2011.03.03 Hope Town

We are safely back on our mooring in Hope Town harbour…a good thing too as it is starting to blow like stink, David just reported 25Knots on the anemometer…I am not looking forward to the 50 knots predicted for later today… Bob & Connie (Wind Walker) are on their way here and they are reporting on feeling as if they were in a washing machine…hope they get here soon!

We have been on a few little sorties….first Rolf and Susan invited us to join them on a little trip down to Tiloo Cay on their launch… the boys went ashore with Rudder and explored the beach and were invited to visit a very impressive property by some bikini clad lady….Susan and I stayed on the boat and had a good little bonding session.

On the way back we stopped and went exploring Tiloo sound where we saw very extraordinary birds which Rolf said were Oyster catchers as well as a Great Blue Heron who was on the run as Rudder was barking at him.

Then last Friday we let go our mooring ball and headed out to Man O War Cay ….it was a gorgeous day….we picked up a mooring in the West harbour right beside Aquabella, Dovolena was there as well and after lunch we all went for a walk up to the West end of the cay…again magnificent properties and Val found herself a beach for her daily swim..

I found a cap buried in the sand …last year I found another buried treasure a huge bath towel….I am pragmatic…I find useful treasures!

The next morning we came out of Man O War and met up with Briezi (our sister ship) as we had planned on going to explore Bakers bay at the west end of Great Guana Cay together..it was another glorious day and we had all sails out..so did Briezi….now of course we were not racing and we were not on the same course as they were coming up from Hope Town and we from Man O War but it is hard to resist thinking…Hummmm…same boat…they seem to be going faster than us…and then you start making excuses…of course we are in full cruising mode, carrying enough provisions to feed a couple of third world countries… all of a sudden David goes below and comes back in a bit of a panic (as much as any Brit will allow himself to display such an emotion)..we are sinking!!!...what?....the bilge of full of water almost to the floor boards…and we have a DEEP keel….the worst part is that the auto bilge pump has not kicked in so I am holding my finger on the other bilge pump button, while David gets the handle for the manual bilge pump and it seems to take forever to empty the bilge…the next thing, of course, is to identify the source of all that water… well, the level does not seem to go up again, but we do hear a drip…drip…

The culprit was the engine driven refrigeration condenser….it had developed a slow leak and we had sort of plugged it but the patch did not hold well enough and it was slowing (over a period of a few weeks!!) but surely filling up our bilges….so moral of the story…check your bilge at least every couple of days…lesson learned!

No wonder we could not catch Briezi, we had tons of extra weight on board from all that water… That was Rolf’s, very kind analysis!!!

We then went and tied up in Bakers Bay Marina… a very impressive channel led the way to a well protected marina. After tying up we went to have a bite of lunch on the terrace and explore the grounds and development….it was definitely most impressive but not exactly our cup of tea, I can only imagine how they maintain the green lawns…quite something in the Abacos!!!
The best part of the day was that some generous soul paid for our lunch....a secret admirer no doubt!

We took the twins back out and anchored just a little further west in Bakers bay and David did his new thing, which is to dink over to the anchor and check on its set with the glass bottom bucket, ours was fine but Rolf went and dived in on theirs to set it properly.

We had a most enjoyable dinner on board Briezi, and Rudder was cuddled up to David….amazing how all pups just looooove David!

Rolf had raided his garden for all kind of yummy salad greens and I got to take the rest home…just my kind of loot bag!

The sky was unbelievable….with zero light pollution, every star was competing with the next to regale us with a magical dome.

Sunday morning we dinked around the Atlantic side of the Cay to explore the reefs.

Back to the big boats where we parted as R&S were headed for home in Hope Town and we were headed to Fishers bay at the east end of Great Guana Cay…it is one of our favourite anchorages. We picked up one of Troy’s moorings right next to Dovolena.

 Hannya joined us for a lovely beach walk… the tide was rising and we had to climb over some high coral point in order to avoid being marooned by the tide, then through the grounds behind Orchid bay…we had a very pleasant cinq a sept on Dovolena.

Monday, we went ashore again and ended up at Nippers for lunch where we met a very nice family from Montreal on a Moorings boat.

By Tuesday morning, the wind was really starting to pick up and since a blow was predicted for the next few days, we headed home for Hope Town, we had a leasurely sail with the genny only as we knew we would be arriving at dead low tide and would have to anchor outside for a bit until the tide came in…which we did.

Unfortunately, as we were leaving Great Guana fishers bay, Lady of Lorien was sailing to Orchid Bay, Great Guana….so we missed each other…ships passing…in broad day light!!!!! They are headed North at the next available weather window...have a safe and fabulous trip home, Mike and Angie, we hope to see you both again soon and hear all about your crossing back to Europe.
We also saw Wind Dancer, who was just arriving after a month at Green Turtle and were on their way to Marsh Harbour.

Oooof!!! Back to today, Wind Walker tied up to a mooring in Hope Town this morning….safely tucked in for the blow everyone is predicting!

Aren't you glad I did not have a lot to report on...so I thought!!!