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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
It's Saturday afternoon, and about 10 days since my last dispatch. Kit and her brother Keith are off snorkeling on Mermaid Reef just outside the anchorage here at Marsh Harbour. That gives me the first real opportunity to write since picking Keith up at the airport.
The Hub of Abaco is generally regarded by the locals as the region between Marsh Harbour, Hope Town and Great Guana Cay (pronounced: kee). But with all the cruisers going up to Green Turtle Cay and down to Little Harbour, we extend the Hub to include it all.
Our last 10 days in the Hub has been very busy. We've visited Little Harbour, Marsh Harbour, Great Guana Cay and Green Turtle Cay. With so many activities their order has sort of blurred.
The very afternoon we picked up Keith we went down to Little Harbour and picked up a mooring for the night.
The entrance to Little Harbour is a bit shallow, only about 3½ feet (1 meter) at low water. With tides ranging between 2½ to 3½ feet, we can get in over the bar at half tide. That gives us about a 4-hour window of opportunity to cross the bar. With high tide late in the afternoon, it was no problem to get in with good light to help us "read" the water.
Little Harbour was the adopted homeland for the late Randolph Johnson, bronze sculptor. His son, Peter, has continued the foundry and has created some of his own works as well. Most Thursday afternoons they pour bronze castings. And that Thursday was no exception. It was HOT in the foundry as the metal was heated. A few old bronze auto parts and part of an old bronze ship's pump went into the pot. Some impurities were skimmed off the top, then some old glass bottles were tossed in. The molten glass picked up the remaining impurities and rose to the top to be skimmed off as well. Earlier the sculptor's models had been covered with a material to make a mold; the mold used to make a wax image of the model. The wax image had been covered with a ceramic material which was put into a kiln to bake into a ceramic mold, the wax evaporating in the process. When the molten metal was ready for pouring, the still-hot ceramic molds were removed from the kiln and placed in a sandbox near the pot of bronze. The pot was then suspended over each mold in turn and the molten metal poured in. It was a fun experience to watch as all this took place.
The weather was predicted to be somewhat squally for the next several days. We might have gotten caught inside the harbor if a squall were to come through during our window of opportunity to cross the bar. So we left.
Wind was perfect for a few hours of spinnaker sailing, but began picking up. Rather than fight the wind for the few remaining miles, we doused all sail and motored the remaining distance.
At Great Guana Cay we anchored in Baker's Bay. Keith did a little snorkeling around the boat and found some ghost conch (pronounced: konk), smaller than the more favored queen conch, but with almost as much meat and just as tasty. I showed him how to clean and pound the conch, and Chef Katherine cooked it to perfection.
From Great Guana we negotiated Whale Cay Passage ("The Whale") again, anchoring just outside the entrance to Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay. It was fun to visit again, to notice how much is the same and how much has changed since our last visit. It is a lovely community.
Back through "The Whale" to Great Guana Cay. This time we explored ashore. Keith visited by cruise ship back in 1990. Operations were suspended in 1993 because too many trips had to be canceled due to dangerous conditions entering the Sea of Abaco from the Atlantic. Much of the operation's buildings were still there at the north end of Great Guana, but in a very dilapidated condition. But enough was still there that we could easily imagine Keith's visit.
The settlement at Great Guana was also visited by foot. There are few full-time residents on the island, so transportation is normally either by foot or by golf cart. There are a few restaurants ashore catering to the cruising tourist. We visited one situated in a beautiful site overlooking one of the best beaches in the world; the prices were high and the food was okay. We won't be back.
Along with the exploring we did some boat projects. It has been said that cruising is an exercise in fixing your boat in exotic locales, and this is no exception. A few ropes needed their ends whipped as the old was worn out and they were beginning to fray. The furling line for the roller-furling jib pulled out of the drum and had to be reattached. As we're away from the dock we have to run the engine-driven refrigeration at least once a day, often twice a day, to keep the temperatures down. When we're in open anchorages we can also run the watermaker to top up our tanks.
But it's not all work and play. There's also some relaxation. Most evenings with Keith aboard we plan 3-handed pinochle, the Hitchcock family game. To date our captain is leading with 8 games won. Kit is up to 7 games won and Keith is behind with 4 games. But watch out, as Keith has been known to come from behind and be the overall winner.
With predictions of deteriorating weather and a friend, Jacqueline, scheduled to fly in to Marsh Harbour from California on Sunday, we decided to take the opportunity for reasonably good conditions and move back to Marsh Harbour. We upped anchor and motored over on Thursday morning. It was good timing as we were hit with a heavy downpour in the middle of the trip. And squalls passed through that night.
With predictions of improved weather, we could have left to do some more exploring before returning. Instead we elected to stay here. Laundry has accumulated enough that a coin laundry was called for, and fresh veggies are less expensive here than in the outlying cays.
With Keith leaving in the middle of next week and Jacqueline leaving on Saturday, we won't get very far from here before writing the next dispatch. But that's okay, as there's lots to see within only an hour or two by boat and neither Keith nor Jacqueline has seen any of it.
Next dispatch: More Hub of Abaco.
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