It's almost Christmas in the almost Caribbean

Weather here has gotten a little cooler in the evenings. Days are still in the upper 70's and 80's but nights are getting into the upper 60's and low 70's. From watching the weather many places back in the US have lots of snow and many areas are likely to have a white Christmas. As nostalgic as all that is I'm enjoying being in a bathing suit and t-shirt. Swimming, sailing and walking beaches seems like a much nicer way to spend the holidays than trying to stay warm. Spending time with family at the holidays is missing but hopefully they will come visit us in the warm.

During the week our routines of work and errands continues and probably will through our stay here. But, the past weekend we enjoyed some favorable winds and sailed to Hope Town on Elbow Cay to visit a town we spent a few days in several years ago. On the way over we had a east northeast wind that gave us a good upwind sail on 2 tacks to where we had to bring in the sails to go in the Hope Town channel. The way back we also had a good sail downwind on the jib that brought us from Hope Town right to the Marsh Harbor Channel. Really fun to get out sailing.

Sailing to Hope Town.

Looking across Hope Town Harbor.

Hope Town is a quaint community of small homes with unpretentious big homes with narrow lanes for streets Transportation on most of the Cays in the Abacos is by golf cart, bicycle or very small car whereas on Abaco Island it is mostly by cars. In the Bahamas there are only a few large islands that are actually called islands. Great Abaco Island, Little Abaco Island, Grand Bahama Island, New Providence Island, Great Exuma Island, Andros Island, Cat Island and Eleuthera Island. All the smaller islands are called Cays (Keys).

Amekaya on her mooring.

Weather over the weekend was not really pleasant. Apart from having good wind to sail It was mostly overcast with intermittent rain. As we were on a mooring we had to dinghy in and were able to do that without getting wet.

Hope Town Memorial Park with monument overlooking the beach.

Friday night after walking about we stopped into a unique and very un-Bahamian type place called Wine Down and Sipsip. A kind of pizzeria and wine bar with a very appealing menu and interesting wine list of reasonably priced wines. We ordered a veggie flatbread that was excellent with a modest bottle of wine that complemented the meal. We even had leftovers that we took back for lunch the next day.

Inside Sipsip.

Saturday morning we went in to the "Farmer's Market" as it was called but only had 1 farmer and a baker. The farmer is a local hydroponic gardener that grows small herbs, spices and greens for sale locally. We were able to get some salad greens and cilantro. The arugula didn't look so hot. By the time the market opened there were numerous folks lining up to buy the fresh produce which is otherwise unavailable most places. We also met another couple from the Chesapeake Bay who were on a sailboat First Love. For the afternoon we walked about the island admiring the holiday displays and in the Park where folks were setting up the Christmas Village that was to open on Sunday night.

Saturday evening we invited the couple on First Love that we had just met over for a Happy Hour and also a gentleman on Cattitude that we had met at the Jib Room when he was there for Rib Night last week. In spite of the wind and rain we enjoyed a fun evening together discussing boats and sailing.

Sailing back to Marsh Harbor.

Sunday we sailed back to the slip and with the heavy cross wind had a difficult time backing into the slip. We had lots of help and finally got in. Not one of our better entrances.

Views out at the reef.

Midweek we finally were able to get on a dive trip out to Fowl Cay National Park. So on Wednesday we went on a trip with Dive Abaco out to the reef with 1 other scuba diver and four other snorkelers. It was great to actually log some bottom time which I haven't done in a while. The coral formations were very nice but not lots of fish varieties. Last week we snorkeled Mermaid Reef which is just across the road from our marina and it is teeming with lots of varieties of tropical reef fish. So even though the water is getting cooler it is very doable with a light wetsuit for extended swimming. Hopefully the weather will continue and we can get back out again soon. On our trip south I would like to get to dive some other locations. Especially in the Caymans and Belize.

As we've walked about the neighborhood around the marina we've seen lots of coconuts on the ground but have been reluctant to collect any. Well, we found out that nobody cares so we've begun collecting and husking coconuts. Using my machete they are fairly easy to open and the water in them is great with rum and lime. It's also very nutritious as is the coconut meat. I scrape out the meat and eat it raw or dry it to shred and use on cereal and salads. It has lots of nutrients that are not otherwise readily available and one of the healthier foods almost being a superfood. So we plan to build up a store of coconut to carry us south.

Inside our first coconut the stark white of the meat.

Getting a cup full of water out of the coconut.

But with all that we prepare for holiday festivities and meals. Tomorrow we're going shopping and get food for our Christmas cooking that we'll do over the weekend.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to all.