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| Treasure Cay - pic courtesy of Tina White flying over Hugo and Askari tucked up |
We ended up spending 18nights in the Marina at Treasure Cay
– oh my gosh there was just no let up in the cold and windy weather for more
than a day at a time. With our 2.2m draft we could only get in and out of the entrance
channel at high tide so we were effectively trapped, the good thing was they
had a monthly rate that was about the same cost as for 5 days so it wasn’t
costing a fortune and there is a really nice community. We met some great
people there but this really wasn’t what we came to the Bahamas for.
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| Our grey view - not so bad and very private |
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| I did have time for baking - even made pastry- Carmelised Onion Tart |
Our recently repaired alternator had failed again so we took
the opportunity to get a new one shipped in – Mastervolt USA were great and
sent us a replacement unit free of charge the same day – getting it cleared
through customs in Nassau and then sent to the Abaco’s was a different matter.
Miss Marshall from UPS is now on our speed dial but eventually got it to us two
weeks later…..
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| We did get visits from turtles and dolphins in the marina |
We hired bikes for a day, they turned out to be the worst
bikes in the world but they only cost $7 and we managed to cover the 30 km
round trip to the blue hole. It was a totally circular sinkhole, buried deep in
the forest. Apparently its 70metres deep and has three layers – fresh clear
water on the top, a layer of old decomposing leaves, then deep dark salt water
beneath. It was really cool as we had the place to ourselves and the swimming
was great.
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| Nice bike! |
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| Treasure Cay Blue Hole |
Our good friends on Hugo had sailed out to the Bahamas from
Florida for New Year and a wedding, a real treat was getting to spend their
last night with them before they went back to their new land lives in
Nashville. Russ’s mum Jen is 83 and was visiting from Australia – she sailed
with them, a real life super gran.
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| Hugo arriving at Treasure Cay |
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| Packing the lovely White family off to the airport - miss you guys! |
We hired a car and drove the full length of Great Abaco
island over a few days. Going to Little Harbour for lunch at Pete’s pub and a
hike out to the lighthouse was a great day. We had a big food shopping day in
Marsh Harbour in the torrential rain, where we ran into the crews of Venture
Lady and Country Dancer hiding out in a bar. We drove to the north end and
found ummmm like nothing, oh except a huge new port that the Chinese and Bahamian
Government have invested $39m to build but apparently the depth is only 6ft-
hmmmm?!
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| Little Harbour - very protected once in |
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| Yes that's why we are in the marina |
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| Pete's Pub - we resisted buying one of the amazing bronze sculptures - the family history is really interesting though |
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| Derelict lighthouse at Little Harbour |
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| New Port - North Abaco |
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| The Lovely Treasure Sands Club |
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| Very Bahamas - Treasure Sands |
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| Finally a cocktail in a real glass - Treasure Sands Club |
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| Lovely garden in Marsh Harbour on one of our many visits to try and get the alternator |
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| So like our old cat Scooby - Bacardi nearly came with us |
Then on our last day of exploring we went looking for rare
Abaco parrots – it was only when we got to the National Park we discovered that
it was 4wd only so we went for a hike and only managed to find a few blue
feathers, but we did find some really pretty Atala butterflies – apparently
they were nearly extinct but are now common again following changes to
harvesting of it’s host plant. Lunch at Nancy’s a lovely local restaurant in
Sandy Point made the day – we could see the Disney island off in the distance
and heard stories from the locals who used to work there, interesting that the
chairs in the restaurant had mickey mouse on them!
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| Abaco Parrot feather - the closest we got! |
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| In search of Abaco parrots like this - not my image |
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| Atala Butterfly in the Abaco National Park - that's a mouth-full.... |
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| Potcake Dog at Sandy Point - these local dogs named after the rice and peas fed to them are very cute |
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| Fried chicken at Nancy's - food of gods! |
We finally collected the alternator from Marsh Harbour
airport on the 18th, our third attempt. Andrew fitted in that
afternoon and a weather window opened up for us to leave the marina the next
day for more real adventure.
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| Heading south again..... |
