Welcome Aboard !

May 4^th – 9^th, 2015

 

Well, this is our last week alone in the Abacos. Our son and friends will come down next week so we have rented a large house at the Firefly Resort to accommodate the whole crew. A captain will return “Rita” to our home port of Charleston to await our next adventure. We will just pick up where we left off before we moved into the Beach Cottage. Dinghy into Hope Town Harbour and have some lunch at Harbours Edge restaurant, ride back to Tahiti Beach for some sun, margaritas at “On The Beach” and check out a new place we haven’t been to yet, Lubbers Landing. This became my new favorite place. The food, drinks and view was awesome and the many times we visited we were the only ones there. What a life!

 

April 26^th – May 3^rd, 2015

 

Connie approached me one day and said she had been talking with the manager of our resort and he made her a great deal on one of their cottages for a week. She wanted to know if I would be interested in getting off the boat for a week and staying in a 2 bedroom/2bath cottage on the ocean front. I thought about for a few minutes then she sweetened the deal and said it had satellite TV. A luxury I haven’t had since we left Florida. No brainer let’s do it, we have been on this boat for 11 weeks. It was nice to get off for a while and enjoy something that doesn’t move during the night. Spent the days relaxing and beach combing for shells and sea glass.

 

April 15^th – 26^th, 2015

 

Our friends headed back home and now it’s just the two of us at the Sea Spray. Each day became a challenge, not knowing what to do, so we just went with what came our way. We had so many options it was hard to decide. Stay at the Sea Spray pool, read a book and rum drinks from the bar, (check). Head to the pool and beach at the Firefly Resort, (check). Load up the dogs and a cooler and dinghy to Tahiti Beach for the day, (check). Dinghy to the Lighthouse and climb to the top then move over to the Hope Town marina for pool drinks, (check). Head over to “On Da Beach” for a burger and a cold beer, (check). Take the golf cart to the Abaco Inn for some sun at the Oceanside pool, (check). It was a good thing that Connie and I are good decision makers, makes life so much more fun.

April 8^th – 14^th, 2015

 

It is time for us to say goodbye to our friends and move on from Marsh Harbour to the Sea Spray Resort and Marina on Elbow Cay. Its only 2 miles from where we are but a whole different, more laid back atmosphere. It will be our home for the next 5 weeks. Our friends Chris and Pam have come down to help us with the move and spend a week in paradise. We will take them for an overnight at Lynyard Cay before we check into our new marina. Once we were anchored we headed to the beach for a while and then moved onto Pete’s Pub. Later when we returned to the boat we let Chris and Pam have the dinghy so they could do a little exploring. The next day we moved on to the Sea Spray and spent the rest of the week relaxing while exploring Hope Town’s Beaches, restaurants and of course some of the bars.

 

March 31^st – April 2^nd, 2015

 

A weather window opens up for some great weather for the next few days so Stan and Nancy suggested we head down to Lynyard Cay and anchor out for a few days. Sounded great to us because we could use the practice of dropping the hook, so off we went on a short 15 mile trip. We pulled into a nice anchorage behind the island so that we were protected from the wind. There was a nice beach nearby so we lowered the dinghy’s and to the beach we went. The next day we took the dinghy’s to Pete’s Pub at Little Harbour for lunch and rum drinks. Pete’s Pub is a true island bar with sand floors and water right up to the deck. It was the perfect day to be on the water. After taking the dogs to the beach the next morning, we loaded our dinghy’s and made the trip back to Marsh Harbour. This anchoring thing could become a habit.

March 22^nd – 27^th, 2015

 

Connie’s best friend Lauri arrived to spend a week with us in Marsh Harbour. Our time was spent enjoying the sun and water. We took the dinghy on a trip to Matt Lowes Cay which is a small private cay right off Marsh Harbour. Even though it is private you can go on the beach as long as the tide is low because the property lines starts at the high tide mark. From there we did a little Sea Star hunting and headed to Tahiti beach for some more sun. After that we rode into Hope Town on Elbow Cay to the Hope Town Marina for some food and drinks by their pool. The Great thing about the Abaco’s is that all the establishments allow you to use their amenities as long as you spend a little money. To end the day we headed back to Marsh Harbour to just chill out. Connie wanted to take Lauri to Green Turtle for the day, so they took a 45 min cab ride (one way) then got on a ferry for 30 min. They spent the day traveling the island by golf cart and enjoying some Rum drinks. They returned that afternoon and we all went to Wally’s for dinner. Due to the fact that you can’t rent golf carts in Marsh Harbour most of your travels are done on foot or by bicycles. Since we were dressed up we chose a cab. They also did an excursion to Hope Town one day for some time on the beach. The water was too rough for the dinghy, so they biked to the ferry dock and made a 30 min ride over to Hope town. I think she enjoyed her time in the Abacos.

March 10th – 18th, 2015

 

After 6 days on Green Turtle we fueled up “Rita” and headed to Marsh Harbour to see our Charleston friends Stan and Nancy, aboard Bel-Lair. They try to spend their winters at the ”Boat Harbour Marina”. We had reserved a slip there for the next 4 weeks and were looking forward to staying in one place for a while. We arrived that afternoon just in time for the Margarita Madness Party. This Marina is home to the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club which is made up from members from all over. We joined before we left so that we could meet new friends and enjoy the activities. We also ran into our Florida friends again at our marina pool bar. They let us know they were staying in a house and invited us to a home cooked meal of Crawfish tails and Stone crab claws. They were awesome!

March 5^th – 10^th, 2015

 

We pulled the anchor early at Great Sale and started our 65 mile trip to “Green Turtle Cay”. The weather was beautiful and the seas calm as we made our way through the shallow waters of the Bahama Bank and into the Sea of Abaco. We arrived at the Green Turtle Club and Marina later that afternoon, got all settled in and had a few cocktails. Since we have been here before we knew the best way to get around was to rent a golf cart. We spent the next few days visiting the town of New Plymouth, exploring the island, laying in the sun and consuming a few rum drinks. We ran into our friends that we had crossed over with from Florida and did a little bar hopping. We visited “ The Tranquil Turtle”, “Pineapples Bar and Grill”, “The Lizard Bar” and also The Green Turtle Club. Green Turtle Cay is one of the most beautiful cays in the Abaco’s and we will definitely return.

 

March 4, 2015

 

We stayed in West End and enjoyed the warm weather and sunshine for 2 days. On March 4^th  we headed out to our first anchorage “Great Sale Cay” about 52 miles away. This is a great stop over on the way to the Abacos. When I say this was our first anchorage I do mean it was our first time ever dropping the hook. The winds were blowing 15-20 mph but the sea was calm and the anchor set quickly. I jumped in and swam out to make sure it was really set and could see it buried deep in the sand. We did a lot of swinging during the night but “Rita never Drifted”.

West End, Bahamas

March 2, 2015

This was our first stop in the Bahamas. I’m sure you saw the picture in the previous post of our Gulf Stream crossing so when we arrived we got tied up and had a beer before clearing customs. The officer came to our boat to remind us we were supposed to clear upon arrival so we took care of business. Then had another beer. West end is a nice resort to relax after the trip over so we decided to stay a couple of days.