Hope Town to Bakers Bay

Tuesday June 29 – Thursday July 1

Tuesday we moved from south of White Sound on Elbow Cay to off of Hope Town on Elbow Cay, about ½ a mile. We used the kayaks again to go explore Hope Town Harbor from the water side. Verifying where we thought the Harbour Town Inn was & where we could bring the dinghy in for the night’s movie we were going to attend. Slow paddle back to the boat as my arms are getting tired. Lunch on board then Steve takes the dinghy back to get some gas for it plus diet cokes, whiskey & gin just a few necessities. Later that night we head back in to the Inn for the Lion Fish “movie” premier. The Lion Fish are not indigenous to the area and have invaded the Bahamas, & they have very poisonous spines. No natural predators except the spotted moray eel so they are multiplying rapidly. They are trying to teach and encourage man to catch and eat the fish. They have to be handled carefully but once the tips of their spines are cut off (with scissors) they can be handled & filleted like any other fish. They gave out samples & Steve & everyone really liked the meat. I even tried a little piece and it was pretty good. They had a great turn out and the “movie” was entertaining with several locals. Hope Town lost power shortly after the movie was over, this is a very common occurrence during the summer, until they get their new power plant built. Wednesday we are underway by 10, with light winds behind us we are sailing with just the jib out. Only doing between 3 – 4.5 knots but we are not going far and are in no hurry so just enjoy a nice quite sail on the water up to Bakers Bay at the north end of Great Guana Cay. We are anchored by 1:30. Gallant Lady whom we passed coming in a few weeks ago is still anchored nearby, and another mega yacht Andrea Cay is also anchored nearby so we feel we are in good company LOL. We have lunch on board before getting the dinghy out to go explore this part of the Island. Just from our anchorage we can see it is not built up a lot but they do have Bakers Bay Golf & Ocean Resort & Marina nearby on this end and we can see the beautiful beaches. Walk around on the beach awhile find the golf course, funny seeing such well manicured green lawns here. Back to the dinghy and over into the marina & resort. It is a beautiful place just not very busy this area is still under development. At one time they were trying to get cruise ships to come in but that did not work out so progress is slow in developing this end of the Island. What is here is very well maintained and they are still building so they have high hopes of making it a first class resort. The mega yacht “Party Girl” was docked here, check out her web site www.partygirlyacht.com, pretty impressive. Back to the boat for a swim and some reading, what a busy life we have. Thursday we head out into the Atlantic for a short run up to Green Turtle Cay via the Whale Cut Channel. We and a lot of other boats will be heading up there for the big kick off party for the 35th annual Regatta time in Abaco event. The kick off party on Fiddle Cay is called “Cheeseburger in Paradise” party thrown by Bobb Henderson & his houseboat, Stranded Naked, is a famous annual event in the Bahamas. His Cheeseburger in Paradise parties began as a way to celebrate the regatta with like-minded people who love the Abacos and Jimmy Buffet tunes. As the parties became an institution, they became more elaborate and expensive. Last year’s ticket was $10,000. The menu included 1,200 cheeseburgers, 300 hotdogs, 150 pounds of French fries, 100 gallons of rum punch, and 100 gallons of margaritas, plus everything required to set up a beach party with games and music on an uninhabited island and return it to pristine condition afterwards. Bobb’s wife, Patricia, designs outrageous T-shirts to commemorate each year’s party. The sale of the shirts plus help from Bahamas Department of Tourism, many local businesses in Green Turtle, the Regatta Committee, and Bristol Cellars Wine and Spirits help defray the cost of this all-day affair. We are looking forward to this event, which is also our farewell to the Abacos. Hope ??? to have internet access up by Green Turtle to update after the party. IF not we will be waiting for a weather window to head back to the east coast of Florida (along with a lot of other boats down here). Will update blog & FB then.

Link to pictures;
http://picasaweb.google.com/103931849054358791487/HopeTown2?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/103931849054358791487/BakersBay?feat=directlink