Amekaya's Blog: Moving on down to the islands

With the holidays gone and the calendar continuing to move we are ready for our departure from Marsh Harbor. We have become too comfortable here enjoying the comforts of being in a slip, having communications access but more importantly a regular source of supplies. As we move on we know that getting things we need to support our diet and boat maintenance will not be as easily available. Once we get to the Exumas fresh fruit and vegetables are few and far between. From what we’ve heard when we get to Jamaica and Guatemala good supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables will be available unlike here in the Bahamas where there is little agriculture.

Our plan is after leaving Marsh Harbor and we will be stopping a few places in the Abacos in the outer Cays and then move on to Spanish Wells and Eleuthera. We have friends coming in to Nassau on the 28th so we want to enjoy each island in the northern part of the Bahamas until then even though the weather has not been the best. Once they arrive we plan to head south to the Exumas where hopefully it will be warmer and drier. We have had off and on showers here every day for the past two weeks. Usually the heaviest showers have come at night but they also come every time a dark cloud passes over.

Doing full time cruising we alternate between periods of layovers and periods of frequent moves. During the layovers we get comfortable and the boat becomes more “homey” and less fit for sailing conditions. On the other hand when we move frequently we are forced to constantly setup and breakdown so we try to stay places at least a little while so we can relax and enjoy where we are. When we get to places where we’ve never been we would like to spend a comfortable amount of time there to enjoy and explore. On the other hand each day is a day older and one day closer to the end so we have an interest in cramming as much into whatever time there is. We truly wish we would have started 10 years ago.

The night before we pulled out of Marsh Harbor we hosted some friends down the dock to a Captain Ron night. We offered drinks and popcorn and started out with our trivia quiz that we used last year at Harbor Cay Club in Marathon and then enjoyed the wonderful movie.

So now we’ve left Marsh Harbor and our first port of call is Great Guana Cay about 12 miles to the northeast of Marsh Harbor. Great Guana Cay is home to a mix of residents, part-time residents and commercial interests. One of the fun attractions is a hilltop bar called Nipper’s. It is almost legendary in the Abacos. In addition to their usual attractions like the Sunday Pig Roast is the occasional concert by the Barefoot Man, a Cayman Island legend who also spends time here. After our pilgrimage to Nipper’s we stopped by Grabbers for a snack and to watch the sunset over Fisher’s Bay where we grabbed a mooring rather than anchor.

Late afternoon showers moving in over Settlement Harbor in Great Guana Cay.

The road to Nipper's.

Nipper's world famous beach bar and grill.

Leaving Marsh Harbor we had a brisk easterly wind in the 15-20kt range gusting over 20. Perfect Island Packet kind of day so we had all sails out and after sitting at the dock for about a month it felt great to once again be sliding along the water under sail and we cleaned off some of the slime that had grown on the bottom. In fact, I expect we didn’t put an hour on the engine on the trip over. It was a beautiful sail under a nice blue sky and only a little chop in the Sea of Abaco.

Leaving the Jib Room.

Marsh Harbor in the rear view mirror.

A beautiful day under sail.

Next port of call is Hopetown where we visited back before the holidays. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long but we wanted to return one more time to WineDown SipSip for their roasted veggie flatbread. As we go further south the quality of eating out will also decline so we want to enjoy what we can. After that, a night at anchor before crossing the Northwest Providence Channel to Eleuthera. Looks like no wind for that passage. But, if we wait there is a big blow coming with winds out of the south which is of course the direction we’re going. So, it’s go with no wind or wait and hide. We’ll ride it out in Spanish Wells and then into Nassau.

Amekaya on a mooring.

Queens Highway in Hopetown.

On our last night that we spent at Hopetown we met up with Dave Hurd and Alice who were dockmates in Marsh Harbor for dinner at Wine Down SipSip for a wonderful evening.

After dinner with Dave and Alice.

So from here our trip will be south. Out of the Abacos, down to Spanish Wells and Eleuthera and then into Nassau before going to Exumas with our friends who are coming to visit to escape winter for a while. We must return north to Nassau to drop them off and one last shot at good provisioning but then it will be due south until we get to Jamaica and then west to Guatemala.