I am a bit late with this blog entry as M&B have already posted a blog of our visit and vacated the country, but it took me a week to readjust to the winter of spring time Toronto.
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| Winter of spring time Toronto. |
Late November last year, my sister-in-law called to ask me if the family would be interested in joining them on their annual Bahamas vacation in the Abacos. Jim and Michelle had been renting cottages for a number of years, saying the high transportation costs and rental fees were easily mitigated by the cheap rum drinks. The trick was to drink enough to amortize down the cost. From the stories I had heard, this was easily done though the benefits were fleeting.
As our plans firmed up, the universe came into alignment as Maggie and Branko sailed into the Abaco Sea, hit a few bars, sand or otherwise, and holed up for the winter. So plans were made to meet up through VHF Channel 68 once we had landed at our cottage.
It turned out that Branko had cleverly taken H2obo as far south as possible in order to make communications near impossible. (I was assured there was no intent in this.) In spite of all, we did manage to pass a garbled message that had us meeting up with them near their anchorage off Sandy (aren’t they all?) Cay.
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| Sandy Cay |
So early but not bright, we put the crowd in the 23 foot Albury runabout and motored off. The reef off Sandy Cay is an underwater park, with a coral reef dropping off about 25 feet to a sandy bottom. Mooring buoys are placed just off the reef so you don’t have to trust your boat to a 3 pound coffee can in the rolling 6 foot swells coming in from the Atlantic. We had the place to ourselves when we arrived and promptly jumped in the water as fears of sea sickness quickly over came any qualms of barracuda and shark.The fish life was beautiful, with many sightings of sea turtles, a 15 member school of spotted eagle rays, barracuda and many small, pretty coloured fish that appeared to belong more in an aquarium, not an ocean.
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| Little Harbour |
Our solitude on the reef was broken after about an hour when Amelia reported that she had seen two scuba divers swimming 15 feet below her. Looking far down the moorings, we saw a pair of inflatables and a couple of snorkelers. We packed it up for the day, and tried to raise H2obo on the VHF. We waved to the snorkelers as we motored off towards their last reported anchorage and the closest neighborhood bar, Pete’s Pub. We found the errant boat but, of course, Maggie and Branko were not to be found, given they were back at Sandy Cay scuba diving and snorkeling. We had come 2000 miles and missed them by 15 vertical feet! But all was not lost, as Pete’s Pub provided potent rum drinks and passable food. On the way home, we passed by H2obo a few hours later and finally met up with M&B.
It was great to see H2obo in her natural element after all those cold, dark years in Etobicoke! All you readers with boats should take the old girl south for a fling, she’ll enjoy it. After a few cold beers, and sandy soggy chips, we promised to meet up again the next day.
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| Voila, the finished T-shirt |
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| Branko and Adelaide - looking for Portugal |
The following day was a reboot of the above snorkeling, followed by a rendezvous at H2obo. All thoughts of preparing a meal ourselves were squashed when we remembered the delectable fare at Pete’s and so off we went. The afternoon started with a gab fest and lunch. It was like (I can only imagine!) those 5 minute speed dating events as streams of consciousness were launched across the table. After a few more drinks, we wandered off to walk the Atlantic beach and watch the rollers come in from Portugal.
It was a mellow afternoon with the highlight being the ring toss game and the hoisting of the H2obo commemorative T-shirt.
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| Waving "see ya soon" to the Kaufmann's |
Exhausting all entertainment and ourselves, we piled into the boat and drove up to Lynyard Cay to walk the Abaco side beach, collect some conch shells for the kids and have a few more rum punches for all. All too soon it was time to pack it up, and we drove M&B back to their floating home and then returned to our cottage, exchanging not so idle talk and promises about the Mediterranean in 2012.
The Kaufmann's
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