Man-O-War

January 28, 2014

We spent 4 nights on a mooring at Man-O-War Cay, a very unique Bahamian island.  First the people are almost exclusively European (White) Bahamians.  Ferries come in every morning bringing boat-loads of black workers, but they leave at night.

It is a very industrious and prosperous island.  It has a very small harbor and is not an extremely popular cruising destination, but it hosts a large number of winter residents, many of which are rather well-to-do.  All of them were surprised that we were staying only a few days, since many boaters stay for the 'season'.

Man-O-War is home to Edwin's, a premier Abaco boatyard with a great reputation  http://edwinsboatyard.com/Welcome.html.  Interestingly, they do not have (nor do they have room for, a travel-lift (a big machine that is used in most yards to haul vessels out of the water).  Rather they have a marine railway - a technology that preceded the world of modern hydraulics.  In a railway, the boat is blocked at high tide, and then with a combination of the tide and a large motor driven winch, the boat is dragged up a set of tracks and out of the water.  The process is reversed to launch the boat.

Marine railway

Man-O-War also is the hone of Albury Brothers, builders of high quality small boats http://www.alburybrothers.com/.  Following are some pictures of a boat in process  and some components parts.  Joyce has somewhat fallen in love with Albury skiffs and talks about getting one as our boat when we stop cruising, but they may be out of our price range.

Albury 20 Under Construction

 

Non-skid Deck just painted - bilge-boards sticking up

Consoles in foreground; deck behind

 

Mold - probably for a model bigger than 20'

We went to church at New Life Bible Church and enjoyed the service and the people.  One thing that surprised us was that they did not have an offering in the service.  As we were leaving, we asked and were pointed to a small box in the vestibule.  We returned that evening for a communion service which we also enjoyed.  It was almost entirely led by the elders and deacons which was nice to see.   Interestingly, they did have an offering at the evening service.

On Sunday, the Cay virtually shuts down,  Edwin's and Albury are closed of course, but the restaurants and stores are also closed.  When we were going to and from the evening service at New Life, the ONLY activity anywhere was a church service in each church.  We are not strict Sabbath observers, but it is quite refreshing to see a community committed to a community time of rest and reflection.  It is a given that places are closed on Sunday: in fact, the sign on the ice cream shop said that it was closed on Monday and Tuesday, open Wednesday through Saturday - no mention that it was closed on Sunday.

Following are a few pictures from our walk along the northern part of the island where a lot of larger winter homes are located - the word here is very PRIVATE.  Fences or hedges almost completely block any view of the actual homes.

Thatch fence - very natural looking

Interesting driveway ornaments



Where is Guildhall?


A few beach water pictures -pretty:

Our new AB Dinghy and Yamaha 15HP OB in the foreground

Flag football near the ocean - Marsh Harbour and Man-O-War boys split wins between varsity and junior varsity.

On Monday we made the loooong 6-mile trip from Man-O-War to Hopetown :-).  A nice thing about the Abacos is that once you are south of the Whale, everything is just a short sheltered trip apart.  We plan to stay in Hopetown for about a week.  While it is a bit touristy, it has nice amenities.  I write this seated in a comfortable chair, sipping a cup of coffee at Hopetown Coffee with FAST internet!

Tom
Moored at Hopetown
Elbow Cay, Abaco
   

Green Turtle to Man-O-War Cay

January 23, 2014

 

After 2 1/2 weeks we finally left Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay this morning.  We really like Green Turtle/New Plymouth and thoroughly enjoyed our stay, but it was time to move on.

 

A moderate cold front passed through Tuesday/Wednesday and the wind lay down nicely today.  We left about 2 hours before high tide and had no depth problems leaving Black Sound.

 

This trip features exiting the Abaco Sea  and entering the Atlantic via the Whale Cay Cut.  This is necessary due to an extensive shoal that blocks travel inside to all but shoal draft vessels.  Although there was little wind or seas inside, the Atlantic had a 5+' NE swell that made the cut 'lively'.  Periodically there would be breaking seas on either side of the best water when the wave set was unusually large, but we went through with the basic 5' swell.  You then come back in to the Abaco Sea near Baker's Bay.  As with all cuts in the Bahamas, this can be a very nasty transit and we were thankful for a relatively smooth passage.

 

We are current moored in the Northern Harbor at Man-O-War Cay. This is an interesting cay, with a shipyard (Edwin's) and a boat builder (Albury's).  Our stay here will likely be much shorter than  Green Turtle and we will likely move down to Hopetown on Monday or Tuesday.

 

Tom

Moored Man-O-War Cay, Abaco

 

Breakfast at the Liquor Store

January 17, 2014

Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos has been our home for almost 2 weeks.  We were first on a mooring in White Sound for a couple of nights and then moved down to a mooring in Black Sound for the remainder of our stay. 

Donny Sawyer of Donny's Boat Rentals hosts our moorings.  Donny is one of four brothers from a family with deep roots here.  We have finally mastered the brothers names (we think!): Reggie (home builder); Ronny (fishing guide); Donny (boat rental and marina); Roddy (marine construction).

White Sound has several nice marinas/restaurants and is the base for most cruisers;  Black Sound is quieter and closer to the settlement of New Plymouth and is our preferred location.  We have observed that many cruisers make a 2-3 day stop at Green Turtle on their way to the 'Mecca' of Marsh Harbour;  we find that places like this are a nice destination in themselves.  You really can't begin to know a place like this until you have invested some time in exploring and meeting people.

Our home away from home in New Plymouth has been Plymouth Rock Liquors and Café, or 'Daves' as it is know to the locals. We have found many 'odd' business combinations in the Bahamas and Daves is one of them.  The café was started by Dave's mother, but when he took it over he decided that he didn't like to cook as much as his mother and wanted to broaden the business, so he added the liquor business.  In spite of Dave's 'aversion' to cooking he still does a brisk café business and is the locals 'go-to' for breakfast and lunch.

On Tuesday and Saturday mornings, Dave offers Chicken Souse, a Bahamian breakfast specialty.  Souse is a spicy soup-like dish with chicken and potatoes and is delicious.  In spite of experiencing many traditional Bahamian dishes in our travels, this was our first Souse - it was delicious!

Photo credit to Ken Aiken

The Abacos were our first destination 2 seasons ago.  We had hoped to return last year but ran out of time after traveling through the Exumas and the out-islands in southern Bahamas.  The Abacos are much different than the southern Bahamas.  First the majority of people here are of European (Loyalist) heritage, while the majority in the southern regions are of African (slave) heritage.  We find the African-Bahamians very warm and friendly;  the European Bahamians are often initially rather cool, until you invest some time in building a relationship.  The Abacos are also much more developed, with stores, restaurants, and vacation accommodations.

 Two very friendly Bahamians are Scott and Martha who run Sid's Grocery.  Their father Sidney Lowe started the store many years ago. Martha stayed in New Plymouth to help her father run the business, but as his health started to fail, it became too much for her to handle alone.  Her brother Scott, who had moved to Nassau and had a 25+ year career working for a large wholesale grocer there, decided to return to New Plymouth to help her run the store. 

In the small world category, while talking to Scott and Martha, we learned that Scott's son, Stu, had helped us mount the new dinghy outboard we bought at Abaco Yacht Services here in Black Sound.  I later had a nice talk with Stu when he was picking up lunch at Dave's.  For anyone in the market for a Yamaha outboard, AYS treated us very well - it was a great experience.

I (Tom) had a very cool encounter at Dave's the other day.  Dave often plays the 60-70's pop music channel in the café, but one morning he had on a 'classic country' channel - I love classic country and was enjoying the music along with a cup of coffee.  The first song I heard was "Make the World Go Away" followed by "A-11",  both songs written or co-written by a famous song-writer named Hank Cochran.  I  remarked to an African-Bahamian gentleman at the counter named 'Winky', how I loved classic country and noted that the last two songs had been written by a favorite writer.

Winky said that Hank Cochran used to come to Green Turtle all the time.  You need to have a certain skepticism about stories you hear (especially at a liquor store/bar) and initially I was not sure it wasn't just a tall tale.  But as I continued to talk to Winky, he obviously knew a lot about Hank Cochran.  Apparently Hank had a 50' Grand Banks trawler named "The Legend" that he brought to Green Turtle regularly.  A long list of artists had visited Hank here including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, and others. To further validate the stories, Dave told me some additional stories about Hank's visits.  Apparently they featured some pretty hard partying and as Dave said, "It was in the old decadent days".   

If you are interested in sampling Hank's music, You might want to check our "Living for a Song - A Tribute to Hank Cochran",  a collection of his music put together by Jamie Johnson after Hank's recent death.  It features new recordings of many of his hits, featuring a who's-who of current country music artists.
http://www.jameyjohnson.com/

In closing, the following shrub caught our eye - it is a Poinsettia.  We only know these as potted plants you see at Christmas - who knew you could grow them as a shrub in your yard in the sub-tropics.  Corey (Ronny Sawyer's daughter who works at Daves) told us that it actually was much bigger before the last hurricane - wow!

Poinsettia Shrub in Ronny Sawyer's Yard

Tom
Moored Black Sound, New Plymouth
Green Turtle Cay, Abacos

West End, Grand Bahama to Green Turtle Cay, Abaco

January 7, 2014

Well, we are finally at Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos!

A travel window opened up over the weekend.  Planning the 100+ mile trip was complicated by a strong cold front arriving on Monday and the fact that you need a high tide to enter our planned destination of Black Sound at Green Turtle.

Saturday looked doable, but featured moderate winds right on the bow (not good) so we decided not to go then.  It is a bit nerve racking watching most of the other boats leave when you don't, especially  when the travel window ends with a strong cold front! 

Our plan was to leave Sunday morning when the winds were forecast to clock south and more on the beam;  anchor at Great Sale Cay for dinner and a few hours sleep; leave Great Sale at around midnight on Monday and travel while the winds clocked further west to arrive at Green Turtle for a late morning high tide. 

Despite the nervousness of Saturday, our passage plan worked great.  We had moderate winds and seas off the beam for the whole trip.  The wind was not strong enough to sail, but provided a very manageable motoring/motor-sailing.  In fact, we beat some of the boats here that left on Saturday and beat the cold front by about 12 hours.

Early Monday morning was very dark, however, with the moon setting before departure.  The moon light does not really help a lot with navigating at night, but it makes you feel better.

Unfortunately there were no mooring balls available in Black Sound, so we took one in nearby White Sound for a few days. We prefer Black Sound, which is near the settlement where many of the locals live, and hopefully we will move over there when the winds die down and a ball opens up.


Tom
Moored in White Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abaco