Green Turtle Update

We spent 4 nights at the lovely Bluff House Marina and Resort.  The property extended just a short hike up the hill and then back down this steep hill to the Sea of Abaco.

This is the beach bar...

... as seen from this pier, with beach in background.

 

But the place was largely deserted, apparently for sale, so we have moved a mile or so into Black Sound, where we are on a $10/night mooring ball.  One of the advantages of cruising:  if you don't like the neighborhood, move. There's more going on here, we've since met quite a few people and we feel like we are finally relaxing into the idea of being in the Abacos.  It's less than a mile walk into town from here, so we've been in frequently. A short detour leads to this beach, where the folks that own homes on part of it are building a huge retaining wall to prevent beach erosion.  They are open to the Atlantic waves here and I guess they don't want their homes to wash into the ocean.  A notice on a board in town said the wall will eventurally be covered with sand and totally unseen. 

 

Last evening we went to the Friday Night gathering at Plymouth Rock Bar, about as big as a single car garage, and soon packed with happy chattering cruisers.  Later, the party moved to an outdoor venue called Pineapples where we had our first fresh conch salad and listened to some local musicians.  I'm not sure if it was the traditional "rake and scrape" style of music, but instuments included cowbells, a hand saw, a washboard, and lots of energy.  Okay, we were home by 9:30, but still it was good to be out. 

 

A beautiful calm day today so went out for a long dinghy ride.  There are a couple of boats here with some mechanical issues, so we went by to check up on their progress.  Side bar: Feeling great about our boat, nothing has broken since we left Florida ... Steve got the itch yesterday so he prepped and painted one of the white walls in the salon that had been calling his name.  Looks fresh and new !! 

 

On our ride, we passed by the other well known marina in White Sound, the Green Turtle Club. 

 

We stopped at the public dock in New Plymouth to get a few grocery items.  Of note, a gallon of milk is $10 and a package of Oreos goes for $7, but you have to think of all the expense of bringing supplies out here.  This is why our forward cabin is full of canned and packaged foods.  We love this little town, here's a few more pictures of it, these taken as we entered the harbor. 

 

 

The "construction" on the far right here is going to be a new park. 

 

This is the old jail, one of the oldest buildings in town and PINK.  Now used to store the town's Christmas decorations.

 

This is the statue at the center of Monument Park honoring the founders and their contributions.

 

 

Our cruising grounds is the Sea of Abaco, about a 100 mile long, mostly protected water, that runs northwest to southeast.  It is bordered by Great Abaco Island on one side and the Cays (think barrier islands) on the other side.  We are about 2/3 of the way down the chain.  The sea is navigable for all kinds of vessels all the way down except for one section just beyond here where the channel is too shallow for all but the shallowest draft vessels.  So we'll have to exit out into the big bad Atlantic Ocean, go around the small barrier island (Whale Cay) and come back in to get past the shallows.  We're waiting for just the right conditions and it should happen in a couple of days. 

 

We've purchased three months of unlimited data WiFi, so keep those emails coming and I'll keep blogging.  Meanwhile, we remain grateful to be here, especially when we hear about the weather back in MN.  People told us the Abacos were too cold in the winter; while the water temp is a bit too cool for me to swim, air temps of 70's during the day and 60's at night are feeling great to us.