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!

North, Back to The Bahamas

Yup.  It's end of February/first week of March and we are leaving the Virgin Islands to go north, back to the Abacos.  We had already decided that we were again going to bring Pratique back up to New England for the summer season.  And with the time limitations imposed on our cruising lifestyle by "full time employment," going any further south in the Carribean made no sense for this year.   Instead, with these next two weeks away from work we figured a nice way to add to our offshore "couples sailing" experience would be to start that long trip north, but stay in warm waters until the spring.  So without further ado, here's how we got from East End, Tortola to Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas:

First, we invited the owners of Hull #50, Hippocampus, to join us for the first week.  Poor Lee and Cheryl!  Their own Outbound is sitting on the hard in RI, getting more than her share of weekly dumps of snow!  What better way to be neighborly than to get them to put down their snow shovels and join us for a week of warm weather offshore bliss, going first to Mayaguana, then jumping up to George Town, Exumas.  So the four of us met at Logan and flew down to St. Thomas, then took the ferry to Road Town (checking both in and out of the BVI's simultaneously), picked up our pre-ordered provisions from the big Rite Way, and the next day set sail for Mayaguana.

Lee and Cheryl, happy to be on any Outbound!



Gotta love those warm weather, downwind legs!

Lee calculates the ETA to Mayaguana

Midway there, I was all alone in the cockpit while the others were sleeping when I encountered a pod of dolphins leading us!  What a dilemma.  Should I wake them all up to see them, or let them accumulate the valuable sleep hours?  Tough decision but in the end I figured sleep was more important, so I took it upon myself to get to the bow and start videoing.  Here are a few screen captures:

Next day we all got to experience this sunset, so I felt less guilty!














Safe and sound with just one other boat in Abraham's Bay, Mayaguana

  We had a nice quiet overnight in Abrahams Bay in Mayaguana, and then the next day we headed north for George Town on Great Exuma island:

Elizabeth Harbor, George Town

What an amazing place George Town is.  So many cruising sailors make it their winter home, and not just retirees but also families with children getting their "home schooling" in paradise.  Every morning at 0800 you tune in to their cruisers net and you immediately feel at home hearing about every activity, from results of yesterday's bocci tournament to plans for the next day's pig roast at the Chat 'N' Chill.  I have not been the first to call Stocking Island an "adult summer camp."

It is also to see how the place get's the name "Chicken Harbor."  Each year cruising sailors bound for the Carribean via the Bahamas get as far south as George Town and decide that it is "far enough" for one year. Further south, the islands get spaced further apart and the sea is more open Atlantic rather than the protected conditions on the Bahama Banks.  However, we were northbound from the BVIs, so we had "immunity" from the chicken label, and believe me that had we not had the March 8 return flights from the Abacos already ticketed we would have stayed much longer than the three days we had here! 

Before leaving, we spent time exploring the town of George Town:

Regatta Point

Buying fresh conch salad!