As good as anything

"If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble. If it happens to be an auxiliary cruising boat, it is without question the most compact and ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restless mind of man--a home that is stable without being stationary, shaped less like a box than like a fish or a girl, and in which the homeowner can remove his daily affairs as far from shore as he has the nerve to take them, close hauled or running free--parlor, bedroom, and bath, suspended and alive."

~E. B. White
Writer, Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, etc; contributor to New Yorker and Harpers

Lovely Cruise

We had a lovely time in the Abacos.  Here is the sunset from last night at Mangrove Cay.  We learned to salute the sunset using the conch horn.

Creativity along the Way

There are some very creative Bahamians.  Take a look at some of the examples.

"Lookin Mighty Fine"

We've spent a fair amount of time with good friends Jane & Ben on Old Rosie. Old Rosie is a 'character' in the tune Fire Down Below by our ex boat neighbor Bob Seger. So I produced this short clip of Old Rosie for Jane & Ben.

Junkanoo and more!

Here are some pictures from the Island Roots Heritage Festival. Royal Bahamian Defense Force Marching Band, Junkanoo and Maypole Plaiting.  not pictured here is good food, good music and good friends. This was a wonderful way to finish our time here in the Abacos.  USA here we come!

Spouting Off

We are at Green Turtle Cay for the Island Roots Heritage Festival.  Two days of bands, contests, parades, Bahamian cooking, and arts and crafts of the Bahamas. The weather has brought wind and rain with enough clear skies to still enjoy the events.  Early Friday evening as we awaited the next musical act, we spotted a water spout forming and heading right for Black Sound where our boat was moored. We watched as it grew and hit land and turned into a tornado with swirling debris.  We headed to the local church to take cover.  When it was over we headed to the boat.   No damage!  The deck was covered in small bits of debris but the tornado never reached the sound.   Three homes were damaged on shore about 1/4 mile from us and a tree fell on a car.  We are told that tornados are VERY rare here.

Trails, hiking and beaches

Most of the islands here have protected anchorages away from the Atlantic.  You can dinghy ashore and hike to the ocean beach.  We have hiked many miles and seen some incredible beaches.  Below are just a few of the incredible pictures. 

By the time we get back to the dinghy the tide has gone out!  Yikes, below with the low tide our choice was to wait a couple hours or draaaag the heavy dinghy to the water.

She Sells Sea Shells by the Sea Shore

Here is a sampling of the many shells we have collected here in the Bahamas.

Which came first? The chicken or the leg?

Do you think this guy:

Knows about this guy?

Yea, that's a blue crab hauling a chicken leg off to dinner. He'll feed his family for a month! Meanwhile, the rooster is looking for a cane.

Under the Sea

My new camera works under water.  I tested it in shallow water for it's first trial.  We had panned on snorkeling the reef out in the Atlantic but just did not find a day that was calm enough.....something for us to look forward to for next year.  Love the white and clear fishies...look closely in the last two pictures.  Really...there are fish in the last two pics.

No Name Cay, Home of the Swimming Swine

This small island is uninhibited by humans but it does have a small population of wild pigs.  We saw four of them, one male and three female.   The locals leave buckets to collect rain water so that they have fresh water to drink, one of the pigs biggest concerns.  Food for the pigs is not as big a problem as they are fed by tourists and locals.  Do you think someone is training the big male to sit?  The picture below shows another cruiser feeding the male....he looks like a cute little pet in the picture.  In reality he is a little scary.  BIG teeth and he is very pushy and makes some scary sounding grunts.  The females all look skinny compared to him.  We fed them apples and lettuce scraps.  They liked the apples and would eat right out of my hand. 

Still Crazy

We enjoyed dining out with other cruisers at the Crazy Love Cafe, taking up 3 of the 5 tables. Prime rib night! We're singing "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison in the first pictures below.

The Wrecking Tree is a restaurant built around the original New Plymouth wrecking tree.  The wrecking crews, people going out to wrecks to salvage treasure and other goodies, would bring their bounty to this tree to divvy up the proceeds. We had the BEST cracked conch so far at the Wrecking Tree. Chatted with the cook after dinner. She said she gets smaller conch from the shallow Sea of Abaco instead of larger conch from the deeper Atlantic ocean and it makes a difference. Big difference, dinner was excellent.

Textures of Abacos

Surf Casting

There are great beaches on Green Turtle.  We have had some fun fishing from shore.  You get right in the surf and cast past the rocks.  Ed has had success catching bonefish and triggerfish (triggerfish are really ugly but tasty).

Green Turtle Cay

We love Green Turtle Cay, a quaint island complete with the sound of roosters crowing to wake you in the morning.  When was the last time you saw a telephone booth?   The buildings are all painted in pastels...even the old pink jail!

Sailing

Luckily we have been able to sail a lot here in the Bahamas.  Here we are sailing with our friends on Old Rosie.

Fun on Powell Cay

Powell Cay is an uninhabited island with beaches on the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic Ocean.  We spent a few days exploring.  Jane and I kayaked around the protected side of the island and Ben and Ed headed out in the dinghy to fish. We spent time exploring the beaches.....what do you think lives in the many little holes in the sand?  I finally got the nerve to put my new camera in the water to take a few pictures.  We enjoyed a nice fresh fish dinner!

The worship of security

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

Sterling Hayden

Actor, sailor, spy

Treasure Cay Beach

Spent the day walking the beach......

Little Harbor; Abacos, Bahamas

We finally had a stretch of good winds to head down to the southern end of the Sea of Abaco to Little Harbor. Beautiful downwind sailing always makes a pleasant day! We had to anchor for the night outside of Little Harbor to wait for high tide the next day. Low tide at the entrance is 3.5' and we need 6'. We crossed the bar with 6" to spare and grabbed one of the few available mooring balls in the small harbor.

This is a very unique place. Randolph Johnston had a good career as a sculptor in New England in the 1950's. He bought a sailboat and gave up his New England work to set sail for the Bahamas (sound familiar?) with his wife and 3 children. The boat sank in a storm before he even left Boston! Undeterred, they drove to Florida, took a boat across and moved to the central Abacos. After a short time he moved the family to a cave at Little Harbor to start a homestead.

Yes, his wife and 3 small kids lived in this cave for several months while building their first home in what was wilderness. He eventually set up a foundry and started casting bronze again.

His son Pete continues to cast bronze in the foundry but also runs Pete's Pub. A true beach bar, great atmosphere.

Rush hour on the way to the pub.

This is one of those magical little places that is hard to describe. We'll be back.