Troy from Dive Guana motored out to our boat to collect the mooring fee at 7:30 am! He's an early bird but that's probably because he takes his dive boats out to the reef at 10:00, he has his divers or snorkelers meet him at his shop at 9:30, and he's on the net anywhere from 8:30-8:45. Wow, he's one busy guy!! Anyhow....when he came I asked him if he was Troy. He replied, 'yes'. I then told him since I hear him every morning on the Cruisers' Net, it's nice to put a face with a voice. He has a bit of a sense of humor because he them told me that the guy on the net was 'my evil twin'! Ha Ha!
Our three boats relayed back and forth and our game plan is to haul anchor at 10 am and sail down to Hope Town to get there about 1:30. There should be enough water for us to pass through its channel without any difficulty. Of course the winds are out of the south and instead of 10-15 mph winds, it's blowing 15-20 mph. We did a lot of tacking to keep our sails full but also to get around the shallows. It's a great day to be retired and on the water! On our final approach, to the Hope Town entrance, Keith from sv/Rising Sun hailed sv/Whisper. They were close enough to finally talk to each other. We knew Keith was heading to Hope Town today also, and everyone was anxious to meet his girlfriend, Donna. She boarded his boat in Georgetown. I don't know if I wrote earlier, that Keith and Trevor left Harsh Harbour about a month ago. Keith took Trevor to Nassau to catch a flight home and pick up his son who was flying in. Then the two of them sailed around and eventually made it to Georgetown so his son could catch his flight home and pick up Donna flying in! I don't know if I could keep track of that schedule!! And that's not all...Keith's other son and family are flying into Marsh Harbour and staying at a house on Elbow Cay for our last week in the Abacos. Busy, busy.....
When we entered the channel, we were hoping there would be a mooring ball available....there are 4 sailboats entering ahead of us....but there is! I hooked a green float which is Truman's. He usually comes
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| Froggy's head boat |
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| Hope Town Harbour Marina |
out in the morning to collect the $20 fee. We are next to Froggy's Dive head boat. This harbor gets pretty full and by evening there aren't any floats or balls left. In Hope Town Harbour, boats either moor or dock at the Hope Town Marina which charges $2 per foot. Yikes! Supposedly you aren't allowed to anchor here because there's no room with the mooring field!!!!!
I spoke to Lisa Mann this morning. We've been trying to connect through emial. First our power went down and then we took off and had no wifi. I finally called her again this morning on our Bahamian phone but she didn't answer. She immediately called back. They are at the Moorings home base switching from their mono-hull to a catamaran. Once they finished getting prepped, they are heading to Hope Town. Lisa's worried about bringing that wide boat, sv/Believe, into this crowed mooring field. So, I think their plans are to anchor off of Firefly Resort and Restaurant for the night and come into the harbor tomorrow morning. We are planning on meeting with them on Tuesday back in Marsh Harbour.
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| Our waitress-check out her hair! |
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| Amanda and Erin |
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| Keith and Donna |
We were reading when Rita and David dinghied over to let us know
that everyone is meeting at the HopeTown Lodge.....at their Reef Bar and Grill. This way the adults can visit while Ilene's nieces, Erin and Amanda, can swim in their salt water pool. Here we get to officialy meet Donna and welcome Keith back to the Abacos. What a beautiful setting. I know it is one of Bev and Rick's favorite spots!
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| David, Rita, and Chuck |
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| Billy and David |
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| Back of Art Gallery |
The girls want to do a little shopping and Hope Town is one of the
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| Back view of Art Gallery |
best we've found for little shops. At 3:30, Ilene, Kathy (sister), Erin, Amanda, and I, take shopping. The stores here close at 5:00 and aren't open tomorrow, on Sunday. Plus our happy hour is on our boat and soon is pushed back to 6:00. Along the way, we find an Art Gallery and check it out. They are having classes out back. What a setting! We continue on our way because our time is running out.
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| Ilene, Kathy, Amanda, and Erin |
At 5:00, I find Chuck and we dinghy back to Happy Hours II to get ready for our Friends. They all decided to have one last beer at Capt'n Jacks....it's really hot out! We have the largest cockpit of all 4 boats. There will be 11 of us to get to know Donna better. She's such a nice gal! With all of us on board, it was getting even warmer in the cockpit, so we had Chuck open up the front panel to the dodger...oh what a nice breeze....life is good! By the time the lighthouse keeper fired up the light, we are all feeling great and cheer on the light. It brings back very fond memories of my favorite light...the Cape Hatteras light in Buxton, NC. The Hope Town light still uses kerosene to fire the old sentry. They recently had 3 men who tended to the light but one just died and the second guy broke his foot. So, only one lighthouse keeper is tending to climb the steps and light it up! It really is strange because it doesn't turn right away. It's almost like it has to heat up before it makes its circle. Fun was had by all!!
After everyone left, Chuck and I cleaned up around the boat and decided to go to Capt'n Jacks for their spaghetti special....$6.00. When we got there in the dark, it had to be low tide. The bottom rung of the ladder is about 1 foot off the water....but all is good....I didn't fall in the water! Then we had a nice surprise. When we walked onto the deck Donna and Keith were sitting there, so we joined them! She's such a lovely gal. We all ordered spaghetti with sausage. I knew it was going to be good because Chuck had it last Saturday when we ate here with Bev and Rick. It is so pleasant eating outside but we couldn't understand why they weren't very busy! Thank you Donna....you shouldn't have............
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