Life is Good!!!

We have visited Hope Town several times now. Also, now that our camera has magically rejuvenated itself, we can now show photos. Those beside and below are taken from the famous light house and show the views of the harbour.

These are photos of the beach and of some of the buildings.

2008 calendar photos

Every year, we do our own calendar, using some of the best photos from the year before. These are them.

Jan New York and sunsets at Beaufort, SC
















Feb Bev at the helm on the Chesapeake.

Bev with her catfish at Stuart, Fl



March Dismal Swamp, Virginia

Intercoastal in Georgia




April

May
Fireworks on the Rideau,

Sailing on Big Rideau Lake

My daughter Andrea and her beau, Vincent at our house.

Sunrise at Elizabeth City, NC

Sunset at Beaufort, SC

Fishing off our dock at home

Laughter on Big Rideau: Bev and her sister in law Darla

The Atlantic at Vero Beach

Friends boat (Party for two) at Vero

Friends boat (Joanne Marie) on the intercoastal

Bev's family

Sunrise on the intercoastal in Florida

good times on the Big Rideau as we were being escorted out of town

Our house in winter

On to Hope Town

Sometimes this retirement stuff is pretty tough, but someone has to do it - poolside in Hope Town.

After Zingaro, ChrisDeke and Mskoki left, we spent the better part of a week hanging around at Fishers Bay. We moved the Stray Cat further into the anchorage so that no-one of any size could drag their anchor and hit us since they would surely go aground before they got this far.

Eventually, however, we set sail for Hope Town via Fowl Key. Fowl Key is supposed to be one of the 3 top snorkelling spots in the Sea of Abaco. Unfortunately, when some friends (who will remain unnamed in order to protect the guilty) where anchoring, they backed into the painter from their dingy. It did an instant wrap and we spent the next few hours trying in vain to un-fowl their port propeller in Fowl Cay.

Somehow, this place just seemed to be appropriately named. A couple of photos of the area are above and to the right.

Since we no longer had any appetite for snorkelling on the reef, we motored the rest of the way to Hope Town.

Hope Town itself is absolutely charming. The streets barely have room for one small car at a time. They meander with the shore line. Many of the buildings are painted in pastel colours. Its landscape is overlooked by a very famous and often painted lighthouse which still has an operational kerosene lantern. You can wander inside anytime and climb to the top. We did just that.

These photos are near the Hope Town beach. In calmer weather, it provides pretty reasonable snorkelling.

In addition, we also dove twice on one of the top 3 Sea of Abaco snorkelling spots: about 1 mile off Johnny’s Cay. Both times were spectacular although we saw many more fish the first time. The reef is not continuous. It is composed of a number of small reefs roughly forming a fuzzy line. It was a 3 mile dingy ride to get there. The second time, we took a portable GPS so that we could find our way back to exactly the same place if desired.

On our second dive, I spotted a humongous lobster. Unfortunately, I had left my spear at home. I borrowed a tool that is something like a lasso on a stick, but there must be a necessary technique of which I am completely unaware as I was totally unsuccessful at lassoing the lobster. Next time I will not leave the spear at home as I could have speared it quite easily.

By this time, we were having other troubles with cameras. Our new Olympus is supposed to also be an underwater camera for snorkelling. I tried to use it in a MEC underwater camera bag intended to allow you to snorkel with a normal camera. I could not get it to focus properly and all the pictures came out blurry. I then took it out of the bag (remember it is intended for this purpose), but it immediately leaked. As a result, we lost all sorts of Hope Town and underwater photos.

We did have an underwater camera which shoots 35mm film. When we got the film developed, however, almost all the negatives had overexposure streaks on them. I don’t know if the camera is defective, if the film was defective or if the film leaked light after the photos were shot. Anyway, these photos did not turn out.

So much for cameras. We can still shoot photos with our digital camera, but only a very small number. I bought an extended warranty, but it does not do me much good down here.

While in Hope Town we collected a few coconuts and had a coconutting party. I used a jig saw to cut up the husk making it much easier to remove. Alas, our coconuts were too old for the milk to have much flavour. The flesh was firm, however, and tasted quite good.

While there, I also resewed the genoa sail from ChrisDeke. It was interesting and even fun.

Like New Plymouth, the flora was sometimes stunning and like everywhere else down here, the sunsets were beautiful.

After about a week and in anticipation of a few fronts moving their way through, we sailed for shelter in Marsh Harbour. As the fronts passed by, we encountered gale force winds and even a waterspout. I am glad we were not on the high seas.

Sunsets and Grabbers:

If you don’t get nipped at Nippers, you are sure to get grabbed by the bar called Grabbers.

As a group, we all participated (again) at the cruisers’ pot luck dinner. In addition, out motley crew provided the entertainment: again with Scott (Zingaroo) on gut-bucket, Brad on guitar and Deke on bongo. Others joined in with their own instruments and a good time was had by all.


And if the bar doesn’t get you, the sunsets (complete with mandatory sundowners) surely will.

Nippers

You have to be very careful or you can get really nipped at Nippers.

This bar is definitely fun.

There is a great reef just 200 feet off the shore. They offer a free fresh water rinse-off shower and a fresh water pool.

Of course, you are expected to buy a drink. They are not cheap ($7 plus tip) but if you drink more than one, you WILL get nipped. These are the frozen slushies that are about 50% rum!

The tractor is on the “jungle walk” on the way across the island as you go in. Rodney Stewart - eat your heat out!!

The painting of the bar is very fancifull.


The beach is absolutely beautiful.

And of course, the bar is a great place to meet friends.


Just don’t stay too long!

Marsh Harbour

Marsh, we did the usual (grocery shopping, propane fill-up, banking etc). Zingaro, Mskoki and ChrisDeke also joined us. Marsh is a great place to sit-out nasty weather. It is very well protected and there are some things to do. The Saturday streak dinner at the Jib Room Bar is a good example as is the evening where cruisers provide the appetizers and drink discounted drinks at the same bar. Grocery prices proved to be less than I had expected – provided that you are willing to adjust your tastes a little. For example, pork bacon was expensive yet turkey bacon was about 1/3 of the cost of pork. To me they taste the same and the turkey is probably better for you. It cost $22.50 to fill a 20 lb tank of propane – a bit more than at home, yet it only cost $30.00 to fill a 30 lb tank. The harbour is dirty. You cannot see the bottom clearly even where it is only 6 feet deep. I would not want to swim here.

In Once the weather cleared, we all headed for Fishers Bay again. This lead to “the great conch hunt”!

We all headed to Spoils Island near Whale Cay. There is a very deep channel into the Sea of Abaco that was originally dredged so that ocean liners could drop off passengers at a resort. Unfortunately, the passage could be so rough that it was unpassable even for them. As a result, the ocean liners stopped using this passage and the resort was left to go to seed. The island built from the spoils is a great place for conching.

Our take for the day is laid out on our dingy. Deke then showed us how to disassemble the conchs. The muscle (the only part you eat) is quite rubbery, but if marinated for long enough in lime juice, it can be very tasty.

The shells can also be turned into horns. These are traditionally blown at sun down. Now that we have a number of these shells, I will have to convert one of them. At last my high school trumpet playing days may prove to be of some use.