Out and About

This past week was the best yet! So many good things happened. After spending the last two weeks experiencing all the civilized comforts and delights of “Boat Harbour,”we decided that “enough was enough.” We longed to get “out and about” once again. And so, just after breakfast on Sunday, February 13th, we slipped our lines, bade our neighbours goodbye and headed out of the harbour.

Sailing conditions could not have been more perfect. With 15 knots of wind on a beam reach we skimmed across the water at 5 plus knots accompanied by Vince’s favourite CD--Enya’s “Watermark.” We could’ve easily reached our destination--an anchorage just south of Tavern Cay--in less than two hours. But the sun was shining, the wind was warm and it felt so liberating to be actually “sailing” once again that we decided to prolong the pleasure and make a day of it. When we finally pulled into our anchorage off Tilloo we decided to simply stay on board, enjoying a late lunch, cold drinks and well-deserved nap.

Early the next morning, we launched our dinghy and set off for a day of exploration. The turquoise Sea of Abaco was smooth as silk and we were able to get the boat “up on a plane” and zip across the waters in no time flat. We walked across the endless sandbars on Tahiti Beach looking for shelly treasures and later crossed over to Cracker P’s and Lubbers Landing. These are two really great facilities--for dining and drinking--side by side with gorgeous views of neighbouring cays. Then it was back into the dinghy and off to Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay where we enjoyed a wonderful “Valentines Lunch” at their elegant little restaurant--complete with snowy white tablecloths, colourful fabric napkins, original paintings on the walls and flowers on the tables. After exploring their grounds we decided to check out the Abaco Inn--a short walk away. But as we made our way along the twisting road, a photographer and journalist in a golf cart stopped and offered us a lift. The Abaco Inn is perched on a small cliff overlooking the wild Atlantic coast. It’s situation is stunning! Huge waves crashed onto the shore below us with a wide sand crescent of beach off to one side. A lovely sheltered pool with comfortable loungers looks out onto this scene and a handful of small villas nestled under palms and surrounded by colourful foliage completes the picture. It is truly a “must do” destination for lunch or a few days respite off the boat. And we promised we’d return here again sometime soon for a memorable meal out.
Rather than return to our dinghy by road, we decided to stroll through the surf along the meandering shoreline, picking up shells along the way and enjoying the strong sea air. We went to bed early after our long interesting day and were quickly rocked to sleep by the gentle waves caressing the side of the boat.

The next morning we headed back to Boat Harbour. We arrived in time for an afternoon of Bridge and Mahjong for me and Bocci Ball for Vince. On Thursday, Vince was one of 3 key-note speakers for an interesting seminar on “Cruising to the Exumas” and Friday it was the annual “Commodore’s Ball.” This years theme was a Hawaiian Luau and everyone came decked out in clothes with a South Pacific flavour. Upon arrival we were draped with leis and offered rum punch. After schmoozing with more than 200 fellow RMHY Club members for an hour, we made our ways to tables for 8 featuring creative conch shell/sea fan centerpieces and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Afterwards there was dancing to 60’s music (what else?!) and a good time was had by all of us. But the next morning we were up and “out” once again.

This time we headed south to Lynyard Cay where we found a sheltered anchorage off a beautiful beach. Since we knew it would take all morning to reach our destination we decided to try our hand at “fishing” along the way. We had bought a special pole, line, a hook and holder in Florida and were told we could simply attach the pole to the back of the boat and drag a line to catch fish. We had tried this once before and nothing happened but we decided to try again. About 2 hours into our trip, just as we were crossing an inlet to the Atlantic, we heard the line play out and Vince reeled in a fish!! Our very FIRST fish!! We had a big plastic bucket to put it into and a half cup of rum ready to pour into its gills to knock it out. Then we covered it with fresh water and within a hour it was dead. It was a beautiful mutton snapper (according to my fish book) about 2 feet long. When we arrived at our anchorage, we spent the better part of the afternoon getting it ready for dinner. Another “first” was finally getting to use the filleting knives Dan had given us for Christmas 2 years ago. I battered the fillets in milk, flour, egg and lemon flavoured “Panko” crumbs and it was absolutely delicious!

The next morning, we jumped into the dinghy and headed off to explore the beach where I found lots of pretty shells and sea glass and so was very happy. Vince was content simply to sit back on a beach chair that was conveniently set up under a tree, drinking in the gorgeous scenery, keeping an eye on me, and getting lost in his thoughts--whatever they are. (He admits to being a secret “Walter Mitty”). When I had finished scouring the beach for shells we got back into the dinghy and headed off to Little Harbour--2 miles away. Here we toured “The Gallery” marvelling at wonderful bronze sculptures of turtles, rays, and sea birds set into driftwood and later made our way over to “Pete’s Pub” for lunch. What a great place this is. Open air “rooms” under palm trees, canvas and wood have been created in a “helter skelter” arrangement featuring a “bar,” tables, BBQ area and chairs. This “pub” is built directly onto the sand and is the main gathering point for everything that happens at Little Harbour--a curved spit of land at the end of Great Abaco. And what made the experience even better was running into our old friends Chris and Mike from “Missing Link!” We had last spent time with them many weeks ago at Treasure Cay and so had a lot of catching up to do over lunch.

When it was finally time to take the dinghy back to our boat we were concerned to see that the weather had changed. The winds had kicked up and big waves were moving in. No sooner had we left the shelter of the harbour than we knew we were in trouble. And as we made our way further and further out into the water and away from safety, conditions worsened. Steep waves battered our little vessel as we tried to move forward against them, with water pouring in at an alarming rate over the prow. Within minutes we found the dinghy swamped and ourselves wallowing in water. Not a moment too soon we turned our boat around and tried to make it “back” as the engine spluttered. It was slow going but eventually, drenched, we were able to get back to a dock and start pumping water out of the dinghy. Now we were getting worried. We could always stay with our friends aboard “Missing Link” for the night. But that would mean leaving “Fortnight” unattended. The solution to our dilemma appeared in the form of a young couple from Florida who were about to leave for Hopetown in a boat much bigger than our dinghy. Since they would be “going our way” they offered to give us a lift back to Fortnight, dragging our dinghy behind their boat. Thank god for that!! About half an hour later we were back on our sailboat--still VERY wet, a little frightened, but other than that, none the worse for wear. We were really happy to be back “home” and were soon comfortably settled into our warm dry cabin where we finished off the rest of the fish for dinner and then made our way exhausted into bed!

Today is Monday February 21st and it’s unbelievable that all that I’ve just written about has happened in only one week! This morning we left Lynyard and sailed north to the cut between Tilloo and Elbow Cays. We are anchored in a beautiful spot just off the small islets north of Tilloo and have spent a relaxing afternoon reading and writing this blog. We’ll probably head out in the dinghy very soon (more exploring) and then we’ll go back to Boat Harbour tomorrow morning. Bridge, Mahjong and Bocci await us tomorrow aftenoon and we don’t want to miss the games.