Saturday May 6th – Sunday May 7th – Green Turtle Cay
We had just spent two wonderful days anchored at Powell Cay, but with wind with gusts to the mid-30s in the forecast we decided to head back to Green Turtle Club for a couple of days.
When we arrived Frisco grabbed the first line and then I heard Sian over the headset saying “you can come onboard if you want!” On our previous visit to GTC Frisco had secured the first line and then asked for permission to come board when he then secured all of the other lines, including the bow lines to the outside piles. I smiled because obviously Sian wasn’t waiting for him to ask anymore but was encouraging him to do it again!!
We had a very relaxing couple of days at GTC, using their pool, chatting with the sports fishermen, including Jimmy from Australia who was over captaining a boat for an owner. We had him on Sonas on Sunday for a lamb dinner – Australian lamb of course.
Monday May 8th – Wednesday May 10th – Manjack Cay
The forecast had light winds for the rest of this week so we left Green Turtle and headed back north to Manjack Cay, (pronounced Munjack). This is also known as Nunjack Cay and is on the charts by that name.
We anchored off the beach on the north west side of the island. The beach was long and sandy and great for walking Bella. There were dozens of turtles at the south end of the beach, and rays frequented the waters around the dock in the middle of the beach.
We also took the dinghy over to the beach around the corner which faces due north. There were boats anchored in there but we could imagine it being untenable in any wind from the north as it was straight in from the Atlantic. There were people from small tour boats feeding the rays that would swim up and take food from the flat palm of their hands. Bella was fascinated by the rays but was very hesitant to go into the water!
Thursday May 11th – Monday May 15th – Tahiti Beach
Our friends and neighbors Frank and Julie were arriving on Wednesday the 17th to spend time with us on Sonas. As always we didn’t want to leave it too close to time to cross back over Whale Cay Channel. So on Thursday we headed back and ran down to Tahiti Beach for four nights.
This anchorage has great holding and has easy access to the small beach and large sandbar which appears at low tide. The Thirsty Cuda regularly pulls up on the sand bar and provides grilled food and drink.
On Saturday we decided to dinghy over to Lubbers Quarters and try the new restaurant there, Lubbers Landing. There was a stiff easterly wind blowing right into their dock but we were able to tie up and get off safely. We passed the sad sight of the shuttered Cracker P’s, a fun place we had been to many times.
We were the only customers at the restaurant, probably because of the on-shore wind. The food was good, though the selection of beers was limited. One of the waitresses told us that Cracker P’s had been bought by Pit Bull, a rapper, who was going to re-open the restaurant, although she said she had not seen any activity there yet. After we left we tried to confirm this on the internet but found nothing to substantiate it.
On Sunday we lost our drone! The winds were very light so we decided to take some video of Tahiti Beach and Lubbers Quarters. The drone started up fine without any errors or warnings. It took off as usual and responded to the controls. Then about two minutes into the flight it sent a message to the controller that it had a voltage fault and was landing. Since it was over water this was not going to be good. Paul was able to bring it back close to the boat and keep it in the air, but just as it got to Sonas it stopped responding to any commands and took off at speed towards Lubbers Quarters, then disappeared! We did get into the dinghy and go looking to see if we could see anything at the edge of Lubbers or in the water but since we had no idea which direction it went in or how far it was a futile search.
Also on Sunday we heard music from Tahiti Beach and as the day wore on the beach filled with locals. It was Mother’s day and they were having a party with drinks, food and music on the beach.
Tuesday May 16th – Conch Inn Marsh Harbour
It was time to head back to Marsh Harbour and the Conch Inn Marina to clean up and take on some water in preparation for the arrival of our guests tomorrow. We had scheduled a boat cleaning by Kevin McIntosh and his crew and they did a very thorough job.
We put the fresh water in and then went up to Colors Bahamian for dinner. We made sure to get there nice and early so that we could avoid the karaoke singing!!
Wednesday May 17th – Conch Inn Marina
We were finally able to get Lorenzo, the electrician from Aqua Marine, to come and look at our house charging issue. He eventually found that the T-Level fuse between the alternator and house bank had blown. He told us that there weren’t any on the island but that he would order one from the states and it would be there when we came back to drop off our guests.
In the early afternoon Frank and Julie arrived. We got them settled, including a warm wagging welcome from Bella who stays with them when we travel.
We had a table booked at the Jib Room for dinner and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the restaurant and food. Like all establishments in Abaco right now it was quite pricey, but well worth the visit.
Thursday May 18th – Powell Cay
We wanted to show Frank and Julie as much of Abaco as we could in the ten days they would be with us. So back north we headed. We crossed a very benign Whale Cay Channel. Se did advise our guests that there was always a chance that we would not be able to get back when we wanted and, worse case, they would have to get the ferry from Green Turtle to Treasure Cay and a taxi to the airport for their flight out!
We anchored off Powell, walked the beach, and also snorkeled the sunken boat just off the beach.
Friday May 19 – Saturday May 20th – Manjack Cay
We headed south to revisit Manjack, which has now become our favorite stop in Abaco! As we approached we got hit with a heavy downpour. Everyone dived below except the poor helmsman! Paul took the boat in circles until the rain eased off and we could anchor!
During our stay we went over to the north beach again so that our guests could feed the rays, which they did with pieces of shrimp!
We also broke out the cards and played Sevens for hours each night!
