May 26, 2014
We skipped the “most important meal of the day”, but with lattes in hand, we motored out of the beautiful Fisher’s Bay of Great Guana Cay. We wanted to go through the Whale Cay Passage while the wind was light. This particular passage, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Sea of Abaco, is always of great concern to cruisers who want to go from the upper Abaco Islands to the lower islands, or vice versa. The water can get quite rough, and sometimes dangerously impossible to navigate when the weather conditions are adverse. All the literature warns all boaters, “Do not go through the Whale Cay Passage during a rage.” (…during high winds with an opposing strong current, which makes huge waves and a choppy, confused sea – like water in a washing machine). So, cruisers take advantage of calm seas to go through the Whale Cay shallow draft passage down the Sea of Abaco (which we took when we went south from Green Turtle Cay to the lower Abacos), or the deep water passage at Whale Cay which goes out into the ocean (which we took to go back north to Green Turtle Cay).
While in the lower Abacos, we listened to the Cruisers’ Net every morning at 8:15 on the VHF radio, channel 68. The C.N. gives weather reports, and sea-to-ocean passage conditions, as well as promote VHF message handling, answer queries from cruisers, allow restaurants and dive shops to advertise, and, they encourage new arrivals to the Abacos and boaters departing the Abacos to give an announcement. It is a very useful service, provided solely by volunteers who do a fabulous job. This explanation of what the Cruisers’ Net is was written to preface what will be written next:
Every morning we heard from the Cruisers’ Net about a large barge being used to put the remains of a ship wreck on it, while a large crane on another barge retrieved huge pieces of the wreck from the bottom of the ocean. (Apparently, this wreck was interfering with the navigation of large ships using the channel.) These two barges were anchored in the deep channel of the Whale Cay passage, with 3 large red buoys indicating where their anchors were dropped. They announced repeatedly their presence, and asked all boaters to navigate slowly outside the perimeter of their anchor lines indicated by their buoys. We got to see these barges when we went through the deep channel of the Whale Cay Passage. From what we saw, it must have been a huge ship that had wrecked at this spot. Gary loves to scuba dive at wrecks, but I get a sense of melancholy thinking about the turmoil, peril, and possible loss of lives. I’d much rather scuba, or snorkel, at live coral reefs and see lots of pretty fish, but NO sharks, thank you very much.
Barge at Whale Cay Channel with remains of ship wreck
Barge at Whale Cay Channel with crane used to bring up pieces of ship wreck
My brave white fisherman trolled, once again, through the passage. Again, no “Fish on!” I think if he ever does catch a big fish, we are going to have to have the blasted thing mounted as a trophy rather than see it prepared for dinner and on a platter.
Once we successfully navigated through Whale Cay Passage, Gary decided to do what he does best – sail. Using our screecher (a sail for light wind) and the mainsail, we sailed on in to New Plymouth Harbour at Green Turtle Cay and dropped the hook (anchor, not fishhook) in the anchorage. Gary called our friend, Donny, on the VHF radio, to see if he still wanted to have the aforementioned dinner with us when we came back to Green Turtle Cay. If that plan didn’t work out, we were going to go on further north before anchoring for the night. Fortunately, Donny was available. We took the dinghy to the public dock at New Plymouth and then walked to the Wrecking Tree one last time, this trip, so I could have cracked conch and Gary could have a conch salad (diced fresh conch marinated in lemon and lime juices, tossed with diced tomatoes, onion, and green peppers). He loves it. I don’t eat it. I don’t like the chewy texture of the conch. It reminds me of chewy calamari, which is unpleasant, in my opinion. ( The best calamari ever, it’s ALWAYS TENDER, is at Kona Jack’s, across the street from our old office on Meridian Street in Indianapolis, IN… in my opinion).
We walked around the settlement so I could get pictures for this blog. We occasionally stopped to visit one of the little shops, enjoying their air conditioning mostly, but also making a small purchase here and there. Though extremely hot that day, we enjoyed the leisurely tour of the small community.
A small village
New Plymouth Settlement on
Green Turtle Cay
Outdoor dining
The Customs Office
The Museum
One of the local grocery stores
An old abandoned church – 2 newer ones serve the community
The Wrecking Tree Restaurant-
Serves the best cracked conch in the Abacos
(in our opinion)
McIntosh Restaurant and Bakery
has the best homemade baked goods
(in our opinion)
Memorial Sculpture Garden
Next we motored into Black Sound, mooring White Swan at Donny’s Dock and Moorings. Gary changed the oil in White Swan’s engine while I posted seven previously written blogs, using Donny’s internet. That evening we went up to Donny’s house for dinner. We’d forgotten what a marvelous view he has of Black Sound’s harbor, from his house on the hilltop. Gary and Donny rode on a golf cart into the settlement to pick up our carry-out meals from Shorty’s. I stayed at the house and watched TV. We don’t have a TV on the boat, so it was a treat to get to watch the U.S. news. (I always make a big deal out of not having a TV on White Swan just to tease Gary. He won’t allow one on the boat. See, girl friends, I don’t always get my way!)
Donny’s new T-dock
We sat on Donny’s screened in wrap-around porch and ate our meals, catching up on what’s happening in our lives, the lives of mutual acquaintances in the boating world, and the local scuttlebutt. It was a blessed evening, ending all too soon.
Hard to say goodbye
to our friend Donny
Gary on Donny’s porch with White Swan moored in Black Sound in the background