Hope Town

Jan 25 thru Jan 27

Blogpost written by Bob

Thursday, January 25

We had some rain overnight--I had to bail the dinghy out this morning.  It is much cooler today with winds blowing out of the north.  I'm going to tell of today's activities through my photographs.

A classic wooden rowing/sailing skiff was anchored
near the harbor's entrance during
the past couple days.  

Our dinghy is tied to the grocery pier
as we shop for fresh eggs.

Another dinghy is tied up to the opposite
side of the grocery pier. Rigid-hull
inflatables are very popular
here in the Bahamas.

We visited the Harbor View Grocery this morning
and purchased some fresh eggs.

A view of South Beach in Hope Town.

A view of the North Beach.  S/v Ellipsis
is in the distance.

s/v Ellipsis is now leaning toward the ocean and her
cabin is flushing with seawater with every wave.

Now that the hull is more revealed, a plywood 
patch is evident on the hull.  

We revisited the wrecked s/v Ellipsis today--it was leaning over into the surf.  Now that the hull is more revealed, a plywood patch is evident on the hull.  It appears that someone made the patch conform to the hull by using kerf cuts on the inside. They probably then used epoxy or some other adhesive and added self-tapping screws into the hull to hold the patch n place while the adhesive cured.  (I later learned that this patch was added after the wreck in an attempt to re-float the boat to get it out to the reef and sink it permanently.  However, the hull broke up from the surf and pieces scattered in the ocean.) 

The sun sets behind the lighthouse
on January 25.

Friday, January 26

The wind blew very hard and directly out of the east all night long--one of the gusts reached 37 knots, according to the Cruiser’s Net this morning.  Even though we are in a well protected harbor, the boat “sailed around” on the mooring.  I got very little sleep last night, frequently up checking our mooring line.  Twenty-to-thirty knot winds are forecast to continue through Sunday night, with increasing chances of precipitation from 10% today to 90% on Sunday night and Monday. The skies are partly cloudy today and the sun is nice and warm when you are protected from the wind.

Captain Jack taking a morning nap
inside the shore power cable.

When I checked my email this morning, I found out that my phone calls from West End on Grand Bahama to Vero Beach in Florida to order my replacement transmission cable cost a whopping $165! Yes, that’s for ordering a $40 control cable and it involved maybe a half dozen calls to get everything straightened out. I contacted AT&T and was able to get some relief on our $650 bill for last month and then I reduced our cellular service to almost nothing (so that our phone numbers could be maintained) until April 15 and shut down both our cell phones.

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We had a delicious lunch at Harbor’s Edge and walked to Vernon’s Grocery afterward. We bought just one sweet potato. We wanted to buy lobster tails and cook them on the grill for dinner tomorrow night but they only had one small lobster tail.

The highlight of our day was taking hot showers ($5 each) at the Lighthouse Marina. After several days without a shower, a hot shower is really appreciated, as any sailor knows all too well.

A view from Lighthouse Marina where we got hot
showers today.  I don't know the purpose of the
cannon in the lower left of the image.  There
was never a battle fought here. 

Since the high wind has us somewhat boat bound, we did a lot of reading today. I can’t wait for the high winds to finally stop so that we can move on.

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For dinner tonight I had 2 pieces of Maggie’s low-carb coconut custard pie and a decaf coffee with 2 ounces of Rum Chata. We saw a sign at Vernon’s Grocery today that said “Why not have pie for dinner?” Since I didn’t sleep very well last night because of the high wind, I will probably “be out like a light” tonight...

Saturday, January 27

I have never experienced the nature of the wind we have had during the past few days and nights.  It is quite different than the wind on the Chesapeake Bay where it is normally steady except in rain squalls.  I'll try to describe it.

A short period of intense wind (maybe 40 knots; I’ll call it the gust) is experienced for periods of time from as short as 15 seconds to as long as five minutes. During the gust, the boat reacts violently and is jerked into position facing the wind as the mooring line abruptly tightens. (We use a very substantial 3/4-inch diameter 12-strand nylon line and it is doubled around the loop in the 1-inch diameter mooring line.)  During the gust, I can hear the “groan” of our 3/4-inch diameter line as the strands rub against one another.  Between gusts, the wind dies down to maybe 10 to 15 knots—while that is still very significant, it feels very calm compared to the gust.  The calm periods last one to 10 minutes long. During the night, I can fall asleep during the calm periods and be abruptly awoken by the gusts.  It doesn’t make for good sleeping conditions.

Yesterday at lunch, the restaurant was in the lee and I watched the gusts as they hit the surface of the water. They were like large balls of wind, maybe 100 feet in diameter. When they hit the water’s surface, the pattern of ripples would appear like a large semi-circular area, the leading edge being circular in shape.  All the while these “balls of wind” are being hurled through the mooring field, the sky is clear.  There are occasional clouds that pass by overhead but they are not storm clouds.

The bright sun in the morning seems to exclude all
color.  The wind has died down a little this morning.

In the cockpit, we listen to the Cruiser's Net on
channel 68 at 8:15 AM for the day's events.

The first farmer's market of the season was this morning.
As farmer's markets go, this one was pathetic.  We did
buy some large avocados grown on Grand Bahama.

Bay Street is a residential street in Hope Town.  Like
other streets, it is intended only for golf carts.

The passenger ferry arrives from Marsh Harbour (left side of
image).  It costs $27 for a round trip and leaves about
every other hour.  Many people from Marsh
Harbour work in Hope Town.

s/v Rainy Days is in the foreground.  This
shot was taken from Bay Street.

We'll be here in Hope town until at least Tuesday.  Heavy rains are expected on Monday.
More from Hope Town in our next blogpost...


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