We waited out a morning rain storm before heading 18 miles
from Green Turtle Cay to Powell Cay.
There was a quite a bit of cloud cover making anchoring a bit more
challenging. The sun helps us see the
different waters colors, which helps us anchor in better/more secure areas. Once we set anchor, I set the “snubber” which
is a v-shaped line that gets tied off to 2 cleats and connects to the anchor
chain. These lines are partially wrapped
around a large piece of rounded,very sturdy/strong rubber. (me tying the snubber to the anchor chain)
In case a strong wind or wave comes while on
anchor, the 2 rubber pieces help absorb the shock of our 58,000 lbs boat moving
up, down and side-to-side. In the prior storm
at Powell Cay (3 years ago) our undersized snubber snapped under the pressure
which caused us to buy a much larger one.
During that storm, we drug the anchor probably 100 feet because of the
wind intensity and the location we set our anchor (grass - not good vs. sand - good).
We dropped the dingy in the water and Greg/Dan went back to
the wreck so Greg could try his hand at spear fishing. They snorkeled (didn't spear anything) the area for almost an hour
while we waited on the hot dingy. Sydney
was less than thrilled.
The next day, we took Wendy/Greg back to the secluded island
we found a couple weeks prior. The water
colors and beauty didn’t disappoint.
That night (or should I say the next morning) a very strong
wind came, putting those new/much larger snubbers to the test. We woke up to the boat listing to the side as
we were being swung around in the opposite direction with the anchor alarm
sounding. It got so intense, Dan started
the engines just in case our anchor broke lose.
The day before, another boat anchored pretty close to us and of course,
the wind was blowing in that exact direction.
The storm/wind lasted for about an hour, then finally calmed down. Once again, Powell Cay gave us a good scare. When we looked at the snubber the next
morning – it was twisted and stretched out like silly putty, but in one
piece. (supposed to be solid, not twisted)
The line that wraps around the
rubber piece was melted because of the friction/heat from the stress of the wind. But – they worked as intended
and provided us the energy absorption that we needed. The anchor position the next morning was pristine,
we didn’t budge.
The following day we headed to Guana Cay after trying our
hand at trolling again. This time, we
did catch something, a Barracuda. To
Greg, it was like catching something a little better than a catfish in FL.
To me, it was like Greg catching a catfish in FL - negative 1.
We arrived to the Orchid Bay Marina in the early afternoon,
walked the settlement, scoped out Nippers, the bar we were going to go the next
day, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and dinner on their outer dock of the
marina. Sydney joined the stray cats
that wonder the property.
The next day we headed to Nippers. This restaurant/bar is likely the most
popular destination in the Abaco. People
(tourists and locals) come from all around the islands to enjoy very festive
Sunday afternoons. I would say a couple
thousand people gather each Sunday there.
Most come by boat. At one point,
I counted 36 boats anchored off of the shore (on the Atlantic side).
This does not include the countless ferries that delivered people and
the other completely full dock on the bay side. (the picture was taken early and doesn't do it justice)
The place filled up by 2 PM and it was wall to wall
people. Since the bar is located on the
water, excess guests spill onto the sand and into the ocean. Nippers reminded me of Stan’s in
Goodland on a Sunday with the exception of the stunning water and landscape and the 2 pools (won't happen in America).
On our walk back to the boat, Wendy almost got run over by
Justin Bieber driving a golf cart – our only celebrity citing of the trip. He was on his way to Nippers for his
afternoon of fun.
On Monday, we headed back to Marsh Harbor to drop off Wendy
and Greg for their return home. Our plan
was to stay in Marsh Harbour for 1 night then continue on, but the remnants of
tropical storm Beryl was heading in our direction. We decided to stay there for 3 nights to let the
bad weather/seas pass.
On Thursday morning, we headed 20 miles south to Little
Harbour. Little Harbour is known for
Pete’s Pub and the metal work art collection that the founder of the area
started. It was pretty tough to get into
this cove because of the depth, but we timed it perfectly to come in on a
higher tide. We grabbed a mooring ball
with plans to stay the night. Multiple
turtles kept popping their heads up checking on us.
We went ashore for lunch and a couple cold beers. We happened to arrive on the same day Boston
Whaler was having an organized event. Probably 50 boats came into this little
harbor. It was a treat to see.
Apparently Dan had an intuition of what was about to hit.
Around 3 PM the skies turned dark, so we decided to head back to
the boat. The winds picked up quickly as
we left the dingy dock. We ended up
helping a couple of boats grab mooring balls and rescuing 2 fly away paddle
boards before returning to our boat. The
wind whipped us around in circles (again). We are fairly certain we drug the
mooring ball, as we were 50-75 feet closer to the shore when the storm
ceased. Dan, again, turned on the
engines but this time was actively putting the boat in gear to relieve
pressure on the mooring ball. I have never heard of a mooring ball drag. Maybe our boat was too
heavy. Either way, our normal mooring
ball sense of security was gone and we slept that night like we were on anchor. We did enjoy a nice sunset though (from the
inside, as the Noseeums were out in force).
The next morning, we packed up and headed to the Eleuthera
island chain.
Bello atardecer
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