Our family’s plan for a visit this week fell through, so it’s just been the two of us in the Abacos. As disappointed as we were our guests couldn’t come, it’s been nice to have time just the two of us. This has been our first week of cruising as we’d imagined for the season: the dog attack happened just after we dropped off the crew who helped us sail from Florida and ever since Anne was finally healed enough to swim, we’ve hosted guests. We love sharing the adventure with guests, and we love time for just us two.
After dropping Jacob at the ferry dock on Elbow Cay, we walked to a liquor store with a great selection and good prices. We were fortunate to stop by on the day they were installing a new private tasting room: a replica of the Apollo space capsule that the owner had shipped from London, where he had enjoyed it in the past. He had actually built the store with specs to ensure he could reassemble the space capsule there. It was quite a feat to maneuver the pieces in through the doorway and assemble the capsule. What fun to watch! It’s going to be quite a destination when it’s fully reassembled. Getting to watch all of this unfold encapsulates part of what we love about the cruising life — the serendipity and quirkiness.
We then spent the night at the southernmost point on Great Abaco Island, in Little Harbor. We picked up a mooring ball, visited the famous Pete’s Pub and Gallery for lunch, and explored the nearby bronze foundry and store. Various pieces are scattered about the grounds of the Pub and along a nice trail to the ocean side for an impressive views. Sadly, on the ocean side we again saw so much plastic washed ashore.
We’ve had time and wind for some pleasant sails, gotten to see a pod of dolphins (haven’t seen those since Florida), lots of turtles, and thankfully no sharks. It’s been good for swimming! We’ve also had nice days to relax at anchor.
Today is our last day together in the Bahamas. After a slow morning at anchor, we were treated to a delightful broad reach sail back to Marsh Harbor. The wind was so good, we sailed under just headsail to prolong the trip. Even with just the Genoa up, we had a steady 5.5 kt sail.
We tucked into the Conch Inn and Marina in Marsh Harbour, and after we got the boat tied up and cleaned, we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner out (one of only a handful while here).
Anne flies back to Minneapolis tomorrow for a couple of weeks at work. Jim has two friends coming in to crew. The plan is once the weather is right, they will have a several day sail to Charleston, SC.