Abacos Sailing, June 6-14 2009

After numerous charters to the BVI and Grenadines, for this trip we decided to try the Abacos after reading various reports here and on other sites.

Saturday, June 6 was a long day. We left Boston at 5:50 AM (meant getting up at 2:45) for Miami and arrived in Marsh Harbour about 1:00 PM. The flight from MIA to MHH provided beautiful scenery, especially as we approached Great Abaco. It took about 10 minutes to clear C&I and get our bags, by which time the rest of our crew arrived on Yellow Air Taxi from FLL. We took a taxi to the Sunsail/Moorings base, dropped off our stuff and had a late lunch at Curly Tails at the base. Rehydration was accomplished courtesy of several Kaliks for yours truly, and local rum concoctions for others. Following lunch, we went to Price Rite for provisioning and grabbed a few items at a local liquor store as we had pre-ordered libations, water and soda from Sunsail. Around 5:00 PM, our Lagoon 38 cat, Qiannu was available for boarding and we loaded our food and gear.

This is a very nicely kept base for Sunsail/Moorings where they have a total of approximately 50 boats between them in a modern facility. Though they have various people wearing Moorings, Sunsail, and TUI shirts, there did not seem to be any meaningful differentiation of the staff for one company or another. If you needed something, the nearest person was there.

After settling in to the boat and cocktails, we went to the bar to watch the Belmont and root for Mine That Bird, enough said. Later we walked up the road 100 yards or so to Snappa’s for dinner and listened to the band for a bit before calling it a day around 10:00. As seems usual in most places, the first night at the dock was warm and buggy with little air moving through the boat.

Sunday, 6/7
We received our boat briefing from Wiley around 8:30, and chart briefing from Holly about an hour later. By 11:00 we had loaded up on ice, topped off the water tanks and were off the dock. Though I had bought a cruising guide and chart of the area months ago and was a bit apprehensive of the 12 foot depth of the Sea of Abaco, I settled in to having little water below us pretty quickly. This was greatly helped by having a catamaran that drew less than 4 feet. Winds were SW at about 10 knots, but sufficient to move the heavy Lagoon at 5 knots and we were in Bakers Bay on Great Guana Cay by 1:00 PM. We anchored in about 8 feet of water so clear that I was able to literally see the anchor set and bury itself as the boat fell away from where I dropped it!



This was typical of anchoring for the rest of our charter. After lunch aboard, we took a dinghy ride into the new marina complex under development and over to the snorkeling area on the northeast side of Bakers. By 5 PM, there were maybe 5 other boats in this large bay for the night. After settling in for cocktails, we realized that it was now about 7:30 and time to clean up and make dinner preparations and get the charcoal grill lit. Fortunately, the potatoes were cooked before the heavens opened up for about 2 hours and pretty much extinguished the charcoal fire which necessitated cooking the meats on the stove. Things calmed down after dinner and we spent a good night, though still a bit buggy at anchor.

Weather for the balance of the week had winds from 2-10 knots in maximum 6 inch seas. Winds once got up to 20 knots in a thunderstorm for about 10 minutes.

Monday, 6/8
Today we were off on our way to Manjack/Crab Cay in 5-8 knots of wind from the south. As I wanted to sail, this was a bit of a trek for the 20 miles or so in light winds on a run. We were secure by about 2 in the anchorage, minutes before a thunderstorm passed. This took 20 minutes and we resumed loafing by taking the dinghy to explore the mangroves, swimming, liming, and other means of wasting time in a beautiful place. The showers held off this night until after dinner was cooked and we had another peaceful, but really buggy (flies, skeeters, gnats) night despite putting on insect repellant before going below for the evening. This was getting irritating as we were easily 150-200 yards from any land. These guys must have AWACS guiding them to us in great numbers.



Tuesday, 6/9
While the weather was cooperating, we figured we’d make our way back through the Whale, but would stop off in New Providence on Green Turtle Cay to see the town, do some re-provisioning, and get some industrial strength bug spray. We motored down which took about an hour and anchored outside Settlement Harbor. We took the dinghy into the harbor and walked around the New England type village before getting in our shopping at one of the liquor stores and Sid’s.



The proprietor (Sid?) kindly had us driven in a golf cart back to the dinghy dock as we had more stuff than we could carry, including several bags of ice that would have melted by the time we got back to the boat. As we wanted to get to Nipper’s for dinner, we got underway quickly as we had about 20 miles to go into the wind with a few squalls moving through. This was mainly a motor-sail as there was little wind even when we were off it. By about 4 we pulled into Settlement Harbor/Guana and picked up a mooring. Though this was not an issue for us with the catamaran, but be aware that the concrete blocks anchoring the mooring lines here are only about 4 feet deep at low tide. Keep this in mind depending on ones draft. Dinner later was at Nipper’s which was not very busy, though the cracked conch was very good. As we had fumigated the boat earlier, bugs were not bad here, though ashore, something more industrial strength than Off would have been better. At this time of year, given the flat terrain, light winds, and showers, I think that one cannot have too much DEET.

Wednesday, 6/10
We motored down to Hopetown under mostly clear skies as the squalls had passed, and arrived around 11. On the way down, with the sun above and in 12 feet of water, it was so clear we could see our shadows on the bottom as well as numerous starfish.



After taking a mooring in the inner harbor, we toured the lighthouse and took in the spectacular views from the top. Lunch was ashore at Captain Jack’s.



Following lunch we motored down between Lubbers and Elbow Cay for an hour and anchored near the northern end of Tilloo off Tavern Cay for the evening, snorkeled, limed, and ate aboard. There were 2 other boats in the anchorage that night and the insects were under control.

Thursday, 6/11
In the morning we motored further south and anchored behind Sandy Cay. We took the dinghy around to the windward side for some snorkeling. This was one of the best places for snorkeling we have seen including visits to the BVI and Grenadines. There were lots of fish and numerous, diverse, healthy corals. This expedition was cut short after discovering that the dingy mooring we were tied to was not anchored to anything. After lunch aboard we continued south to Little Harbor arriving about 3 hours before low tide at 2 PM. We cleared the harbor entrance with 6.5 feet of water below us and took a mooring. Another name for this place could be Terrapin Station as there were substantial numbers of sea turtles in the harbor. One need not wait more than a minute or two to see one poking its head above water. After a swim, we went ashore to sample the local rum cocktail at Pete’s Pub, made dinner reservations, and toured the interesting gallery. Though we did not buy any sculpture, we did come away with a Barefoot Man CD which kept us entertained later in the day. Dinner at Pete’s was very good and we retired to the boat as our insect repellant was wearing off.

Friday, 6/12
Tough to believe that our charter is almost over though we kept the whining to a minimum. After leaving Little Harbor we made a return visit to Sandy Cay.

This time we found a spot to anchor the cat in about 20 feet of water in front of the reef and swam from the boat. This was much easier than getting in and out of the dinghy and eliminated the possibility of a faulty mooring. We then were able to sail for about 10 miles or so on a broad reach with 10 knots of wind behind us making 5 knots until the wind started to back down around Hopetown. We kept the sail up for another hour but when the wind and our speed dropped to 2 knots I unfurled the iron genny for the remaining 7 miles or so of today’s trip to Fishers Bay on Great Guana. After getting the anchor set in about 8 feet of water, we took the dinghy into Grabbers for their rum delicacy, the Guana Grabber and hung out at the bar with some locals enjoying some conversation and cocktails. Dinner ashore at Grabber’s was very good and our waiter Glen provided excellent service.



Saturday, 6/13
We were underway early for the 8-9 mile passage to bring the boat back to Sunsail. We were able to sail for about an hour in 10 knots of wind until the combination of declining wind, and the need to sail directly into it to get to Marsh forced us to furl the sails and motor the last few miles into the harbor where we were tied up at the fuel dock by 10:30. As the boat was not being turned around, and we were not flying out until the next day, the staff let us hang out on the boat and work on consuming the last of our rum and beer supply for as long as we wished. By 3 or so, it was getting hot in the sun on the back deck so we packed up and checked in to our rooms at the Conch Inn which is at the marina.



The first real showers in a week were great and we hung out on the patio and lounged for the balance of the afternoon. Dinner this night was 50 yards down the street at Mangoes and was the best of our trip.

Sunday, 6/14
Slept in a bit, had breakfast, and got to the airport for our 1:30 flight to Boston via Miami. Everything was on schedule, and we arrived home about 10:30 PM

Summary
We enjoyed the Abaco’s immensely. The islands and scenery are great, though in a different way from the volcanic ones of the Virgins (except Anegada) and Grenadines. It was easy to find ice and re-provision and one has the option with little pre-planning to spend the night in a deserted anchorage or in a small harbor with restaurants, bars and small marinas. The people everywhere were very helpful and good natured. More wind would have made the sailing more interesting, but you can’t take the weather with you (lifted from Jimmy Buffett). Though we covered a good amount of ground, we were easily able to spend time in some fantastic snorkeling areas, bars, and villages and get a good feel for the area without feeling pressured. As always, another few days would have been good.

The Dodge Cruise Guide and GPS waypoints are great and aid navigation especially in the southern area where there are some shallows and sand banks. A quick look at the tide table in the morning was sufficient to know where we were on the approximate 3 foot tide and the time of the next anticipated low tide. Bugs were an issue periodically, but once we brought more ammunition into the battle, we were able to keep them under control.

The local rum libations all seem to have a good amount of coconut rum or similar flavor to them. If one likes this, fine, if not, they will easily modify to suit one’s tastes. Most of them pack a good wallop and a bit of care should be exercised when descending the ladder from the elevated docks to return to the dinghy.

This seems to be a popular area for day rental/day charter of 20 foot power boats as there were a number of these around during the day near the snorkeling areas and beaches. There were very few obvious charter and sailing boats in the area despite it being high season and crowds were never a factor anywhere.

We’ll be back.