Bellatrix

3 December - 10 December 2014

Great Guana Cay, Abacos

We sailed to Green Turtle Cay, and anchored in the harbor. The harbor is well protected and a dinghy ride to many interesting places.

The first night, after dinner on the boat we heard music from the Green Turtle Club and decided to investigate. A group of tourists from Georgia were celebrating and had hired a guy from Green Turtle who had played at a wedding. He accompanied himself on keyboard and played everything from 50’s - 80’s music with a Bahamian beat. Dancing and meeting new people, a fun time. Carl Otts told us of his good friend Paul Rich in Baltimore who makes custom wood crab mallets and restores old bicycles.

The next few days we went to Coco Bay and Gilliam Bay both with pretty beaches and large flats to try fishing. I saw a few but wind and waves were against me. A couple of evenings of Happy Hour at local establishments watching georgeous sunsets. Thursday evening we went to Macintosh’s for lobster dinner then to the Community Center for the annual Christmas Tree lighting. A large attendance with local politicians, a “fire and brimstone” sermon, and children and adult singers of Christmas carols and the lighting of the artificial tree on the lawn of the Community Center complete with Santa Claus and his elves.

After a quiet day Saturday (slight hangover), I caught a grouper for dinner.

We had to traverse the Whale Cay passage, the only way for a boat with more than a 3 feet draft to move south. It entailed going out to the ocean through a cut in the reef then south to another cut to come back into the Sea of Abaco. The passage is known to be rough particularly during what is called a “rage”, a high tidal flow matched with unfavorable winds. We were fortunate that the seas were about 6 foot but with a long period (the time between peaks), while roly it wasn’t too bad.

Great Guana Cay is about 5 miles long, has about 127 permanent residents, many more visitors and is known for it’s beautiful beach. It is also home to Nipper’s Beach Bar and Grill which is high on a dune overlooking the beach and reefs. We had lunch there and watched the Raven’s defeat the Dolphins on Sunday. Raven’s fans were in a minority, but we met friendly people having a good time.

Monday our fancy electric toilet took a crap, pun intended. The day was spent taking it apart, putting it back together, taking it apart again. A small plastic sprocket had split, now held together with super glue and wire ties. We have ordered a manual pump head from West Marine, $200, plus $170 expedited shipping, we’re told it might meet us at Marsh Harbor in a week or so. We hope the super glue holds…

We decided to walk the island to go to lunch and a beer at Baker’s Bay Resort, didn’t realize it was 3 miles away and after we got there we found it was a private club. 3 miles back, lunch at Nipper’s.

Made pita bread last night and had lamb kofta with hummus and veggies for dinner.

We will sail to Man-O-War Cay today…