Bahamas - On the Sailboat

Thursday, Dec 8

Bill, Jan, Clara and I got on a 36' Sunsail sailboat in Marsh Harbor for a few days exploring the Northern Bahama waters.

We were able to get an early briefing and get on board “Cloudy Bay”, a 36 foot Jenneau early and get all our briefings out of the way.

Thursday night we stayed on the dock in the harbor.

Friday, Dec 9

This morning we had a brisk sail in unsettled and rainy conditions to Man of War Harbor.  We found a good deal on dockage and stayed on the dock for Friday night.

We arrived early afternoon on the docks at Man of War Marina and checked out the little village.

We had a fun dinner with John and Sally Lincoln of Liliana (Pearson 365) from South Freeport, Maine who are on the dock with us.  They leave their boat here in the harbor on a mooring and travel here a couple times a year for a month or so.



Saturday, Dec 10

Jan tries to see over the helm!

A leisurely departure with a brisk sail to Bakers Bay where we anchored out for the evening. This is one of the most beautiful beaches we've seen and we enjoyed walking on the beach and I got a nice swim from the boat to shore and back several times.

Jan and Clara look for shells at Bakers Bay

Beautiful Bakers Bay

We hunkered down for a rather eventful night. It rained and the wind picked up during the night. Our anchor snubber didn't work real well and kept the crew up a lot of the night with the banging as we swung on anchor.

Sunday, Dec 11

Another leisurely start to the day and motored to a small island for some shelling. We were very successful in finding some unusual and interesting shells.

Shelling

Today the winds have held constant between 18 and 25 knots most of the day. We had another very brisk, reefed sail to Orchard Bay Yacht Club and Marina. We decided that we'd like to spend another evening on the dock after a restless night on the anchor.

Cloudy Bay in beautiful Bahama Waters

Coming back to the boat from shelling

Orchard Bay is interesting because it is a beautiful marina, but no one is here. We have consistently been surprise at the lack of boats and people in these waters. They are beautiful waters and great sailing (if you like brisk sailing). However, it has remain relatively cool and the waters have been to cool to really enjoy snorkeling. We wonder when the place is busy.

Tonight we went to dinner at Grabber's Bed, Bar and Grill. The dinner was surprising good and we enjoyed a nice evening in a beautiful location.

Dinner at Grabbers

Monday, Dec 12

The wind picked up overnight and this morning it's 20+ knots. We decide to sail with reefed main and jib and head back to Marsh Harbor. It was a vigorous sail, but quite enjoyable. We are getting very use to the relatively warm weather and beginning to realize that we will soon be back in much cooler climates, so we enjoy and relish every moment of warmth.

Clara fights the autopilot

Star Fish at Bakers Bay

We arrived back at the Sunsail base early afternoon and get settled into a slip and enjoy a leisurely afternoon packing, eating and drinking – for tomorrow will end another journey.

Bahama - Phase 1

Abaco Island - The Reef House

After relatively uneventful flight from Raleigh via Miami, we all arrived at Abaco Airport.

Joe and Vickey Barwick, Les and Carol Sadler, Bill and Jan Bass and Clara and I have a week planned at "The Reef House", a very isolated 4 bedroom home on a very nice beach about 18 miles South of Marsh Harbor.

The Reef House

On Saturday, we rode the ferry to Hopetown for nice day.

This is what needs to be close by any place that women like to shop

The Crew for the week

We all had a relaxing week at the Reef House, reading, talking, walking the beach, eating and drinking.  The first part of the week the winds blew strong and we weren't able to enjoy snorkeling and swimming, but by the end of the week, we were really enjoying the water.

On Thursday, Dec 8, the Sadler's and Barwick's departed and the Inscoe's and Bass's got on a sailboat for a few more days.

Pictures from the week are at https://picasaweb.google.com/103547083335306738471/BahamasDec2011#