Blow holes and bats

Hope Town, Abacos

"Civilization!" yelled the girls as we entered the harbor at Hope Town, Abacos.  More reminiscent of the quaint New England village featured in "Murder She Wrote" than the dry windswept isolation to which we had become accustomed in the Exumas,  Hope Town has been a great place to stop and catch our breath.  Though, as we look around at the crowded harbor, we do miss the solitary frontier feel of the Exumas.  Each has its benefits.  

Rewind

From Black Point we sailed with Robin to Warderick Wells and then joined Rhiannon in Shroud Cay.  After enjoying our final leg with Robin we bid them farewell as they sailed north to start their trip back to the US.  Avery was crushed.  She and Finn were inseparable, a telling moment when she showed me how "muscular" Finn is (as she offered him a towel to dry off).  It was very cute and we anticipate loads of Facetime calls to the Finn-man in Montana in our future! 

Blowhole at Black Point

Kids all hanging out at Black Point.   It's been nice to see how boat kids who might not otherwise play back home (differences in age/gender/language/subtle Feng-Shui preferences, etc) all just coalesce and find common ground

Shroud Cay was great.  It's known for its tidal creeks that transect the island joining the deep and oft moody Exuma Sound with the more placid Exuma Banks.  The creek is pool-water clear and thickly lined with mangroves.  We enjoyed the meandering dinghy journey along which we encountered myriad sea turtles and other beautiful wildlife.  A no-take sanctuary, we encountered huge conch (for the first time really), groupers and other wildlife that in other locales would never survive the heavy fishing pressure that exists in the Bahamas.  On a good note, the Bahamian government ultimately denied China's request for fishing rights here in Bahamian waters.  That would have been catastrophic. 

The tidal creek that extends across Shroud Cay connecting Exuma Sound to Exuma Bank.  The water is amazingly clear and full of sea turtles.  The girls enjoyed (mostly) being dragged behind the dinghy

It was all fine until I mentioned the mangroves.. Izzy and Avery were mistakenly under the impression (after we visited the Shark Center in Bimini) that every single mangrove root clump houses a massive lemon shark waiting to consume young North American girls, especially from the mid-atlantic region.  It's true that lemon sharks do birth their pups in the mangroves, but probably not EVERY mangrove cluster has a ferocious beast waiting to eat my kids.  It's all about the odds when it comes to your kids' safety.  We found their chirping hilarious and luckily our followup de-escalation talk helped clear this up and bolster their mangrove and other intertidal foliage confidence.  Anna would also like me to point out that she was very comfortable with the mangroves and not scared of encountering sharks (it's actually true- the kid is fearless).  

The Griswalds atop Shroud Cay.  Thanks to Adi (Nomad) and Sadie (Robin) for Avery's new clothing-optional philosophy

Eleuthera

The crossing from Shroud Cay to Eleuthera involved stronger-than-forecasted conditions, and more importantly the closer wind direction made for somewhat uncomfortable sailing.  That was one day when it was good to finally get there!  We anchored in Rock Sound Harbor and spent a day enjoying that area.   Almost missing the scantily marked trailhead to the caves, we weren't prepared for how awesome the caves are.  The cathedral like sun-pierced ceilings replete with small bats that flittered above us gave us cool sanctuary on that hot day.   Later we visited the "ocean hole" which looks like a lake but is in fact a six hundred foot deep salt water pool that is connected to the ocean through various subterranean tunnels.  

With the ever present specter of pending cold fronts encouraging us to speed up our tour of Eleuthera (for the most part Eleuthera offers poor protection from west component winds that can come with cold fronts) we made our way to Spanish Wells by way of the "Glass Window" and Current Cut.   A smoother transit than expected since Current Cut (aptly named) is rumored to carry currents of up to 13 knots at full ebb or flow.  This requires careful planning with the goal for a slack current transit.  The difficulty lies in that the tides are tricky to predict in these spots.  Following the advice of folks with good local knowledge we timed it well and were happy to get to Spanish Wells intact.  

There we met up once again with our friends on Dorenavent and spent a day relaxing with them before crossing the next morning from Eleuthera up to the Abacos.  

Note the look of absolute terror on Isabelle's face as she descends the precariously placed ladder into the caves. 

Bats!

As I left my last ER shift back home in August I gleefully thought "above anything else, for the next year I won't have to see used hospital monitor leads stuck to random surfaces."   Thanks mystery patient in Eleuthera.  Thanks for wrecking that.   In a minor PTSD moment,  I expected to find a half eaten sandwich, discarded cervical collar and crumpled discharge instructions at my feet.  I almost reflexively said "give me a minute to get you those footies, Sir, and again,  you can't smoke in your hospital room."   I reacted poorly when Avery went to play with these stickies.   

Crossing to Abacos

The crossing was simply exhilarating.  Fifteen knot winds out of the northeast with somewhat "salty" seas made for an exciting sail.  We were moving nicely and averaged just over seven knots.    We hooked a nice sized fish- likely a Mahi.  It jumped and stirred a lot of excitement in the Baila crew.  However just as I started to pull in the hand line it yanked hard just as I did the same, and the line snapped.  I watched the line flitter away in the wind and disappear into the sea as I fell back onto my arse.  Fish gone.  Lucky (or perhaps not?) lure gone.  And all this while I wore my lucky laundromat t-shirt.  The universe was upside down here- it shouldn't have happened.  But, it did and we now have a newly rigged up lure, a new t-shirt to try out and new line rigged up ready to catch the undersea mammoth that awaits.   And so take my above conservationist musings with a grain of salt;  there is now a beautiful Mahi swimming around (or not) with a lure in it's mouth trailing a million yards of fishing line.  Nice one!  

Sunrise as we leave Eleuthera with Dorenavent astern

This is the hand line that we're using for fishing now.  It's just a line tied to the back of the boat with a section of bungie;  when there's a fish on, the bungie extends and the hook gets set, and you simply pull the fish in by hand.   A lot less muss and fuss than the rod/reel.  

This is what it looks like when 1) someone is phenomenally constipated (I'm not actually constipated here,  but just saying that this is what it might look like if I was) and 2) I'm pulling in a large Mahi and the line breaks.  What a bummer.  We lost the fish and I acted like a two-year-old for a time using lots of outside voice (their words not mine)- but then got over it.  Of course that night: "Sure would have been nice to have some fish dad."  

Waves and wind can't stop a good doll session 

What a nice surprise to have caught up with Robin here in the Abacos for yet another (and sadly this time final) goodbye!   A nice evening here with Robin, Rhiannon,  and Dorenavent (with Grandpa Claude visiting from France!).  I'm begrudgingly wearing the un-lucky shirt

Lynn and Claudie from Dorenavent

View from the Hope Town lighthouse- I'm pointing to Baila in the harbor

The Hope Town lighthouse from Baila.  This is the last remaining kerosene lit lighthouse in existence

Avery

"Hi.  Can you believe it?  My friend Finn is in the States right now!  Also there is this house 'Spinney Dune' here with really nice kids.  One is younger and the other is older than me.  Seven and five.  We got some ice cream and that was the first ice cream that I had in a long long time!  Can you believe that my friend Molly got eight thousand rainbow looms for Christmas!  I love this trip except for the part where I miss my friends back home.   I miss you all.  Bye bye!"

Isabelle

Hi everybody!!!!! We are here in Hope Town now and I think that this is one of my favorite places in the Bahamas so far.  We met a really nice family who have a family house here called "Spinney Dune". They have a daughter, Emily, who is seven years old and a son, Elliot, who is five years old.  They are from Toronto, Canada.    

Lynn

We are definitely enjoying Hope Town. The morning after we arrived to snag Robin's mooring ball, Avery and I headed into the local library for children's story hour.  We arrived early anticipating a crowd of caregivers and children like at home, only to find that we were the only caregiver and child to attend.  Avery was nonplused by this and selected books -  mostly about dogs -  from the children's shelf.  Captain V or Victor announced that story hour would be starting soon on VHF channel 18 with Avery as the first reader!  I quickly hailed Baila on 68 and told Izzy to switch to channel 18 so they could hear Avery read That's Not My Puppy!  She did a great job sounding out words like "shaggy" and "collar," and received encouragement from listeners on 18.  Little did I know that I would be the second live reader with the first chapter of Flat Stanley! Avery also read about half of One Fish, Two Fish.  Then she headed out to the playground while I checked out a few books.  Because the library is only open for two hours a day, we can conveniently return books to the liquor store down the street which has longer hours. Brad thought I was joking when I explained the system.  Perhaps Swarthmore would allow a liquor store in town if kids could return their library books there as well. 

We also attended a Hope Town Rocks rock painting fundraiser for the new local community center.  For a small donation, the kids were able to paint small smooth rocks to be hidden around Hope Town Settlement.  The idea is that if you find a rock, you can take it only if you replace it with another painted rock or make a donation to the community center.  If we end up staying here for Easter weekend, there is a ballet performance at the community center, which I would love to see.  I also hope to catch one of their rehearsals after school this week.  I have been told that the teacher is very relaxed and would not mind us observing...this made me feel nostalgic for my classes at TCLR.  

I also wanted to mention that we enjoyed April Fools Day.  Izzy conflated April Fools with St. Patrick's Day and insisted on adding green food dye to our pancake batter.  After I served Brad his plate, I asked him if they tasted ok because the flour had started to mold and turned slightly green.  April Fools!  I didn't have the heart to play my joke on the kids and tell them that we decided to take the day off from school (even though it was a Saturday), because they would NEVER have recovered.  Avery had fun putting post-it notes on us that said "hug me" or "kiss me". Anna helped Avery fake some bruises with her make-up expertise (She fooled everyone--including Brad). And Izzy finally realized that she did not have to wear her green t-shirt that day.  Let me clarify that we had to do school on a Saturday because we had a few rough sailing days the week before when we were unable to have school.  We usually do school in the mornings from 9 -noon every day of the week unless we are underway and the conditions are rough or if we are doing something special with friends.

I still don't quite believe the water clarity.  This is looking over the side of the boat as were moving along- seems like we're gliding 20 feet above the ground

Izzy relaxing in the floating chair and Avery exploring the rigging

Avery and a friend off a nearby boat racing up the rigging 

By far the most picturesque cholera graveyard that we've ever seen

The girls are getting good at helping with the anchor

Anna
Being the last family member to write their paragraph in the blog, I'm not quite sure what to write about--it has all been covered! We are currently in Hope Town, having raced up to say goodbye to S/V Robin (we miss you guys!) with buddy-boat Dorénavent; and this is by far one of my favorite places! Although Dad doesn't like the crowded mooring field, we are very close to another boat with an eleven-year-old on board (yay!) who loves boats, and specifically, their engines. In a marina in Florida, he found an old-beat up dinghy (with a 2hp outboard engine) and fixed it up. Now he drives everywhere, and has inspired both Izzy and me to become more involved with the dinghy.

That's all for now folks.  Hope all is well and we will write again soon!