion and later reflection, we noted that West Indians are quite soft-spoken and to be loud is considered rude.  Think about the last group of American tourists you saw, particularly after they have had a few drinks - soft-spoken - I think not.  It is important to learn the culture wherever you go; books help, but talking, and really listening to the locals will uncover the keys.

The server gave Joyce the secret to Roti; fortunately, I (the soup maker), paid close attention.  Heat your oil in a very hot pan and add the curry.  Stir and sautee at very high heat;  you are basically roasting the spice and extracting the flavor.  Then saute your onions and garlic and then your meat in the oil/garlic mixture.  They both will be infused with the curry taste.

Here is the basic recipe - http://www.caribbeanchoice.com/recipes/recipe.asp?recipe=228

Tom
Moored in Black Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/r82nj

Green Turtle Cay

April 5, 2012

As we had mentioned in a previous post, we came down to Green Turtle Cay earlier than planned due to problems with our weather systems.  Well I am happy to report that we can now receive weather information over our satellite phone from anywhere in the world!

We have, however, enjoyed Green Turtle Cay a lot. We initially picked up a mooring in White Sound, near the Green Turtle Cay Resort and Marina (http://www.greenturtleclub.com/).  This is a fairly old and exclusive (read expensive) resort.  They are, however, very nice to visiting boaters.  We had lunch in their screened-in dining room and bought a few supplies at the marina store. We also found out that they allow you to use the pool (as available) for $10/day.  We plan to take advantage of this when we pass by next time and also use their laundry (we hope).

We walked all around White Sound including the beautiful Coco Bay Beach:

On Wednesday we moved down to Black Sound (just a couple miles south).  Black Sound is closer to New Plymouth, the settlement on the island (population about 450).  This location puts us closer to the stores and restaurants on the island.

After we picked up our mooring, we went ashore and walked around town.  The majority of the population here is white and descended from Loyalists.  Loyalists are individuals that remained loyal to England during and after the Revolutionary War.  We are somewhat used to being on the 'other side' because we often go to Ontario, Canada that also has Loyalist roots.  One thing that you learn, is that history depends on who is writing it.  The Loyalist story is about persecution and confiscation of property during and after the war - stuff you definitely don't hear in U.S. History class.

New Plymouth is a real town (as opposed to a resort area) and we enjoyed walking around.  There are two decent grocery stores and a hardware store and in each of them we helped support the local economy!  Selection is not bad, but it is expensive - glad we really stocked up before we left the states.

A strong cold front is approaching, so we will be here a least through the weekend.  We had planned to be here to go to church on Easter anyway, but Black Sound will also give us a snug anchorage to weather the front. 

Our social schedule,however, is filling up:  fish-fry fundraiser at the basketball court sponsored by the Anglican church on Friday night- we find these types of events are a great way to meet locals;  possibly followed by the famous Bahama Mama (Gombay Smash) cocktail at Miss Emily's Bee Bar (the creator) later Friday evening; Easter at the Anglican church on Sunday; followed by the Easter Buffet at Harvey's Restaurant - sounds like a rough life :-).

Islands are different, but one the thing that remains the same is that the arrival of the supply boat is a big event. We saw the boat unloading on our walk around town. Time to get some fresh provisions tomorrow.

Tom
Moored in Black Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/r82nj

Dolphin Antics

This morning, as we were sitting in our cockpit, we had the pleasure of watching a dolphin mom and her baby within a few feet of the boat. As we learned at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon, Florida, a baby dolphin learns what to do by mimicking its mother, and the first thing it learns is how to breathe. This little guy (or girl) seemed to know how to go up and breathe, but it appears that he didn't yet know how to dive. With very exaggerated motions, the baby would dive down, with a fluke, and only go down a few feet. Many times, he would end up on his back, and then struggle to right himself. It was as if he was saying 'I know I'm not supposed to be like this, but I'm not quite sure what to do'. It appeared that he would be very tired after this morning romp, and we were glad that he's fed by his mom, since he probably won't catch anything himself for quite a while. We felt as though we were seeing some of the baby's 'first steps'.

The mother and baby were a ways apart, and the baby was only about five feet from our boat. But, the mom was watching all the time, and when a ferry came by, she immediately rejoined her baby, and we could hear her say 'now you have to stay close and stay out of harm'.

Joyce
Moored in White Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/r82nj

White Sound, Green Turtle Cay

April 3, 2012

Well, we are back online a little sooner than planned...

We are moored in White Sound on Green Turtle Cay.  We had planned to spend several days on the uninhabited cays north of here before arriving at this cay, but crusing has a way of changing plans.

As we mentioned in our last post, the more remote cays have no cell phone or internet access.  Also, the Bahamas, somewhat inexplicably, do not have any VHF marine weather service like we have in the states. Thus you need alternate means to get weather, one of which are so called weather faxes.  These are weather maps that you can receive over a HF radio.  We had planned to get these over my portable HF radio, but technical difficulties (including a computer that died) made that imposible.

Anchoring without good weather information can be dangerous, so we decided to head to Green Turtle where we can get internet. 

This will allow us to get weather information, but more importantly, allow us to set up our satelite phone so we can receive weather on that device.  It is more expensive, but will work anywhere in the world.

Just a few notes on our days in the northern Bahamas.  We anchored for two nights at Great Sale Cay.  This is a major stopping off point as boats enter and exit the northern Bahamas - not that scenic.

We then anchored at Allans-Pensecola Cay.   This is cute cay with a trail to the beach.  We had been told about the beautiful trail to the beach, but we didn't ask where to access it, since we thought it would be obvious.  We ended up on a very wild trail that needed bushwhacking in places...not the beautiful trail we were envisioning.  As we were finally reaching the beach, we found the real trail.  Lesson learned...when someone tells you about something, be sure to get good directions for finding it. 

I will close with a story about our stay at Allans-Pensecola and weather information.  We had talked to two boats in the anchorage at Allans-Pensecola.  Both had fairly sophisticated weather systems and freely shared their information.  At around 1:00AM on our first night there, a squall from the cold front that was not 'supposed' to push this far south, hit with winds around 30 knots.  Complicating the situation was that it put us on a 'lee shore'.  That means that the very hard shoreline was about 200 yards downwind; if our anchor had not held, we would have been been crashing on the shore in minutes. Needless to say, I spent several hours that night in the cockpit monitoring the situation.

Good ending - we held fine.  However, one of the other boats we talked to dragged their anchor and had to reset it- no harm, but a fire drill in the middle of the night. 

Moral of the story - not even the best weather information protects you completely!

Tom
Moored in White Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/r82nj