Guana Cay

We headed over to Guana Cay because they have a famous Pig Roast at Nipper's Beach Bar on Sunday. We stayed at the Orchid Bay Marina. The dock-master called the Nipper Mobile to bring us to the beach bar. We expected to see a pig roasting over a fire. Instead they had a buffet set up inside bar. The place was packed as this is the thing to do on Sundays around here. It was a pretty cool bar with a pool in the middle & overlooks a beautiful beach. We saw the poison tree on the way to the bar.

The Orchid Bay Marina was really nice, but we only stayed one night because it was so rough in the marina. Even though they have a stone breakwater we were rocking & rolling the whole time. Even when the wind died, it was still rough in the marina.

We have decided to start to head back to Florida now. We will backtrack & stop at some of the places we bypassed. We will be closely watching the weather to see when we can safely cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida. Right now it looks like the earliest possible day to cross might be March 6.

Junkanoo

We were really excited to see Junkanoo. We had seen it in movies & read about it, but wanted to see it for ourselves. We thought it would be a wild, fun party.

The only thing I can say about Junkanoo is that I'm shocked we didn't get mugged or killed!

It was not a great experience. We had some fun hearing the music & seeing all the colorful costumes, but the show started 3 hours later then scheduled. Everything always starts later than scheduled because it's on Bahama time. We had to walk for miles in the dark on streets that don't have sidewalks, only potholes. I was really scared walking home & was delighted to be back in the marina & on the boat. The food wasn't great & there were no bathrooms. Oh well, at least we had the experience.

Fixing Things In Beautiful Places

Woke on this morning in paradise. I need a cup of coffee to start my morning so I flipped the switch for the generator. It fired right up like usual, but shut itself off 2 seconds later. Damn! I called Al & he tried it. Same thing, it ran for 2 seconds, then shut down. Now we're in trouble because I really need my coffee, not to mention everything else the generator does for us. Not to worry, Al the trusty mechanic can handle it. He pulled out a sensor & the generator ran fine. I had my coffee & we were able to run the electric winches to raise the dinghy so we cold continue our travels. Al knows he has a replacement sensor buried somewhere in the bilge. He'll find it later, install it & we'll be good as new.

We headed back to Marsh Harbour because we wanted to be there to see Junkanoo. Because of the morning generator problems we never had breakfast. We figured we would have a nice lunch at the restaurant by the marina. We figured wrong! We were leaving the boat & when I went to lock the boat the key turned half way & then jammed. I couldn't unlock the door or get the key out. Now Hooper is locked inside & we're locked out. We have a side door, but that key was locked safely inside the boat. Al would have to break into his own boat. He borrowed a metal coat hanger & some other tools from our friend Ron. He managed to unlock a side window & climb in. He got all his tools out & went to work on the door. A metal pin inside the lock that holds a spring in place had broken off. He drilled out the broken piece, put a screw in it's place & put the lock back together. Once again we're good as new. Now we're headed for a really late lunch.

At least we're doing much better than the captain in the pictures who ran his ship aground when entering the harbor.

Little Harbour

This is a tiny protected harbor surrounded on three sides by hills. There is one bar, Pete's Pub, for food & drink. We took the dinghy to explore the caves inside the harbor & then went exploring outside the harbor in Robinson's Bight. Al even found his own private island. The water is crystal clear & we are again amazed at how many turtles we see.

Hope Town

We took a short hop over to Hope Town on Elbow Cay. The wind was dead calm. There's a really small opening into a really small harbor. We grabbed a mooring. Hope Town is famous for it's red & white striped lighthouse, that the British built in the 1860's. We climbed all 101 steps to the top, what a work out & what a view! It is one of the last three, continuously operated, kerosene-fueled, hand-wound rotation lighthouses in the world. All three are in the Bahamas.

We had lunch at Cap'n Jacks & enjoyed their specialty drinks. We were amazed to see so many turtles in the harbor.