We left before dawn from our night anchored near Memory Rock -- essentially out in the open about 16 nm from the nearest land, except that "land" about 9 ft down. It was a bit choppy, but OK. We were rewarded by a sunrise worthy of an Easter morning.
As a catch up ---we left Man-O-War Cay and had a nice leisurely sail to our next stop, New Plymouth, a settlement located on Green Turtle Cay. This route is through a pair of "cuts" or inlets around Whale Cay that often get very choppy or "rage" in strong winds vs wave conditions. We actually went outside the cays to do some fishing on the edge of the deeper Atlantic - with nothing to show for our detour. The total route was about 25 miles. Very leisurely…But not all that glitters is gold --- note the plastic enclosure curtain that is down behind Luke? As we head further north, the morning temperatures are cooler, in the 70’s for goodness sake!
New Plymouth is about as quaint as a New England town, just a lot more colorful.
The narrow golf cart sized streets meander all over the place.
New Plymouth was settled very early by Loyalists, both black and white, all escaping from the US, after the British lost the Revolutionary War. A very nice sculpture garden was built in 1987 to commemorate the original settlers and to give their side of the story, highlighting the hostility and downright brutality of the victorious rebels that forced those who had been loyal to the Crown to flee.
Entering the government dock at New Plymouth
And leaving the dock, you see the still evident pride in the British past, complete with flag.
The town has 3 small grocery stores, think ½ size convenience marts back in the USA. We did see more of the common US foods there, brands we recognize rather than the Bahamian or European brands. There is also a museum (closed when we were there), hardware/marine store, and a bank. We were there on Wednesday…
By contrast, the ABC store (also sells fresh deep fried conch fritters) is open 6 days a week, 7-7.
We didn’t hear or see as many chickens as in some settlements, but cats! Here is a yard full --- 8 of them, cuddled and huddled. Sorry, we miss Wickie…
As we worked our way north, nearer the same latitudes of southern FL, we began to see some of the familiar bird life, like seagulls, great gray herons, and white egrets. It’s nice to see them again.
From New Plymouth we sailed another 25 miles, this time in the Sea of Abaco. Destination, Allans-Pensacola Cay, housing the ruins of an abandoned US missile tracking station. Used to be 2 cays, but a hurricane took care of that some years ago. A short walk through the low trees took us to the Atlantic side of the island, complete with all sorts of cruiser memorabilia…stuff hung all over the trees along the coast, stuff with boat names, cruiser names, etc.
Even a swing.
But, even with the junk, it was still a pretty beach.
We walked the length of the beach to a small inlet/bay. Very pretty.
But it’s not that easy to reach paradise…note me in the far right corner, making my way along the sharp iron shore.
Back to the Sea of Abaco side for a little dinghy cruise – we saw loads of small barracuda, all very interested in our dinghy movements. Two large sharks, not particularly interested in us, thank goodness. And several large stingrays, which didn’t care one way or the other. We kept our toes in the dinghy.
Best of all, the green flash!!!! Again!!!! Very definite, just as the sun set, the remaining bit of orb turned the greenest of greens. After the sunset the sky turned that beautiful pinky red and the few boats in the harbor with us had their anchor lights on. It was a quiet, still night – we liked it.
Next, an easy sail to Great Sale Cay – staging for the next stop before our crossing. It has a beautiful, long beach. In the foreground is a "fish bank" a milky looking shallow area of bottom stirred up by feeding fish, who in turn attract baracuda and sharks.
And another green flash!!!
And LOTS of shelling to be had. That baggie I'm holding up is full, mostly of “olives”...shell du jour after the one in this blog
We sailed lazily from Great Sale to our last stop before crossing, Memory Rock. Not really a rock, just a place in the shallows. We anchored there, leaving at about 6 a.m. for our 75 mile crossing to Florida. En route to Memory Rock, we saw our first Portuguese-man-of-war jellyfish! It was amazing --- a clear, but brilliant blue bubble floating gracefully across the top of the clear blue water. Nestled beneath the 10" bubble was a wad of dark tenticles, looking short, but I know they aren't. Average tenacle length is 30 ft, can be over 150 ft! He was beautiful, but I hate jellyfish. Check out this link - just click on it below - it shows a great picture and some short info on them.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-of-war.html
We did the obligatory fishing while we sailed. And boy, were we successful! First, a nasty 4’ barracuda
Look at those teeth – he meant business. Luke was brave enough to use a very long pair of pliers and pull the hook out as the fish hung over our railing. We were all three glad he was gone.
Then we managed to catch THREE little jacks. There are small differences in many of the jacks, so we couldn’t positively identify them. But, small jacks caught other than on reefs are safe to eat and our reference book said “excellent " for the food value. So, we kept 2, releasing the smallest one back for another day. Fresh fish for dinner – very good dry white meat!
Ship traffic in the Gulf Stream reminded us of why we didn't cross at night without radar.
We took down our well worn, tattered Bahamas courtesy flag, a sure sign we left the Bahamas.
And were enfolded in the sunny arms of the Fort Pierce Inlet
Today’s shell-du-jour was one I found today on the little bay in Allans/Pensacola. It took some research to identify it. Finally, it’s a West Indian Chank.
Chanks are a species of mollusks that live in tropic and subtropic seas, from low tide level to about 6000 ft! They are carnivorous, eating tube worms and bivalves. This 10 inch fellow has an interesting “underside” with 3 strong spiral ridges (helped me identify it!). It’s a pretty shell.
So, that brings you up-to-date with our Bahamas adventure --- only part of our winter trip south, but a big part of it. Now we can concentrate on getting the radar fixed so we can continue north and get to see our family and friends!
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