s/v Rainy Days

Hope Town

Jan 28 thru Jan 30

--Blogpost written by Bob

The wind died down to 15 to 20 knots on Saturday and what a pleasant improvement (over 25 to 30 knot winds)! We decided to go out for (flatbread) pizza at Wine Down & Sip Sip, a Restaurant in Hope Town. We’ve walked past it a number of times. We decided to go today because it is closed on Sunday. The pizza was delicious and it turned out to be one of our best meals out in the Bahamas!

Sunday, January 28

As usual we listened to the Cruiser's Net this morning, specifically to get an update on the weather since we are planning to go to Marsh Harbor next. We learned of a big fire in an area of Marsh Harbour called The Mud where mostly Haitian families reside--25 homes were burned to the ground. Hope Town is sending their fire department by boat to help out in fighting the blaze now--the fire boat just zoomed out of the harbor.

Signs painted on pieces driftwood and nailed
to telephone poles direct visitors
to nearby businesses.

There are so few streets in Hope Town that they don't really need street signs. The only signs that are found are painted on pieces of drift wood. Even a sign for Queen's Highway (the major road through Hope Town) is painted on drift wood.

This Queen's Highway sign indicates that
the road makes a turn to the right.

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Based on today’s local weather report on BarometerBob.org, Wednesday would be our best day to leave Hope Town but their forecast does not extend any further than Wednesday. Using Weather Underground with their 9-day forecasts, Thursday or Friday, is even better. I think we will leave Hope Town on Thursday for our return to Marsh Harbour for provisions and to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. (Go Eagles!)

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Life could not be much more laid back than here in Hope Town,

on Sunday more so than usual.

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Power production onboard Rainy Days has been exceptional lately with the noticeable increase in daylight hours. Early in the morning, before the sun is high enough to produce any solar energy, our battery voltage has been on the order of 12.6 to 12.7 volts, which is slightly above 75% charged (for AGM batteries). Our combination of 440 amp-hours (four Group 31 Firefly Oasis carbon foam AGM) batteries and 300-watts of solar panels suits our current needs perfectly. We have been operating for two seasons now with all four Group 31 batteries connected in parallel which results in reduced daily cycling (as a percentage) and longer battery life. (It is more typical for cruisers to maintain two separate battery banks but we have found it to, not only be unnecessary, but undesirable with the combination of equipment we have. We have the capability of switching between two banks but always run with our battery switch in the "all" position.)

Monday, January 29

Overcast skies best describes this morning’s weather, as participants in the Cruiser’s Net register early on VHF channel 68 for broadcasting their interests among the major categories: weather, invitations, community, and open mic. The Cruiser’s Net starts promptly at 8:15 AM every day.

Moorings are packed tightly in Hope Town Harbour. This
morning, as the wind shifted from the south south-
east, the catamaran behind us was only
about 17 feet from our stern.

We learned on the Cruiser's Net this morning that yesterday's fire was in a Haitian shantytown called The Mud located on the outskirts of Marsh Harbour. More than 50 homes were destroyed and 170 people displaced. I am writing a short story about this fire and will publish it in an upcoming blogpost. The story is called "The Other Side of Paradise."

Short rain showers came through the mooring field during the day--we just about got caught in one as we were coming back from grocery shopping.

While we have been here in Hope Town, we have seen the ferry full of people that arrive early in the day and leave late in the day. They work in shops and restaurants here in Hope Town. The ferry to Marsh Harbour and back costs $27 per person (round trip) as an individual’s single ticket. Commuters who work in shops and restaurants usually buy a 5-day round trip pass for $70 but the pass is only good for certain times of the day (like 7 AM to 4 PM). If they work an hour later on one of the weekdays they have to use part of a different 5-day pass (like 10 AM to 6 PM) just to cover the occasional late day. There is no subsidy provided by their employers to cover the cost of their ferry ride. There aren’t enough jobs in Marsh Harbour for residents and, in places like Hope Town, there are more jobs than (youthful) residents to fill them. Most of the residents of Hope Town are retired expatriates or old time Bahamians who could no longer work a 7 to 4 or 8 to 5 day.

The passenger ferry usually stops at the Lighthouse Marina, the Lower Public Dock, the Upper Public Dock, and, occasionally, the Hope Town Lodge. The ferries are run by Albury Ferry Service and G&L Transportation, both out of Man-O-War Cay.

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It’s raining right now and the patter of rain drops on the bimini and the deck are all around me as I sit in the cockpit writing this paragraph. In the rain, there is very little movement around the harbor. Cruisers seem to be holed up in their boats reading or getting a head start on happy hour. The wind is light out of the southwest. The moored boat’s have all shifted around facing a new direction.

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Some days, like today, we spend the entire day puttering about, not accomplishing much of anything. We ate lunch at the Hope Town Inn & Marina and we are cooking dinner on our onboard gas grill (steaks and green squash).

Tonight's dinner features grilled steaks
and thickly sliced green squash.

Hope Town is an excellent place to accomplish nothing. Of course, we have become experts in this lately and we don’t need a special place to do it. We start happy hour about 3:30 PM on most days—2:30 PM on rainy days like today.

Tuesday, January 30

I was up three times opening and closing hatches last night as three separate (but short) rain showers passed through. This morning s/v Rainy Days has moved 180 degrees from yesterday’s position facing into the relatively strong wind out of the north northwest. The skies are still overcast. It is gray and gloomy and the sun has not been able to break through the cloud cover yet.

As 7:30 AM the passenger ferry arrived from Marsh Harbour and dropped off more than a dozen people at the Lower Public Dock before proceeding to the Upper Public Dock to drop off even more people. The sun broke through the clouds later in the morning.