A few more of and from the Lighthouse

Anne was glad to be back on the ground. It was pretty windy up there and the stairs were steep! Just think........we didn't have to put a helmet, harness, sign waivers or go through a metal detector to climb the stairs!!! Gotta love the Bahamas!!!!!!

Hope Town Lighthouse

This light is the only operating light house in the Bahamas and is one of the last lights that is lit by kerosene. The original Fresnel lenses are superb craftsmanship and it gives you goosebumps at night as it rotates around......every second a beacon for 5 seconds and then 5 seconds of dark! We climbed up today and had the opportunity to see the surrounding area from 100+ feet in the air!!

Can you find Grey Hound?

Hope Town, Elbow Cay

Following a bouncy night in Buckaroon Bay we decided to go up to Hope Town and take in the sights of the town and to provision for water, gas and a few food items. Also there is a front coming through and we are very protected in the small harbor.

Hope Town was settled by the Loyalists (those that did not want to secede from England) that left the US during and right after the Revolutionary War. There are many people here that can trace their family tree all the way back, over 200 years! The very picturesque setting is something to see and we'll try to give you a feel of the setting. Of course we had to have fish at Captain Jack's for the first night!........Right Mike! ;-)

Is this warm enough??!!

Our friends on Windswept

Bob & Lisa were on the plane with Tom and Sue so that was their first mistake! We first met them at Great Guana and they came into Little Harbor a couple of days ago. Their boat is a Lagoon 37 and they keep her at Green Turtle Cay when they have to do the "work" thing. With luck we'll meet up again at Barefoot Man.

A few more shots of Little Harbor

Since there are squalls around the Bahamas today we decided to stay here and ride them out in a nice protected harbor......it's so nice here it can be hard to leave!

For your viewing pleasure..........

As the unofficial sign police I approve of these!

A little walk to the lighthouse....

Back in the 50's, Johnston and family had only the light-keeper as neighbors so we had to go check it out. Not much of it still stands but what a sight and the view was fabulous. I would take this duty over Alaska any day!

Some of the Bronze sculptors

Take a look.............

Little Harbor, Bahamas!

We will spend a couple of days here checking out the sights and food at Pete's Pub. We already know the burgers and dogs are second to none! The art gallery is also very special. Some day we will have to come back here.....

The very sheltered harbor has some vacation homes around it and one can easily tell why sculptor/artiest, Randolph Johnston and his family selected this spot for their home and gallery. They started in the 1950's and actually started with a hut and the original foundry for the bronze castings was in the cave (picture attached)! His world renowned art are still being produced today by his son along with running the pub.

This has been a real highlight of the trip!!

Heading SE

Right now we are at:

N26.19.60

W77.00.01

Anybody want to guess? Well yesterday we took advantage of the last north winds for over the next week and had a great sail down to Little Harbor. This has been one of our goals and it is definitely worth the effort. Grey Hound is now the furthest east and south we will get to in the Bahamas this year!!!

On the way down here we went by a number of anchorages we want to hit on the way back so the weather will dictate how long we stay and where we will go. The water colors just are just getting better & better.

Happy Anniversary Tom & Sue

We just said our goodbyes to T&S and they are on their way to Ft Lauderdale to meet up with the rest of the gang of 204'ers. Good luck to them all. We sent them along with good luck sand dollars and a relaxed attitude.

As you can see they were very stressed over here in the beautiful clear blue waters of the Bahamas! It will be very hard to get much better than this.

Todays sail back to Treasure Cay was a good one. Instead of the planned downwind headsail run we had a rip snorting reach to the channel and GH was loving it. We hit 17.6 kts and passed two other sailboats and a cabin cruiser. The bottom of Grey Hound is pretty clean now!!!!

Look who is in town!

Two days ago Tom & Sue flew into Treasure Cay for a quick little stay on GH. After a great dinner at the marina we decided to go over to Nippers for a swim and little food and of course a few dance lessons the next day. The weather is great right now so we had to get to the beach.

Tons of fun.......of course!!

They say it was the biggest moonrise in 20 years!

Treasure Cay Beach

There are many vacation packages that say the 3 mile beach here is one of the most beautiful in the world. I'd say it would be hard to dispute that!

We also took Nu-it over to Hills Creek and saw probably 6 or more green turtles swimming around. We'll keep trying to get a good picture of them but they really were fast to get away. Also I want to go back there with the tide coming in because we also saw many yellow tail and mutton snapper at the mouth get waiting for Gadabout Dick!

A man's work is never done!

First it was time for petrol......this place is a good location to stock up on fuel. It is just a long drop into Nu-It so we did the two person fuel transfer. Then I had to go look for dinner. I really wanted lobster last night but Blue Angel cleaned to lobster condos out 100%!!!

At least it was warm and clear!

Tom & Sue....we are at Treasure Cay!

We had a nice short sail over from Great Guana yesterday and have anchored in a very pretty harbor at Treasure Cay Resort & Marina. This is a planned community by the looks of it and nicely set up. The holding is good and it's a short dinghy ride to the docks. Our neighbor, Blue Topaz hails from Kingston, Ontario.

We are looking forward to seeing Anne's brother and his wife!!!!

Getting Nipped at Nippers

Great Guana Cay! A stop wouldn't be complete unless one goes to Nippers on the Beach. So, with flippers and mask we made the trek over to the ocean side for some fun snorkeling on the reef and then for a celebratory drink called the Nipper. We don't know what was in it (except for lots of rum) but they were really good!

The view from the pub was quite wonderful as you can tell.

Doing the "Whale"!

After a couple of fun days at Green Turtle it was time to get down to the Sea of Abaco in order to be near where Tom & Sue are flying in to. That meant we had to go by Whale Cay. To do that one has to go out Whale Channel to the ocean side of Whale Cay and then sail (hopefully) down to Loggerhead Channel and into the lee of Great Guana Cay. For our trip we had just a little wind right on the nose so that meant our record of sailing days was broken but we got through with no issue. The Whale is infamous for it's "rage" conditions on rough days and only the very foolish would even attempt to go around the Cay.

Sunset at Pineapple Pub

Part of the Marina and Resort is a small pub overlooking the water along with a pool. The food was tasty and the sunsets were beautiful. I know......another one, but it was a very nice one!