Sail Grey Hound

Sunday, March 20, 2011

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!

The Other Shore Club

Because the bottom is all weeds the only way to stay in Black Sound is to grab a mooring ball so we grabbed one from the first marina. It's only $10 and you get showers, etc. so it's not too bad of a deal and it puts you right near town. The island was out of diesel and gas so the dockmaster took the week off till Friday. We had the marina pretty much to ourselves. Nice and quiet!!

Dan, this is the second Typhoon we have seen down here.....

Green Turtle Cay

We decided next to go to Green Turtle Cay and meet up with our friends Jim & Sharon on m/v Blue Angel. They are traveling with Ed & Connie, m/v Sea Estate. The next time we will see them will most likely be in Brewerton, NY as they are doing the "loop" all the way to Michigan this year. Remember we will be bringing the "best pizza of the world" up to you for dinner Jim!! Even if you took every lobster in Treasure Cay!!

Green Turtle, with it's picturesque settlements of New Plymouth is a great place to relax and walk around. There is plenty to do and see.

Manjack Cay

From Powell we took a short ride over to Manjack (pronounced munjack) Cay. We met up with Kismet and had a nice dinner on board with Jim & Laurie.

So far we have sailed over 260 miles coming over to and sailing around the Bahamas and have only used the engine to get in and out of anchorages/docks. Maybe a gallon or two of gas. The wind gods have been very kind to us. Sailing on the Bahama Bank is like a large "40 acres" in the Thousand Island region. The water is just crystal clear and mostly flat. You can always see the bottom, even if you are in 18-20 feet!!

A Shuttle launch!

This is a little out of order but pictures don't happen like this all the time. Based upon what we know, this was probably the last shuttle liftoff from Florida. We were at Great Sale and I happened to look to the west and the camera was right beside me.

Taking a hike at Powell Cay

We heard about a nice view from atop of a bluff so off we went in Nu-It to find it.....of course it took a few minutes but Nu-It finally got us to the right beach and off we go.....

As everyone (such as Capt. Ron) knows, when in the tropics one should watch out for gorillas, not guerrillas..... Even though the path was narrow we did keep an eye out for any of them!!

Quite a view overlooking our anchorage