5/30/2017. Friends are Gone, Time to Move On.

We’ve had 12 wonderful days with great friends, Mark and Beth Atherton and now it’s time for us to head to new places.

Tim and I have valued the time spent with friends- old and new- more than we ever imagined we would.  We find that we do more, experience more and enjoy more when we have company.  Not that we don’t enjoy each other’s company, I think we try harder to make the most of the limited time we have with friends while they are with us.  We want to be sure that all of the “Gotta dos” get done and all the extra stuff gets fit in as best we can.  We certainly did that with Mark and Beth.

Mark and Beth weren’t here 24 hours before the first “Gotta do” got done.  Tops on the list was to do a scuba trip.  We booked a trip with Dive Abacos for the day after they arrived.  Tim and I prepped for it by getting a pool dive out of the way before Mark and Beth got here.  Then 9 am we were heading out to the Fowl Cays for 2 dives.  As when Tim and I went on a snorkel trip, the sharks seem to follow the dive boats and hang around to add a bit of excitement to dive.  Keith, our dive master, lead us through several tunnels and overhangs on the reef while we enjoyed the colorful fish and coral.  We saw a lot of sea life, but I couldn’t tell you what the names of most were.  You’d have to ask the Atherton’s.  They would be able to list off the many varieties of feather dusters, sea anemones, fish and coral.

Our next stop was Hopetown.  We chose to stay at Hopetown Inn and Marina this trip since wind and rain were forecasted.  We made the mandatory climb up the Elbow Cay Lighthouse and wandered the town.  We also decided to spit at the weather gods and take a slow slog the 3+ miles in the fully loaded dinghy to Tahiti Beach.  Going down with the wind at our backs was a piece of cake.  After playing on the rapidly retreating sand bar, we slogged over to Cracker P’s on Lubbers Cay for lunch.  By this time the weather gods were starting to laugh at us.  As we left Cracker P’s the wind picked up and the dark clouds began to let loose.  Now our slow slog became a very wet, slow slog as we caught it from all directions, rain from above and waves from the bow.  By the time we got back to the boat, the dingy could have been used as a bath tub.  After a few nights in Hopetown, the weather cleared and we moved on to Man-O-War for the a night.  Since the next day was Sunday, we decided we had to go to the infamous Nipper’s on Guana for their weekly pig roast.  It’s actually more of a people watching, loud music, beer drinking, 20 something to 70 something mash of bathing suit clad boaters.  After we experienced all of it that we could handle, we stopped by the more sedate Grabbers for dinner before slogging out to the boat at anchor.  Green Turtle was the next “Gotta do” stop.  Crossing the Whale was a piece of cake and we took our favorite T Head spot on the end of the dock at Leeward Yacht Club.  Green Turtle is still our favorite island so far and we wanted to be sure to give Mark and Beth plenty of time there.  I know I won’t get the sequence right, but I can sure list all of the things we did.  Of course we swam/snorkeled/shelled at Gilliam Beach several times.  We rented a golf cart and bounced up to White Sound and Coco Bay for the feeding of the turtles, shelled and swam in the Atlantic, drank Goombay Smashes at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar, had lunch at The Wrecking Tree, dinner at Leeward, chilled in the pool, and read a bunch of books.  Oh yeah, we ate good too.  Thanks, Mark.  

Fish On! The reel started clicking as we trolled coming back from Green Turtle.

After 12 days, we still hated to see them go, but Tim and I are ready to begin our journey back to the states.  Before we cross back, there’s one more stop I really want to make and that is at Manjack Cay.  Manjack is just past Green Turtle and is supposed to be really cool.  We’ve heard there is an area where you can feed rays and sharks and there is a stream you can dinghy up through the mangroves and see a bunch of turtles.  So our plan is to leave Marsh Harbor tomorrow and head to Manjack.  We’ll anchor there for a few nights while we watch the weather.  As of now, we don’t see a window opening for a crossing.  If that holds true, we’ll go back to Green Turtle and wait for the opportunity to move on.  Once we see the weather calming enough, we’ll head to Great Sale Cay and from there aim for Ft. Pierce.  If the weather is good enough, we’ll just anchor out on the Bahama Banks for the night and then make our crossing to Ft. Pierce from there.  We’d like to skip going to West End if we can.  By anchoring on the Banks instead of going to West End, we can cut about 30 miles off the trip.  For us that means 4-5 hours less of travel.  Of course, it’s Subject to Change. ?