Man of War and Green Turtle

Dock at Man of War Cay.


More from Man of War Cay.


Queens Highway, Man of War Cay.


Bono at the beach on Green Turtle Cay.


This is Joe.We met him on the Queens Highway in Green Turtle Cay. We enjoyed our walk with him, but he wouldn't talk much. It was hot and he's 33 years old, so maybe he couldn't hear me. Maybe he just didn't like my hat.

New Plymouth

Tar ball on the beach. After extensive research, I have concluded this is the result of the BP oil spill and not Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, or anywhere else. While diving on our hull, I scraped a lot of tar/oil off the keel. The first intake filter for our watermaker was also full of an oily substance.


The inevitable happened. The head pump was jammed. Fun fun fun. I traced it to somewhere on the intake where seawater is pumped in. This critter was wrapped around the ball which is in the red pliers. The black ball is activated by a spring to open and close a water duct depending on the setting of the pump. 

My research team has positively identified the culprit as a shrimp, a squid, a piece of lobster, or something else entirely.

Contrary to what you might think, real men do wear gloves when they work on the head.


8 apples a day keep the doctor away.


New Plymouth. Should have been called Newest Plymouth. Of course, then we should have called ours New Plymouth.


A couple of weeks ago, we had a nice squall (preceding a front) move through. 

A good 4 days out Chris Parker had been calling for winds in excess of 50 knots in the squalls. He is really amazing. Once again, he was right on. We had one extended gust that was way way over 50, but it was brief. There were 2 other boats anchored in our vicinity--one had his roller furling main partially unroll during the big gust (it was of the retrofit type that is mounted behind the mast not inside it). The front, with it's clocking winds followed immediately afterwards. At this point we had to move to the other side of the cay for protection. This was just before dark which was wonderful. Usually the wind clocks at 2 am.

More Abacos

In early 50s, Randolph Johnstone grew tired of his position of assistant professor at Smith College in Massachusetts. He ended up at Man of War Cay where he spent several months converting a 47 foot working schooner into a floating home for his family.



With Langosta complete, they set out to cruise the Caribbean with an eye towards the South Pacific. After passing through Little Harbor and Nassau, they got as far as the Exumas when they realized that Little Harbor afforded them all they were looking for in a permanent home.

Subsequently, Randolph Johnstone became a world renowned sculptor. With Randolph's passing, his son Pete has taken over the foundry.


Pete's Pub was fashioned from the deck house of their schooner Langosta. The Johnstone family lived in a cave in the harbor while they built their house. Lisa and I split a mango Grouper sandwich here that was to die for.


Annnnnnnd...action!!! Lisa on Queens Highway at Little Harbor.

If you ship wreck in the Bahamas, it would be a good idea to wash up on a beach with sand on it. If you had to walk across this stuff barefoot you would be 2 feet shorter for every 100 feet of progress.


I just can't help myself. I love this water. On a windless day we drifted with the tide past our anchor. As you can, see the anchor is well buried in sand and grass.

Abacos

Smile.


Looking for water.


First Internet Cafe. The power went out for a couple of hours, but then we were back in business.


A couple of baby Eagle Rays.


I am a hunter. Fish fear me. Like Arnold fears Pee Wee Herman, like terrorists fear Obama...

Ahhh

Clouds before the squall. 

A couple of days before leaving Stuart a squall blew through the anchorage bringing winds in the mid 30 knot range with gusts in the mid 40s. It didn't last long, but when it was through a 40 something foot sailboat was on the rocks. I dinghied over to see if I could help and then was joined by 4 other dinghies. The group tow didn't work, so 2 dinghies tied up to the halyard that is led to the top of the mast. At full throttle, they were able to heal the sailboat over far enough so that the 3 remaining dinghies were able to pull him off the rocks.into deeper water. We were all pretty sure the boat would start to sink, but the hull was intact.

The captain had us tow him to his original spot where he reanchored, with the shaft of his Danforth anchor now bent at an 80 degree angle. Oh well... We basically pulled him off so that he could drag into other boats when the wind piped up again.


Sunset on our last night in Stuart.

On Saturday morning we left Stuart headed for Lake Worth where we dropped the anchor in early afternoon. After installing the jacklines and properly securing the dinghy, we tried to catch some sleep. Lisa was successful, I was not.

At 11 pm we were headed out the inlet headed for the Abacos. We should have waited another day to let the seas die down some more (the wind had been blowing hard against the Gulf Stream for several days), but we were tired of waiting and the forecast didn't sound too bad.

It was a miserable crossing. The seas were only 5 or 6 feet, but once again they were square and very close together. Without any wind in the sails to help stabilize the boat it was very uncomfortable. Once again, in a washing machine with the gentle cycle busted.

We entered the Little Bahama bank just after sunrise and were anchored at Great Sale Cay by late afternoon. The following morning we headed for Green Turtle Cay where we paid our money and got legal with Customs and Immigration.


Customs, Immigration, Post Office.


The Bahamas are mostly limestone with very little dirt (I believe that's why the water is perfect), so large trees are not common, but they have some very beautiful flowers. If you have your camera ready, you catch a beautiful woman in front of them.


The Calaboose.