We left the anchorage at Egg Island with the sunrise along with a fleet of at least 6 other boats, which continued to grow throughout the day. The wind was right on the edge of where we’re willing to fly a spinnaker, and we later kicked ourselves for not rigging it. The wind started out in the low teens, but as it dropped off throughout the day, conditions turned slammy and slow with the leftover swell. By the end of the day I was pretty badly dehydrated and felt awful (dumb me for not drinking anything all day). We first dropped the hook near Pete’s Pub and were going to go in for dinner, but there was too much swell rolling in through the cut and it was relatively miserable, so we hauled anchor and headed over to the anchorage on Lynyard where we spent a relatively settled, comfortable night.
We’d hoped to snorkel at Sandy Cay with Dan and Holly, but the wind was up too much on Sunday – foiled again! We’ve been trying to visit the Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park since our first season here, but we’ve never been lucky enough to have good weather for it. Instead we sailed with the intention of heading to the south side of Marsh Harbour, but as we were passing Snake Cay, we decided it looked like a good spot and dropped the hook there. It turned out our friends from County Girl were anchored right next to us, and they dinghied over to say hi. There’s what looks to be a cool creek there that we hoped to explore, but that was also not meant to be. A front came through shifting the wind more to the northeast, which was fine until it built overnight to the point where we had 2′ waves rolling through. We shelved our dinghy mission and decided to get the heck out of Dodge. The plan was to head over to Man-O-War before work, but with the waves on the nose, we only made it as far as Sugarloaf Cay – a great anchorage except for the fact that it’s right on the ferry route, meaning lots of wake.
After work we hauled anchor once more and sailed over to Man-O-War with the hope of being able to settle down for a couple days. It was tough moving around so much, and it was frustrating to be in the Abacos without being able to get off the boat.
Man-O-War may well be my favorite populated island in The Bahamas. Everyone knows everyone, everyone waves, everyone wants to chat. The streets are narrow – barely wide enough for two cars to pass. It’s quiet and quaint and reminds me a bit of old New England. We had breakfast at the cafe and spent some time catching up with Anne. They finished work on the old medical clinic extension to the museum and it looks great! We caught up with our friends on Dulcinea, enjoyed morning walks on the beach with our coffee, and loved seeing Elbow Reef light off in the distance once again.
We even found my favorite Bounty cookies at the grocery, which basically taste like soft versions of the Girl Scout Samoas cookies, minus the caramel (don’t buy them, you’ll hate them. Leave them all for me to dispose of – I’m willing to take one for the team).
With the wind direction changing on Friday, we had a fast sail over to Mermaid Reef before work, where we got to watch the SpaceX launch in the evening. We had a lazy start to our Saturday, then snorkeled Mermaid Reef. My mask didn’t want to cooperate, but I was still able to snorkel, and it was even better than the past couple years. The fish have gotten really big, and there were so many of them! We also saw a green turtle – my third this season/ever (I somehow kept missing them even though Chris would point them out). Unfortunately the coral is starting to develop some algae, but hopefully the parrotfish keep it in check. We’ve snorkeled this spot so many times, but it remains a favorite for the abundance and diversity of life – and the fact that it’s shallow means you can really see all the vibrant colors.
I’m loving how often we’ve been able to sail this season without feeling rushed or like we’re missing out on time ashore. At an average of 7kts, we arrived at our next anchorage, Hill’s Cay, in only a couple hours, giving us time to dinghy through Hill’s Creek. The creek winds through a picturesque landscape of red mangroves, sea grapes, casuarinas, and small palms and is so shallow, you can only get in there with a dinghy or flats fishing boat around high tide. It’s home to spotted eagle rays, stingrays and green turtles and the occasional baby hammerhead (we didn’t get to see any, but I was definitely looking!). We walked some of the pretty little beaches and dinghied through other nearby creeks where we saw more turtles and some kind of hawk. I love getting to explore all these little spots that aren’t in the guidebooks and most people will never see.
Returning to the Abacos feels like a homecoming. A ton of our cruising friends are here right now, and we have Bahamian friends here as well. I’m so excited to see how much has changed since our last visit. Vegetation and bird populations are making a comeback (I remember commenting in our first season about how unnaturally quiet it was without birdsong and how few birds we saw). People continue to rebuild, and so many businesses have rebuilt or opened their doors for the first time. And the cruisers are back in force. While I miss having all these wonderful little anchorages entirely to ourselves, I’m happy to see all the cruisers here, contributing to the economies of the various islands – economies that have a significant dependence on cruising and tourism dollars. I’m enjoying mixing up visiting old favorite spots and discovering new anchorages, and I’m happy to be spending the next couple of months here.
