Stuck in Hope Town

Feb 19 thru Feb 21

—Blogpost written by Bob

Monday, February 19

High tide today is at 10:23 AM—we planned to leave Hope Town just before high tide and arrive in Man-O-War just after high tide—the trip is only 4 nautical miles to the north, past the South Man-O-War Channel.

Even though the sun was shining at the start of the day, the sky is somewhat overcast and the sun is blocked from time to time by a passing cloud. The puffy cumulus clouds are moving quickly toward the west, being propelled by the strong wind. The wind is clipping along at 17 to 20 knots out of the east. The same weather conditions are in the forecast five days running, with the addition of rain on Thursday.

This weather forecast image is from Weather Underground
but the three other app's we use agree very closely.
BarometerBob.org tends to be the most accurate 
forecast but is for only four days into the future,

Any other time, I would prefer to stay put during these conditions but we are trying to wrap up our last week in this area before heading to Green Turtle at the end of this week.  The high wind does not begin to taper off until Saturday morning, when we want to be in Green Turtle for an art show. The winds drop way down the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (a much better window to transit the Whale Cay Passage).  A prudent sailor would throw the schedule away and follow the weather patterns and I believe that’s what we are going to do.  We’ll miss the art show on Saturday but we will be in a safe place. Furthermore, I can’t think of a better place to be stuck for a week than here in Hope Town.

Truman Major (Lucky Strike) came around in the morning to collect mooring fees and we opted to pay for the entire week and paid in advance ($100).  Later, we went into the coffee shop and to a couple grocery stores.  Before the noon the wind had noticeable died down, but only temporarily--we could have left during this time if we hadn't just paid a week's mooring fees.  In any event, we will be here for the week, expecting to leave next Sunday at high tide.

Our two cats, Lizzie and Captain Jack, are doing what
they do best--sleep.  They are not at all concerned
with the high wind nor meeting a schedule.

We had lunch at Sip-Sip and had a delicious flatbread pizza.  This has turned out to be our favorite restaurant in Hope Town.

Dusk in Hope Town on February 19.

Tuesday, February 20

It was very windy all night long. The cool breeze blew through our open hatches and kept the boat nice and cool. The sun is obscured by clouds this morning but there is a small patch of blue sky overhead.
  

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By mistake I left the autopilot and instruments turned on all day yesterday and throughout the night. Consequently, the battery voltage was slightly under 12.5 volts (50% charged on AGM batteries) this morning. (The battery voltage reading is the first thing I check every morning—it is prominently displayed on our Watt Wizard.)

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I am REALLY looking forward to a nice hot shower today! My last hot shower was Thursday afternoon after our snorkeling trip, nearly five full days ago. 

We went out for breakfast at Captain Jack's,
overlooking the harbor.  Pretty nice view, eh?

Grocery shopping at Harbour Grocery was kind of slim
pickings this morning.  This illustrates why I
am so impressed with PUBLIX when
we return to Florida.

My hot shower felt sooo good late in the morning!  We bought showers at Hope Town Inn and Marina this time around.

We went to a little get together this evening in the cockpit of s/v Exuberance, a Hylas 44. (We first met Bert and Prudence at Hartge Yacht Harbor in Galesville about five years ago.) We had some wine and appetizers and a good time along with another couple that attended, Dan and Marsha of s/v Cutting Class (Dan and Marsha are both retired school teachers), out of Mystic, CT.

Wednesday, February 21

The high winds generally out of the east continue another day and are in the forecast still for another several days.  At this moment the wind is blowing between 19 and 20 knots out of the southeast.  While there are still some cumulus clouds in the sky, it is much less overcast than yesterday.  There is very little boat movement associated with the high wind because this harbor is so well protected, but it makes a howling noise as it passes by the mast and the standing rigging.  I realize it may sound strange for a sailboat to be stuck in a harbor due to high winds but that is precisely the case—well, using the word “stuck” is probably an exaggeration.  We’re staying here in this lovely place rather than exerting ourselves handling deeply reefed sails on the (currently rough) Sea of Abaco.

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One of the most interesting boat names we’ve heard (or seen) lately is “Meandering Joy.” S/v “Sequel to...” (also an interesting boat name) is on a mooring ball about 150 feet to our west. We met Joe and Paula on the way down the ICW.

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Around 9 AM people begin to move around the harbor in their dinghies, some taking their dogs to shore for their morning walk. Some, like us, going out for breakfast.

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Guy from a neighboring boat, Miss Ellie, dropped over this afternoon to let us know that our strobe light was on at the top of the mast during the day. There is a photocell built into the mast head light that is supposed to turn the anchor light off during daylight hours. 

Our OGM-brand masthead light is intended
to serve multiple purposes but we only
use it as an anchor light.

So, after he left I looked up the wiring instructions and I can visualize how it was wired and why the wiring was incorrect.  So, when we’re in Vero Beach, the masthead light wiring is another thing that has to be fixed.  In the meantime, I can simply turn the system off during the daylight hours.

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After all the time we spent in Hope Town last season and this season, we learned about a new restaurant called “On Da Beach”—it is about 1/4-mile south of Hope Town. We’ll probably try this restaurant out tomorrow at lunch.

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We’ve also learned that there are a lot of sharks that come into the harbor at the end of the day. They feed on fish guts that a fisherman in the area throws back into the water (and occasionally unsuspecting tourists, of course).  We were going to clean the bottom of the dinghy of its marine growth this afternoon but decided it is best to wait until we leave Hope Town.

Again, we will be here in Hope Town until Sunday.  Our next blogpost will be from Hope Town before we leave.  Stay tuned for more of our experiences from this beautiful place.

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