The Abaco Islands

The trip from Spanish Wells to Lynyard Cay was another of the great sails of the trip. For our departure through Ridley Head to the Northeast Providence Channel we shared a guide with two other boats. Once out past Ridley Head we made better than 7 knots for the 55 mile trip on another day of close reaching. This time our trip was in the company of two other boats with whom we shared the pilot. Goosebumps, a Block Island 40, is pictured here. Before he retired Eric Woods, the owner of Goosebumps, was the builder/distributor for the BI 40. It was great fun to sail neck-and-neck tweaking the sails and shooting pictures. I'd like to think Eric was peeved that we kept up with him even though we were towing our heavy wooden dinghy. The other boat, Skybird, wasn't able to keep up so I don't have a picture of her.

We anchored behind Lynyard Cay, north of Little Harbor. There is a bar at the mouth to Little Harbor so we didn't go in there. We'd have had to wait a day to ride the tide in, then wait another day in order to catch the tide out. Christopher rowed the dinghy over there to take a look and was quite put off by the entrance. That is saying a lot since he is so blase about running aground and other mundane events.

The short sail from Lynyard Cay to Hope Town took me about three hours in very light wind. But what a marvelous day. It afforded a great opportunity to admire the homes of the rish and famous that line the shore in various places. It has been 35 years since I visited Provincetown on Cape Cod, but I imagine that Hope Town and Provincetown have a similar feel with their vistas of the oceans, narrow streets, quaint houses, boutiques and hotels. Hope Town owes its affluence to the visiting tourists and ex-patriots. In fact, the interlopers have had such an impact that the public school here is one of the best looking and nicely mainteined schools that we saw anywhere in the Bahamas.


The above pictures are the Abacos of tourist brochures. Both are of Hope Town Harbor. The lighthouse is often photographed. The tourist cottages and hotels, photographed from atop the lighthouse, look out over the Atlantic Ocean in the right hand photo.

If you can get into the harbor for a mooring or slip then Hope Town would be a great place to ride out rough weather. It is a bit too crowded to expect to find safe anchoring. Given our good weather, we stayed outside the harbor and anchored below the lighthouse.

When we went out on the beach we came across this dead sea turtle. Did she die of old age or is she another victim of human damage to the environment?

Like other places we have visited in the Bahamas, there is little interest by the locals in their history. This is the oldest grave in the Abacos. It is dated to the marriage of Thomes and Lavinia Russell. In Hope Town there is also a small maritime museum that was closed for renovation while we were there. It seems that the locals do not want to distract the tourists from the sandy beaches, so don't trouble with history and landmarks.

4/10/01: Marsh Harbor is the commercial center of Great Abaco. The harbour itself is quite large with good protection and plenty of room to anchor. There are restaurants, shops and food stores to cater to every taste. In town there are even three different banks. For all its commercial attributes, Marsh Harbor is not very attractive. However, it has a sizeable cruising community that spends the winter here and is the home to the Abacos cruisers' radio net.

4/11/01: Manjack Cay is an easy day sail from Marsh Harbor. The only thorn in the path is traversing Loggerhead Channel and Whale Channel around Whale Cay. Since this stretch of water can be quite nasty there is a report as to its condition on the morning cruisers' net. When we went through we had favorable winds and tides and it was still somewhat lumpy.