The approach to Hope Town Harbor can be tricky at low tide. They have range markers, lit with led rope lights on shore. You find them at daylight next to the pink house and the white bench. Hope Town is a charming town with a red and white striped lighthouse. The lighthouse is lit with a kerosene lamp and Fresnel lens. Very narrow streets, charming cottages, great shops and lots of cruisers.
Tahiti beach faces out on the Sea of Abaco where it is nice and calm. If you walk across the island to the Atlantic Ocean you can see the huge swells beginning to come in from a storm way out towards Bermuda. The landscape changes as well. The shore is rocky and at times looks like you are walking on the surface of the moon. Filled with craggy rocks and craters. The crashing sea was really something to see. The sea spray climbed the cliff and the picture below gives a bit of an idea of the power of the mighty Atlantic. We saw areas where the spray climbed 75 feet.
The wind has been blowing for days and days. We took a quick sail this morning through a narrow channel. This area is too shallow to get to at low tide and we will have a super low tide today. Most charts are marked with depths at mean low tide. Today the depths will be lower than charted depths! No problem, we will just need to transit the area at near high tide. The prized anchorage is a place called Tahiti Beach. It is prized because of it's beauty and because it is so well protected from the ocean. We arrived and got anchor down and headed out on our dingy with friends Ben and Jane. We landed on TahitI Beach and explored the beautiful beach and sand bar (remember the extra low tide). Lots of cool critters. Royal Terns stood sentry along the sand bar. A starfish and a conch were caught in a little tidal pool. And we found a sea cucumber.
