Hope Town to Green Turtle Cay

Feb 25 thru Feb 27

—Blogpost written by Bob

Sunday, February 25

There was a very heavy, but short, rain shower early in the wee hours of the morning—it lasted just long enough for us to get all the hatches closed. Then the rain suddenly stopped like someone flipped a switch to the off position.

We’re facing south for a change! There are still some dark moisture-laden clouds lingering overhead and a very light drizzle (but at times, a brief rain shower) is drifting through the mooring field. Blue sky occupies the northern third of our immediate atmosphere at the moment. The wind is blowing at a mere nine knots (at times dropping to less than five knots) which is a pleasant (very calm) condition compared to this past week. It seems like a good day to move on from Hope Town.

A bit later, the dark rain clouds moved into the area previously occupied by blue sky. The harbor was unusually silent. The sun appeared brightly in the area where the clouds recently vacated. The almost nonexistent wind moved around from the east again.

After the light rain showers, the colors returned to the
harbor in Hope Town.  But the rain showers
weren't through for the day.

About a half hour after the above picture was taken,
another rain shower came through the mooring field.

We dropped off our lines to the mooring buoy lines at 11:30 AM and headed across the harbor to Lighthouse Marina to fill our fresh water tanks. High tide today occurs at 3:59 PM. By the time we had all three fresh water tanks filled it was noon and four hours before high tide.  Our depth sounder alarm went off several times in the channel leaving Hope Town. We arrived in Marsh Harbour at 1:30 PM and immediately went to Maxwell’s Supermarket for provisions.

When we arrived in Marsh Harbour it was still overcast
like it had been almost all day.

After checking the weather forecast and considering the things we still have to do in Marsh Harbour, we decided to postpone our transit of the Whale Cay Passage until Tuesday.  Our plan is to travel to Man-O-War on Monday afternoon and pick up a mooring buoy for the night.  (Maggie wants to buy some more batik scraps for a quilt she is making--she needs to make six hundred and fifty 3-inch squares!)  On Tuesday we will leave Man-O-War and travel to Green Turtle Cay via the Whale Cay Passage.

----------

In case you missed it, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway just announced it received $29 billion in tax benefits as a result of Trump’s recent tax cuts. The (regressive) tax cuts were paid for by increasing our national debt (at a time when our economy was on an upswing and didn't need the boost) by a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Taxpayers will be paying the tab.

In addition, the $29 billion received by Berkshire Hathaway (and similar amounts by other big companies) will probably be used to acquire other existing companies which does nothing to increase the number of jobs (it usually reduces them), salaries, or our nation’s GDP.  It simply makes billionaires richer.  

Added to this mess, is the fact that Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, got a $500,000 contribution to his campaign funds from the Koch Brothers just after the tax cuts were enacted.  If this isn't corruption of our government, what is? 

Monday, February 26

This morning is cool and crisp, almost like a September morning back home, without so much as a hint of wind—the wind speed measures a mere 3.5 knots on our instruments. The surface of the harbor is nearly as smooth as glass. All the boats anchored in the harbor are facing south even though the wind direction is almost imperceptible. Cars and trucks are moving around on land as people go to work this morning—this is one big difference from Hope Town where there are very few cars and trucks nor streets wide enough to handle them.

After our usual listening to the Abaco Cruiser’s Net in the morning, we took our 6-lb propane tank into Corner Hardware to get it refilled—it’s not completely empty but it must be very close. While the propane tank was being refilled, we went to Skagg’s Market to pick up some lobster tails and then, back at the boat, we emptied our composting toilet’s solids container. (We usually put the composted solids in a heavy trash bag and drop them into the dumpster at the Union Jack dock.)  Our propane tank was back outside Corner Hardware by noon as promised.  After retrieving our tank and mounting it on the stern mount, we departed for Man-O-War Cay.  It was about 1 PM as we motored out of Marsh Harbour for the last time this season.

We tried to drop our anchor in a little cove (just south of Corn Bay) on the north end of Man-O-War, but the holding was very poor.  The anchor kept skipping over a rock shelf with a little bit of sand on top--there was nothing in which to get a hold.  We experienced the same thing last time we were here and finally found a good spot to anchor but there was another boat in that spot when we arrived this time around.  So, we motored south to the inlet to the harbor and carefully navigated our way in the channel.  It was about 2 hours before high tide and we never saw less than 6 feet of water.  We picked up one of David Albury's moorings for the night. 

This is an image from our chart plotter of our mooring
location in the harbor at Man-O-War Cay.

S/v Rainy Days on a mooring
in Man-O-War Cay.

The beautiful Man-O-War settlement
from our mooring.

We rode our dinghy into town so that Maggie could pick up nearly 5 yards batik fabric she needs for a quilt she is making.  The batik fabric is produced on Andros Island in the Bahamas.

We plan to leave early tomorrow morning to catch favorable same tidal conditions.  This will allow plenty of time go through the Whale Cay Passage and reach Green Turtle by lunch time.

Tuesday, February 27

We departed from our mooring in Man-O-War at 6:45 AM, at a time when the tide was still relatively high.  Leaving the channel, we didn’t see a depth under 8 feet.  We were the only boat leaving that early. 

We left Man-O-War at first light
on February 27.

The sky was clear and the wind was light as we motored north past Man-O-War Cay, Scotland Cay, and Great Guana Cay. The ocean side of Whale Cay Passage was calmer than the Sea of Abaco side—we could have done it in a canoe.  We passed a lot of cruisers heading south through the Whale, as it is commonly called.  We arrived at Green Turtle and entered the channel into White Sound at 10:30 AM.  The water in the channel was very clear—we saw three big rays traveling together and a nurse shark on the way in.  We picked up one of Phil Robert’s mooring buoys directly in front of the Bluff House--the water was 10 feet deep and the location was great!

We went into the marina, first visiting the gift shop.  We purchased a Marjolene Scott print and then went to the Tranquil Turtle Bar for lunch.  As we were walking toward the bar we noticed a big black cloud coming from the north.  We thought about going back to the boat and closing all the hatches—we should have, but didn’t, thinking that it would simply blow over. (Afterall, there was only a slight chance of a rain shower today according to the forecast.) Just as we were finishing our lunch, it started to rain quite heavily.  By the time we made it back to the boat, we had a big wet mess to clean up and we were soaking wet.

The Bluff House Marina after the rain shower.

We expect high winds for the next several days and we expect to be stuck in Green Turtle until the middle of next week.  By the way, I am celebrating my second annual 70th birthday party next Wednesday, March 7, at Pineapple's Bar & Grill on Green Turtle Cay.  Everyone is invited to attend!  Until then...

Thanks for following our blog!