s/v Kinvara

Feb 12, 2012

Little Harbor

Feb. 9, 10, 11

We woke fairly early since the nighttime was windy and we were rocking and rolling. The wind had clocked from SW to NNE so we had more surge protection from Lynyard Cay but the wind was still blowing 15-20. We sat in the cockpit with coffee and watched 10 sailboats leave our anchorage and Little Harbor headed out the cut and heading south to Eleuthra Island. It was a great day for them to go since the wind was NNE with following waves of apx. 3-4’. All of a sudden we had the anchorage to ourselves with Hans and Gail. We did decide to move into Little Harbor at high tide. So the anchor was hauled at 8AM and we slowly followed Hans and Gail toward the Little Harbor entrance. It is a fully protected harbor but the entrance is narrow and you have to pass over a sandbar with only 3’ of water at low tide. High tide was at 8:58AM and we were entering by 8:30AM. Because of the full moon the tide was higher than usual so when m/v BadJaw crossed over they saw 8’ of water. We breathed a sigh of relief when we passed over the sand bar and still saw 2.5’ under our keel! We picked up one of their moorings (made from cement blocks and tires for floats) for $15 per night or $71 for the week. There are no services here for water, fuel, or electric, so you have to be pretty self reliant. There is Pete’s Pub where you can buy lunch or dinner or drown you sorrows at the bar. The little harbor has quite a few houses around it. We heard they only operate off wind and solar power but we can’t see the pub serving food without regular electricity. We found out that they cook with gas, really do use solar power with a back up generator. Most of their menu choices are fresh fish, delish, with a hamburger or chicken for an alternative.

Love Pete's Pub

Kinvara is in the center of 3 sailboats

The "old" dingy dock damaged during the hurricane

In a private yard

While waiting for lunch at the Pub we decided to walk around one side of the harbor to the outside beach. It was not low tide, however, so there was not much shell collecting to be done. We went into the art gallery and bought a book about the family who first inhabited Little Harbor (more later) and we bought t-shirts to remember our visit. In the afternoon we returned to our boat and read while Jane made blueberry cake. After going back ashore to pay for our mooring we stopped to visit Hans and Gail for a drink before retiring for the evening. Dinner was clam chowder and french bread since our lunch was so big.

One of Pete's cast bronze sculptures outside
the gallery

A prickly pear cactus with fruit.
Hans says you can eat this!

Overnight the wind continued clocking from NNE to E and staying 15-20 range. We decided to get our water maker up and running so Peter started our portable generator and Jane purged the system of storage fluid. We ran the water maker for 4 hours this morning and it worked perfectly! We usually have solar input of 11-12amps from the sun but today it is heavy overcast. Our wind generator cannot offset 4 hours of the water maker so the generator was able to charge the batteries while supplying power for the water maker. Little Harbor is a protected land and sea park and there are only 3 other boats in the harbor with people so we felt safe making water on the incoming tide. Afterwards we went ashore to walk our favorite beach again at low tide. When we returned to the dingy dock we saw a sailboat similar in size to ours which had grounded in the entrance to Little Harbor. We dingied out to them to see if there was anything we could do. There is always the chest constriction you feel, thinking, TG it’s not us!

Grounded in the channel

Since high tide was not until 9PM, after dark, we were pleasantly surprised to see them gone by 6:30

Feb 11, 2012

Lynyard Cay

Feb7th & 8th
We dropped our lines at Marsh Harbor Marina at 10am on Tuesday the 7th and headed south through the islands to Lynyard Cay. Out of Marsh Harbor the seas were 2ft+ and the wind as usual was not conducive to sailing. We motored at 3 to 4 knots to allow our friends on their power cat to catch up with us. They had to fuel up before leaving the dock. The cat can travel at speeds up to 21knots so once they had fueled it did not take them long to come alongside. The trip to Lynyard took us about four and a half hours and we dropped anchor in the lee of the island. We had lunch on arrival and not long after we had the dingy in the water ready to go ashore.

Fishing...no luck!

Our friends m/v Badjaw

A "simulated lighthouse" on a private island

We got our snorkeling gear together put on our swim suits and headed for shore. Our first goal when landing on a new beach is a search for shells. Not too many to be found on this beach. Hans and Gail discovered a small reef just yards from the shore and we snorkeled over to see it. It was as big as a tractor tire but it was teaming with all kinds of sea life. We noted several species of fish who were either very protective of their environment or were very curious of the intruders. Other sea creatures included hermit crabs, sea urchins, conch and a variety of coral. It was like staring into a perfect aquarium. We did not have our underwater camera with us on our first visit so we planned on returning to get some pictures tomorrow.

Our little reef to explore tomorrow

Lots of curly tail lizards

Lots of hermit crabs of all sizes!

Jane made her famous lasagna for dinner and Hans and Gail joined us to celebrate another awesome day in the islands. Hans made tomato slices with pesto sauce and Gail made a salad. Before leaving Marsh Harbor we had made a trip to the grocery store and found two types of frozen bread dough. Jane cooked a multi grain loaf and it was awesome. Dinner was washed down with a nice bottle of wine and a selection of Port and Amarula for an after dinner drink. Is that spectacular or what?? To top off a great day a full moon appeared over the island and it seemed as if you could reach out and touch it.

Yummy

Beautiful

Wednesday we woke with little protection from heavy wind and 2+ swells from the SW. We briefly thought about moving into Little Harbor but decided to stay put when the sun came out. It was a beautiful but windy day. We had breakfast then went ashore with Hans and Gail to fully explore the little reef we had seen yesterday. Hans brought his see through bucket and Peter his snorkeling gear and Jane her underwater camera. There were surges of water making Peter’s attempts for underwater pictures tricky so Gail and Jane tried to anchor him from each side. The pictures came out really great. We felt honored for this underwater view of such a pristine little world.

Can you find the hermit crab?

The afternoon everyone retired back to their own boats for some R & R. Jane baked a white french loaf and made a salad. At 5PM we went to m/v BadJaw, Hans & Gail’s boat, for dinner. Gail made a delicious pasta with bacon, vegetables, and cheesy sauce. We had white wine and finished the evening with a red wine called “Chocolate Decadence”. It,s not creamy but somehow a red wine infused with a hint of chocolate. It’ s on our list of new wines to get when we return to Total Wine at home!

Super Bowl Party

Feb. 5

Sunday night we met our friends, Bill and Linda and Hans and Gail at the Jibroom restaurant for super bowl. We had potato skins, chili, chicken wings, hamburgs, and hot dogs, plus $3 beer. It was fun watching the first half, ads, and half time show.

Hans and Gail

Linda and Bill

Popcorn machine

Our Patriots shark!

Well, I said the first half was fun. Then we returned to our boat for the second half. That was not fun at all!

Feb 5, 2012

Sandy Point, Abacos

One of the fishing docks in Sandy Point

The day we rented the car we drove to the furthest point south in the Abacos, Sandy Point. There is also a place called Hole in the Wall with a lighthouse but now it's fallen apart. The road to it doesn't exist, only a path over dirt and limestone so we dare not drive our rental on it. The light house is apparently in ruins and the Hole in the Wall Pub is no longer. There is no harbor or anchorage for our boat either so it was not on our list of accomplishments on this trip. We did enjoy Sandy Point though. It is a vibrant little community where we think people either fish for a living or travel the 60 miles into Marsh harbor.

There seem to be plenty of conch to harvest!

The conch can survive out of water for 2 days.
They spray them with salt water. If it rains on the conch
they will die immediately.

Peter, Gail, Jane, Bill, Linda

We could not resist this street sign.
Jane grew up on Flagg Drive in Framingham, MA

Peter could not resist this picture.
When you gotta go, you gotta go!
Actually there is an arrow on this sign.
The real bathrooms are to the right.

Feb 4, 2012

A Day on Land...on wheels!

During our first week in Marsh Harbor we met a couple from our marina, Gail and Hans, and another couple across the harbor, Bill and Linda. We had such a good time visiting and sharing our stories that we decided to share a van rental for a day to explore parts of the Abacos that we could not visit by boat. So, for $30 per couple we got the above van for 24 hrs and Peter offered to drive, since it's on the left side of the road. The only problem is that the steering wheel is also on the left! Since there is only 1 main road the length of Abaco Island it wasn't too bad. We stopped at 2 beaches, one we walked, and the other we were able to collect shells, snorkel, and enjoy the sun.

Our first beach

This little sand crab was determined to
protect it's territory!

Peter found this close to shore...
as big as a basketball!

Water...crystal clear!

Drinks? This was a homemade tiki bar on the beach.

Surf's up!

The group walking our first beach.

Good bye to the beach for now.

What is everyone looking at?

Another highlight of our day was stopping in a place called Palm Shores. It is an area along the east coast of Abaco Island that is within a protected area. It is one of only 2 places in the Bahamas where the endangered Bahamian parrot lives. We discovered that they were roosting in a tree when we arrived but then we were able to take great pictures. We have never seen parrots in the wild. What an experience!

This little guy kept posing for the camera!

This was one of 3 pairs we saw in the tree.
Incredible camouflage.

Apparently the parrots were on most of the Bahamian Islands but they nest on the ground. Unfortunately the nests are attacked by feral cats, other animals, and the wind and tides wiped out much of the population so the parrots are now a protected species here. We felt honored to be able to see them in the wild.

Our day ended in Little Harbor. This is a community we can reach by boat and plan to maybe next week. Apparently there is no electricity, only solar or wind to power up. You reach it by a dirt road...only wide enough for 1 car. It was 3 miles to reach from the main road. However once you arrive it is a real Caribbean paradise. The end of the road is Pete's Pub and art gallery. We had enormous gin and tonics for $6, then delicious dinner of grilled grouper or snapper. Of course Peter could not resist the art gallery. We now have our own little parrot to bring home to remember our visit.