May 14th, 2014:

Arriving at Hope Town
May 10, 2014

The name, Hope Town, sounds as sweet as the village is. Loyalists, fleeing from the American Revolution, founded this community in 1785. Generations later, descendants of the founders still live there today.

Hope Town’s strikingly handsome candy-striped lighthouse, standing 120 feet tall, welcomes mariners in to the harbor. Once inside the protected harbor, one gets the feeling of arriving home. Thus, we planned on staying for a week, allowing Hope Town to wrap it’s protective arms around us and our White Swan.

Tacking first to starboard and then to port, and repeating the maneuvers as necessary, we sailed from Marsh Harbour to Hope Town on Elbow Cay. The trip would have been shorter in duration had we motored, but not nearly as much fun.

Gary wanted to run the water maker, so upon our arrival we anchored for a few hours just outside the channel leading to Hope Town, in the shallows of the Sea of Abaco, before taking White Swan inside to be moored. While the water maker worked, we took the dinghy into Hope Town to play. Walking the streets of Hope Town is a pleasure, looking at the tropical colored painted cottages and interesting architecture. Unlike Marsh Harbour, one feels safe walking on the streets without sidewalks, because the general modes of transportation on this island are golf carts or bicycles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanting fresh fish for dinner, we went to two grocery stores to explore the possibility of buying some. The best we could find was “fresh frozen” and we got a pound of snapper.
We let it thaw while we dinghied back to White Swan and brought her in to the harbor to be moored.

Last year, when we came to the Bahamas with a flotilla of Gemini’s (our model of boat, not an astrological sign), some of the boaters moored on mooring balls owned by the newly opened Hope Town Inn and Marina. In so doing, they had access to the Inn’s facilities. We decided to explore it this year, and after mooring White Swan, we went to the Inn to enjoy their swimming pool. While there, we met a couple from Coconut Grove, South Miami, which just happens to be one of our favorite places to cruise to. By the time we left the pool, we had made arrangements to go with Sue and Viani to a Mother’s Day brunch the next day.

Back aboard White Swan, we prepared our snapper dinner. This is the newest recipe from White Swan’s galley:

Glenn’s Bahamian Fish
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 pound mild white fish (snapper, grouper, sea bass, tilapia)
1 small yellow squash
4 sweet red bell peppers
1 small onion
1 small can carrots ( or pre-cooked fresh carrots)
Olive oil
Seafood Seasoning
Orange juice (approx. 1/4 cup)
Lime juice (approx. 1/8 cup)
Prepared couscous

Line a pan with heavy duty foil. Drizzle olive oil on foil.

Slice a yellow squash longways into quarters. Slice each long quartered piece in half. Place on foil.
Remove seeds from sweet peppers, cut in half or quarter. Place on foil.
Peel and quarter one small onion. Break apart the segments and place on foil.
Drain water from one can of carrots. Place on foil.
Drizzle olive oil over vegetables. Toss them to distribute oil.

Drizzle olive oil over fish. Sprinkle your favorite seafood seasoning on the fish. (I used Salmon Seasoning that we purchased at a seafood market). Lay the seasoned side of the fish down on the vegetables. Pour lime juice and orange juice over fish. Sprinkle top side of fish with your seasoning.

Bring sides of foil up to partially cover fish and veggies.
Lift foil out of pan and place on grill. Grill, using medium heat, until fish is done, approx. 30 minutes. (This could be baked in the oven as well, 350*)

Serve over prepared couscous. Use the juices from the fish and veggies as a sauce. YUMMY!

 

Mother’s Day
May 11, 2014

Bittersweet… It’s hard to describe all the emotions one goes through when experiencing the first Mother’s Day after the death of your mother. Being in an island paradise doesn’t magically make all those bittersweet feelings disappear. Mother Clifton passed away last August, and not a day goes by without good thoughts of her. When she was alive, I always said, “Mama and Gary are my best friends.” If you can find one person on this earth who loves you unconditionally, you are blessed. I was doubly blessed.

 

A poem by B. Jean Glenn 6-5-14

 

“Mama”

 

Her voice is in the song of the mocking bird

Her presence is in the wings of the hummer

Her life is in the flower garden

And her face is in the beauty of the rose

 

She rises with the sun each morning

All her days are healthy and full of love

She slumbers when the light of day has passed

And her rest is painless and serene

 

In mortality she lives

In the thoughts of those who love her

In immortality she wears a crown

And is the royalty she should have always been

 

 

 

My bittersweet Mother’s Day celebration started with waking up to a clean galley that was not left in good order the night before. Sweet! Thank you Galley Slave Gary for the nice unexpected gift. Then Barista Gary prepared our morning lattes which we enjoyed during our devotional time. Then we went with Sue and Viani to the Hope Town Harbour Lodge for a three hour cruise around their special Mother’s Day Breakfast Buffet. Mimosa refills were endless, so who needed coffee? Conversation flowed easily as we got to know our newly found friends.

After our three hour cruise around the buffet, Gary and I walked on the beach for awhile. We ended up on the lodge’s chaise chairs, taking a nap while hearing the lullaby of the ocean.

The rest of the day was spent aboard White Swan, recovering from the endless mimosas.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope Town
Day 3

Morning routine done, picnic lunch packed, and swimsuits on, we rented a golf cart to take to the other end of the island to Tahiti Beach. Others were already there, enjoying the water, hunting for seashells, relaxing, or picnicking on the beach. Tahiti Beach is a huge sandy shallow area which become a huge sandbar at low tide. Many boats were anchored there and dinghies brought visitors to shore. Gary and I swam for awhile, looked for seashells, ate our picnic lunch, looked for more shells, and swam again before leaving the movie-like island paradise. We play so well together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Sea Spray Resort and Marina on our way back to Hope Town. In our opinion, they make the best Macaroni and Cheese in the Abacos. Gary won’t eat Mac n Cheese in the U.S., but even he enjoys the Bahamian way of making it. So far, our pallets have discerned a small amount of red pepper flakes, a little green bell pepper, some onion, and a large macaroni noodle. While we waited for our to-go order, we had a cold drink at the open bar and chatted with two couples we had met at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge on Mother’s Day.

 

 

 

 

 

Before dinner, we went to the swimming pool at the Hope Town Inn and Marina. Our new friends, Sue and Viani,were there with his cousin and her husband. The cousins had flown from Miami over to Marsh Harbour, and then took a ferry to Elbow Cay. They will be crew for Sue and Viani when they go back across the Gulf Stream.

 

 

 

 

Hope Town
Day 4

On our previous golf cart excursion, we had found a tiny restaurant, Mackey’s Takeout, that sold homemade cinnamon rolls. The morning of day four at Hope Town necessitated a ride back to the little restaurant to purchase two of the sinful treats to take to the beach, along with a pot of coffee from White Swan’s galley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we were at Tahiti Beach the first time, the sea was at low tide, providing a huge beach area. It was interesting going back to the same beach the next morning at high tide. One would not have recognized it as the same beach. We enjoyed our time there nonetheless. We ate only half of our large cinnamon rolls. I looked for seashells while Gary exercised, trying to get rid of cinnamon roll calories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As if we didn’t have enough refined carbohydrates for the day, we stopped at Sea Spray Resort and Marina for a double order of Mac n Cheese. We made the unhealthy decision to do so, justifying it by telling ourselves it will be at least a year before we will have the opportunity for such an indulgence again. We ate one order for lunch and froze the other order to enjoy at a later date.

We had to have the golf cart back to the rental lot by 11:30, the end of our 24 hour rental agreement. After riding the length of the island twice, we were ready to return the golf cart. (Opportunity for more cinnamon rolls and Mac n Cheese – over.)

That afternoon was spent back at the swimming pool at Hope Town Inn and Marina. By this time, more and more familiar faces brought more and more opportunities to socialize. The afternoon hours flew by quickly, ending with an invitation to have happy hour aboard Viani and Sue’s sailboat, Two Lucky Dogs.

It is always amazing to me how a friendship can happen so quickly with certain people. The four of us believe we have found lifelong friends in each other. We meet a lot of people in our journeys, and occasionally we are blessed with this kind of soul-friend experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COLORS OF

HOPE TOWN