February 22nd- Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island Bahamas

Nice, easy, sailing for much of the day. We didn’t need much speed since we were trying to time our passage into Little Harbour for late in the day. The entrance is shallow and the high tide was around 7:00 pm. We were shooting for 5:00 pm which would give us plenty of water under Evergeen’s keel (maybe).

The sea of Abaco was calm but we could see breakers and rages in the various cuts along the way. The Abacos are protected by reefs and the Atlantic breaks on the reefs and islands, leaving the Sea of Abaco relatively flat. We weren’t heading out to sea today so no problem for us. Right? More on that in a minute.

Breaking seas at North Bar inlet.

As we got closer to little Harbour the water got a lot more bouncy due to water surging through Little Harbour Cut. A lot of water. Waves smashing against cliffs. Water rebounding off afore mentioned cliffs. Confused seas due to rebounding waves. You get the picture. On the other hand it was 5:00 and we were ready for sundowners. Our friend on S/V Outward Bound watched us coming in with binoculars. The crew on Island Girl watched us from their dinghy. Both told us that they’d see Evergreen almost look like it was going to shoot out of the water, pound down, then roll heavily side to side. Very violent motion. Back onboard Evergreen, I was basically gunning the engine to keep the boat from broaching. There are a couple of bouys marking the entrance and I had a Lazer focus on keeping Evergreen centered in the deeper water between them. We’re pretty sure we hit bottom on the low end of these surging seas but momentum exploded us into the harbor. We then tied to Outward Bound’s mooring which he made available for us. That’s it, five very exciting minutes during a slow, sunny day. We had our sundowners.

February 23rd and 24th- Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island Bahamas

Little Harbour is such a scenic place. It’s easy to just spend the day lounging around and seeing the sights. Of course Ollie is great at motivating us to get some exercise. We went on some nice walks in the hilly surroundings with the captains of Outward Bound and Ecola. Friday night there was entertainment at Pete’s Pub and finally, FINALLY, we were going out for dinner and drinks at the pub. This was supposed to be the apex of our trip last year, but when we got to Little Harbour I was sick for several days and had nothing. We had dinner with the crews from 4 different boats this year. What a great night! Good food and good conversation. Lynne and I had Wahoo with peas n rice. Many drinks were had and the entertainment was good.

Some scenes from Little Harbour.

Colvin schooner owned and built by the son of the designer.

Pete’s Pub.

Boats come in and leave stickers or tee shirts hanging from the rafters.

Finally some good weather for another crossing.

February 25th- Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island to Meeks Patch, Eleuthera Bahamas

I’ve had Eleuthera on my mind for a while. It’s an oddly shaped island. Much of it is undeveloped. Surfers love it. Lenny Kravitz lives here. That’s about all I know about this place. 

We crossed the deep blue sea from the Abaco island chain to Eleuthera. I believe the charts had us crossing over 16000 ft depths. Hard to imagine. We wondered what is down there. Our crossing went well. We were able to sail for a while but the wind died out and we fired up Evergeen’s diesel. Our first stop was the harbor at Royal Island. This looked like a perfect place to anchor but it seemed like it would be difficult to get Ollie to shore. If we have bad weather we might wind up back in here but the weather is nice so we decided to move on.

Next stop, Meeks Patch. This is a small island near Spanish Wells which is a town we eventually want to check out. It has multiple beaches, and swimming spots. It’s also got some easy coral reefs to snorkel on. I am an absolute amateur at snorkeling so easy is good for me! We anchored Evergreen and I brought Ollie in for his evening commando raid about sunset. Today was a great day and we were happy to be in Eleuthera.

Sunset off of Meeks Patch, Eleuthera.

February 26th- Meeks Patch, Eleuthera Bahamas

Days like today are why we do this. We explored much of the island and went to most of the beaches. We avoided the island’s main attraction, the swimming pig beach. I am unsure how a meeting would go. Ollie has been near goats with no problems but every once in a while the werewolf comes up. Regardless we had a wonderful day and Ollie is a salty, sandy, mess (and tired).

Forgot to take pictures today.

February 16th to 21st- Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island

We had a very short but exciting sail over from Man O War Cay. The wind was blowing just right and kept Evergreen moving along at hull speed. Marsh Harbour has a few dozen boats anchored but it’s a big anchorage.

Marsh Harbour is coming back little by little but still has a long way to go. On the days that we didn’t have wind and squalls we headed over to Maxwell’s for groceries, Jimmy’s for booze, and the Conch Inn Marina for water. We spent much of the rest of the time on Evergreen due to weather. The wind should be calming down tomorrow so we’ll haul up the anchor and head south.

View off the back porch.

Evergreen anchored in Marsh Harbour.

February 14th- Green Turtle Cay to Man O War Cay, Abaco Islands Bahamas

Sailing in the Bahamas on Valentine’s Day. Blue skies and blue seas. The sun is out. The wind is just right. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day.

We had no problems getting through The Whale. It was as flat as it gets.

Our destination for the day was Man O War Cay. There is a good harbor with moorings but we like anchoring out near the beach. At night you can hear the waves breaking on the rocks across the peninsula.

This gazebo is a public structure for anyone to use.

Since we arrived early in the day we did some exploring on the ocean side and walked down the “highway”.

Queen’s Highway.

Some colonial relics.

Evergreen anchored off Man O War Cay.

Sunset.

February 15th- Man O War Cay, Abaco Islands Bahamas

Today we took the dinghy into town. The amount of damage done to these islands by Hurricane Dorian is still evident but it is encouraging to see them coming back. There is still lots of construction. We noticed new businesses open on Green Turtle. Man O War has a new marina under construction.

Man O War has historically been the center for boat building in the Abacos. Boats continue to be built  here but have gone from wood to fiberglass. Wood craftsmanship is still evident in the boats they build and the details of the houses on the island.

Ride into town

Wooden skiff.

The houses on this island are all very “neat” looking. Everything is well cared for.

Ocean side.

Another new house. Blue and white are popular colors.

Bahamas sailing dinghy.

Here I was trying to take a picture of this wooden ketch. Of course Ollie is in the frame. Funny picture. Is he sticking his tongue out at me?

February 13th- Green Turtle Cay Abaco Islands, Bahamas 

At this point we’ve spent around 2 weeks at GTC. It’s been a very relaxing time. We took the dinghy over to New Plymouth for groceries and lunch at Two Shorties. Coco Bay has been explored every day. The weather is warmer but not quite swimming weather yet.

After the rain.

There is a dock on Coco Bay where people feed the turtles.

Lots of happy morning walks.

Evergreen in the background.

Some scenes from New Plymouth.

At low tide, it can be difficult to climb onto these piers.

This guy was “eyeballing” us at Two Shorties. We were having chicken.

I drove a golf cart down this path with 3 or 4 inches to spare. I probably won’t do it again.

Grocery store.

We also went to a beach at the entrance to White Sound. This turned out to be a pretty good spot for shells. Ollie got in a bunch of play time and swimming. Much sand was added to Evergeen’s decor.

He does get tired, eventually.

Starfish. It probably measured more than 12″ across. Every once in a while a good photo just happens!

We don’t have a concrete plan but we feel like it’s time to move on. There are many charter boats visiting the harbor right now. We’re ready for a change. We feel lucky to have been able to use Outward Bound’s mooring for a few weeks. We hope to meet up with him a little further down the road. Tomorrow we’ll drop the mooring lines and point south. We’ll be passing through The Whale or Don’t Rock passage. Both offer unique challenges. We’ve done The Whale but not “Don’t Rock”. Hopefully I can keep the blog going. Internet coverage can be an issue.

Evergreen moored on White Sound, Green Turtle Cay.

January 31st- Great Abaco Island to Green Turtle Cay, Abaco Bahamas

It was an easy down wind sail to Green Turtle Cay. The Captain of Outward Bound loaned us his mooring for a few days so we picked that up in White Sound. First order of business was to head into the Green Turtle Club and check in with Customs. Generally, the Captain is supposed to do this but I convinced the Admiral to take the job. She had already handled the online portion of the process. Everything went well except the dates on our cruising permit are mixed up. For instance it expired before it was written. By the time we looked at the permit the office was closed for the day. They’ll be back next week. No problem for us as we are on “Bahamas time”.

Green Turtle Club docks.

February 1st to 4th- Green Turtle Cay, Abaco Bahamas

We’ve been settling in to Green Turtle life. We rented a golf cart with Andante and cruised over to New Plymouth. Lynne and I had Goombay Smashes at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar. We then walked around and saw the sights. There are a few new places that have opened up in town. Lots of construction still continues on GTC. The damage from hurricane Dorian is still evident. It’s good to see things coming back. We got stuck in a traffic jam due to the unloading of the supply ship. This was right next to Plymouth Rock Liquors so we stopped in for a few beverages, while waiting for things to clear up. Plymouth Rock Liquors is unique due to the fact that it is a liquor store, bar, and serves food. We had conch fritters with our drinks. The next day we went back for breakfast which was also particularly good. Lynne made arrangements with Nick’s Cafe & Bakery to save her a Cinnamon bun which they usually sell out of. I’m not a connoisseur of pastries. She says Nick’s are the best. We spent around a half hour with the family that runs the bakery. They remembered us from last year and got us caught up with local news.

New Plymouth.

Loyalist Memorial.

Supply ship unloading.

When not hiding from wind and rain we’ve been exploring Coco Bay and our surroundings. The bay has a nice beach with some trails connecting to other beaches. We walk a little further every day. There is a pier where locals feed the turtles and rays that frequent the spot. It’s not really good swimming weather yet but it will be soon. Ollie enjoys his days at the beach and is tired after these excursions. A tired dog is a good dog.

Turtles.

This one came by asking for squid.

Evergreen moored in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay.

January 27th and 28th- Manatee Pocket FL to Great Sale Cay Bahamas

The weather window for the Bahamas crossing seems to be getting shorter by the minute. We decided to change our check in location from the customs office at West End to the office at Green Turtle Cay. We radically changed our plans to make one long run to Great Sale Cay. It took us around 21 hours.

Before departure I conferred with the captain of Andante about the plan. Unfortunately, a large wake and our dinghy conspired to knock his boarding ladder into Manatee Pocket’s very murky water. He flew off to a store to get wood for a new platform. We were then back on track for departure. The Pocket was calm in the morning. By this time the wind seemed to pick up.

At 12:15pm we dropped the mooring line to head out for our over night passage. We pointed Evergreen down the St Lucie River to head out the inlet. The entrance had big swells but no braking waves today.

After exiting the inlet, we set our course south to make up for the Gulf Stream current which would set us north. This was very difficult work as we needed to motor up wind into a heavy sea. Finally off the coast of Jupiter Island we couldn’t take it anymore and turned east towards the Bahamas. I tied the 2nd reef in the mainsl’ and rolled out some of the Genoa. The engine was also used to help keep up speed. We had expected the wind to have changed to a more favorable direction and to lessen but it didn’t. Some discussion was had on Evergreen about turning back. Mutiny is always a concern.

Andante down in a wave.

We sailed Evergreen on a Starboard tack so were healed over to port. Our head (bathroom) is on the port side. Evergreen would punch through waves driving a ton of green water down the deck. Unknown to us, for some unspecified amount of time, a geyser of water would shoot out of the head sink every time we plunged down a wave. By the time the Admiral discovered the problem the head was full of water as was the bilge. Seeing that much sea water inside the boat is very disturbing. Our dual bilge pumps and a garbage can were employed to reduce the amount of sea water. The sink thuhull (valve) was closed to stop the deluge. It was very encouraging to see the water start to go down.

Finally sailing.

I further changed our course in an attempt to have an easier motion over the waves. According to the forecast, by night time, the wind was supposed to be mostly behind us but it wasn’t. Fortunately the speed dropped some as did the waves. Our course wasn’t great, but we could make up the mileage later.

Sunset on the Gulf Stream.

Andante sailing into the night.

Finally after getting through the Gulf Stream and approaching the Bahamas bank the wind direction improved. The moon was out. The sea flattened out. The diesel engine was shut off. We had a beautiful night-time sail onto the bank. This was probably somewhere around midnight. We then made a straight line course for Great Sale Cay. The sun rose and we were in THE BAHAMAS! Maybe it would have been better if the captain picked a calmer day but we made it. Half the trip was lousy and the other half was really nice. 50/50

We continued on and anchored in Northwest Harbour at, the deserted, Great Sale Cay. Great Sale is a little wind swept island with a few spots to get Ollie to shore. Nothing here but nature (and protection from the wind). We made it.

January 29th- Great Sale Cay, Bahamas

The wind.

As I type this up, it’s howling through the rigging. We knew it was going to pick up today, hence the long run to get here. The harbor is protected so while the wind is blowing through the anchorage, the seas don’t get too big. It’s still a salty ride to shore for Ollie’s commando raid. Let me retract that last statement. We’re not checked in yet and are flying the yellow quarantine flag so we were never on shore! A real commando raid!

We’re getting a little T Mobile coverage so I’m able to download my Chris Parker weather forecasts and a few texts. We don’t have enough bandwidth to upload these posts so I’m just writing this up and will upload it sometime in the future.

Some scenes from Great Sale Cay.

View off the back porch.

January 30th- Great Sale Cay to Great Abaco Island Bahamas

The wind calmed down enough that we could make our way down the island chain a little further. Our next anchorage was going to be a nice spot we were at last season. Eventually I had enough cell coverage that I could take a look at the weather for the next day. The wind speed at 20+ knots and westerly wind direction would make the anchorage difficult. Change of plans. We sailed down the side of Great Abaco Island until we spotted a beach. This was a much better location and the island would block the morning wind. Ollie had a good time at the beach. We had sundowners on Andante and had a fun evening.

Ollie lovingly gazes at Mom while she cooks dinner.

Evergreen anchored off of Great Abaco Island.