George Town to Treasure Cay

We said our goodbyes to Lee and Cheryl in George Town, and later that day we said hello to cousin Hank who once again joins us on Pratique.  So this is a good time to explain that dynamic.

Hank grew up in L.A. and I knew that growing up there he had done some sailing with his father (my dad's brother).  Fast forward 40 years, Hank is now retired from the US Forest Service having ascended to the position of Associate Chief of the department.  I was pretty sure there was no large keelboat sailing in the wilderness of the northwest US, but maybe the last few years in D.C. got him a few sailing invites out of Annapolis? In any case, recent experience or not, I knew that Hank would be an eager and willing sailing partner, not just for the island hopping passages but also in the open seas.  Plus, he's retired, so at least he had the time flexibility!  So I did the smart thing and asked not Hank, but his wife Kim, for permission to "borrow" him from time to time.  She said OK, so here we are, once again!

Back to George Town.  Along the way up to Treasure Cay,  Hank, Susan and I decided that over the next few days we could sail for the better part of the daylight hours and anchor off a few of the other well known islands of the more northern Exumas, namely Staniel Cay and Highborne Cay.  Visiting these islands was great--but not because we explored them top to bottom or east to west.  Rather, we knew that we would be back, and sooner rather than later.

Along the way, we experienced another spectacular sunset, but this one was special because Hank and Susan witnessed the elusive "green flash" that on rare occasions occurs just as the sun dips under the horizon.  Unfortunately, my color deficient vision left me out of that one.  Oh well. 



Hank and Susan see the elusive "green flash" of sunset.
 My red/green color deficiency leaves me out.  Thanks, mom!

Fortunately, I do know what blue is, and this is blue:

Shallow, very blue water of the Exuma Bank

We anchored off Highborne Cay early enough to take the dinghy up to the Allen's Cays to visit the iguanas that live there



Boats anchored off SW Allen

Poser Iguana

The next day we left Highborne Cay to travel across the shallow bank from Ship Channel Cay to Fleeming Channel.  This is one of the preferred routes when exiting the Great Bahama Bank going north to the Abacos.  Susan and Hank kept vigilant watch at the bow for shallow coral heads that are known to be hazards along the way.  By mid afternoon we were off the bank, passing just west of Egg Island and Royal Island off the north tip of Eleuthera, and heading across the Northeast Providence Channel that separates the Abacos from Eleuthera.  No more need to watch the bottom until we get to the Abacos, since this ocean canyon drops to depths of over three miles! 

We had very little wind through the night, and there is a lot of commercial traffic along the Northeast Providence Channel.  Going slowly was ok though, since we didn't want to arrive at North Man-O-War Channel too much before sunrise.  When we did get there, we shut off the engine, dropped the sails and just floated in gentle, rolling seas until first light.  Then we headed through the cut, which was nice and flat for us.

We were back in the Sea of Abaco, in familiar waters!  We passed by Man-O-War Cay and headed to Hopetown, a place that we wanted to go last year but never got to.  We were perfectly set up for an approach to Elbow Cay at near high tide, so I was comfortable that our 6 1/2 draft keel would not touch the bottom of the entrance to Hopetown.  However, I was not as comfortable that we'd find an open mooring once inside.  So we decided to hedge our bets and anchor off the Sugarloaf Cays 3 miles across the Sea of Abaco near Marsh Harbour, and take the dinghy back across to explore Hopetown:

We left Hopetown after lunch, and anchored in Marsh Harbour that night.  Then headed north to Pineapple Point, Treasure Cay where once again Pratique will be docked until the end of April when we return for the final leg back up to RI!