Abacos or Bust

ttmott, I hope we haven't hyjacked your thread. I'm hoping it's all in the,Abacos or bust theme!

Another little tid bit of info.

At Carters Cay, North and east on the ocean side reef, there is a sunken cargo ship. Maybe 150', in 20ft of water. It's neat to snorkle in.

Also, West of Carters Cay proper there is a hidden "hurricane hole" you can get to it from the Ocean side, or with a small boat the protected South side. It looks like a small inlet and river. If you venture in, it turns into a smallish cove, and continues on to exit out the South entrance. From the "cove" you can dingy around in the mangroves and it's fun to see where they go.

There is also a cay, unprotected to the south, West of Carters that's a great sand shoal area to snorkle, and even anchor up for the night if conditions are right. All along the Northern edge of the Cay there is a coral wall that holds many fish, lobster, shark, rays. On the north west side there is a sand beach that is wonderful for kicking back and enjoying the sun and peace and quiet! haha
At low tide, there is a sand bar that uncovers and is fun to run around on. Just be ready to get back in the dingy when the tide rolls back in. haha
It was in this cove that a HUGE shark decided to venture in and pick up a piece of discarded fish carcase....with my fishing hook in it! haha Well the rod went out of the boat!!!!!!! I could see it on the bottom being pulled around. I jumped in the dingy and followed it. When it got in shallow enough water, I jumped in and the fight was on!!!!!!!!!! He pulled me around that cove for along time, before breaking my line off. It was alot of fun though. My cousin said what are you going to do with it when you get it to the dingy? I said hell I don't know!!!

Something similar happened with a large ray also. Except I landed him! Well I got him to the dingy and touched him.

I'm ready for some island fun!!! Next week!
 
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Thanks Everyone! I have my diving gear on board so the wreck would be awesome. Here is the status; we made the decision to spend Thursday night in Ft Pierce rather breaking our necks getting every detail done and being across that day, early Friday is just fine. Latest weather for Friday is 2-3's at 9 seconds with S SW winds at 10 to 15 which is near perfect.

Tom - You folks are welcome to run with us as far as you like. We will keep right around 21 knots and bee-line to WSR unless the water gets big. I'll IM my cell to you or hail us in Ft Pierce. We expect to exit around 700 Friday.

We had some friends over tonight that just spent 4 months on their sail boat hitting the Southern Abacos and gave us a lot of insight; hopefully we can make it to Cape Town and those nearby areas.

Again, everybody, thanks and we'll try to keep things updated as we go along.

Tom
 
We are back. This is a bit of a long story but hopefully a good one and good information for all you travelers. I'll post in several pages.
Well we made it back and I must say; what a trip – what a spectacular and fantastic trip. The Sundancer ran flawlessly; no problems or issues whatsoever – none. We did 2300 RPM pretty consistently at cruise and fully loaded did just over 21 MPH and right at 0.9 MPG. When I say “fully loaded” that means: full fuel, full water, additional 20 gallons of water, all my dive equipment including two tanks, a 50 gallon cooler full of ice, 4 cases of beer, soft drinks, bloody-mary margarita and gin and tonic ingredients, three cases of bottled water, dingy, outboard motor, and gasoline tank and then all the food. We were never short enough water, drinks, food or munchies. Our total trip duration was 13 days which included three days at marina slips and the rest on the hook or a mooring. We cooked or BBQ’d on the boat all but two meals. I will say that a 44 foot boat is small in this world especially the Southern Abacos. We saw several yachts well over 150 feet and the nominal open water fishing boat is over 60 feet; large boats were everywhere. Without exception everyone we encountered was awesome and fun to hang with; the Bahamian folks are just super people and accommodating in every way with nothing but a smile.
A couple of words about navigating; First, Steve Dodge’s book “The Cruising Guide to Abaco Bahamas” is a must. It gave us all the in’s and out’s for our trip and then some. Second, I loaded all of our anticipated way points for the trip in the Raytheon Nav/398 and used this for backup, XTE, SOG, and DTG. But principally we used my I-Pad with Garmin’s Bluechart Mobile including updated Atlantic charts and Active Captain running. Of course I had a full set of paper charts also. The Garmin application ran flawlessly and consistently kept us within 10 feet of objectives. The Garmin Bluechart charts are the “cat’s meow” and especially with Active Captain running we had all the latest info on the great things to see, stay and do pasted right on the charts.
Here is a link showing our route (copied from The Cruising Guide to Abaco Bahamas) :
http://s1012.photobucket.com/user/bumpythecat/library/Abacos 2013
 
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We left Merritt Island Thursday afternoon on the 20th and went offshore to Fort Pierce. We stayed at Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce that night. In the morning fueled at Harbortown and made the crossing to White Sands Ridge then on to Walkers Cay where we cleared in. From Walkers Cay went North East by Tom Brown Cay then hooked on through to Grand Cays where we fueled up at Rosies and from there on to Double Breasted Cay for the night. There is nothing at White Sands Ridge other than the sea goes from 2000 feet to 30 feet and the water turns to a shimmering emerald, we had a beer or two here. Walkers is touchy to get into as the original path is gone and an unmarked “S” curve path is now required. Our boat draws 37 inches and the depth below the hull showed no less than 3 feet. There is really nothing at Walkers except for an Airstrip and customs. We and put up on the harbor entrance East wall which entailed a rather long and treacherous walk to the customs office around the now defunct marina. FYI, put up on the West wall it’s a much shorter walk. I wouldn’t go too far into the harbor with a boat of any significance as there is a lot of broken down marina structure. Customs was a breeze and all with a smile from the young lady. I wanted to stop at Tom Brown Cay to dive a wreck and see the arch and lagoon but the current was ripping all around the Cay and the rock structures around the Cay so we plodded through on to Grand Cays.
The path from Tom Brown to Grand needs to be carefully navigated as there is a lot of exposed and unexposed structure with large currents moving in all directions; follow the charts and one will be good to go. There is a significant population at Grand with a large part of the town owned by “Rosie”. It seems the main attraction to Grand is the open water fishing to the North which was at one time harbored out of Walkers. Rosie is proud of the fuel at $6.50 per gallon for diesel and I surmised another dollar for gasoline but he is the only game in town or the entire area between Spanish, Fox Town, and West End for that matter. We probably could have made it to another fueling location but why take the chance…
 
From Grand Cays we went southeast to Double Breasted Cay and spent our first night in the Abacos. Double Breasted is a series of finger keys stacked north-south and between the Southern two is a magnificent sand bar with a small harbor. Getting in is rather tricky as entry is on the East end of the South finger then due North to the second finger then West between the sand bar and finger (very narrow) well past the end of the sand bar then South around the bar then East to the small and deep anchorage (essentially a U-turn). There were five or six other cruisers and sailboats already anchored for the night. We had a fine Steak BBQ dinner with all the trimmings and spend a good part of the next day in the dingy exploring the sand bay and the mangrove covered fingers. A lot of sea life around this area and the water was gin clear. Anchored just west of the sand bar was this 150+ foot yacht and it’s fishing tender with four 300’s on it…. In talking to the other folks anchored no one could figure out how they got that thing in there.
In the afternoon we weighed anchor and moved on to Carter’s Cay. To get there you need to go south to Little Sale Cay and around Pelican Rocks and the shoals that extend southward then almost due east over to Carters. Carters Cay was very different if not “dark”. The water getting in was very shallow so follow the charts closely; my depth alarm set at 3.5 feet was sounding regularly. The bay between Old Yankee Cay and Big Carters is deep once you get in and the tide moves quite briskly through it. While at Carters we unloaded the dingy and made a run around Old Yankee finding several old fishing shacks and an abandoned US tracking station. Not much really to see and the waters around the Cay were very rough and currents were strong so we didn’t stray far from the boat. Coming back to the boat we found the anchor dragged 50 or so feet. We could not seem to get an anchor to hold and after five attempts decided to not stay and ran the boat to Great Sale for the night.
Great Sale is a large island just about in the middle of nowhere. The south end of the Cay is a large harbor that is a perfect stay during a crossing. We anchored there for our second night in the Bahamas and cooked another great meal. Early the next morning we moved through the island’s south cut and up to Moraine Cay. The only real caution is to make sure to steer south of Carters Bank when approaching Fish Cays and Moraine Cay. Moraine is a beautiful island which requires an approach from the south. Moraine is a private island with several cottages that were for rent and a small shallow dock. The water again was gin clear and tropical fish were everywhere. East of Moraine are ridges of reef that diving is reportedly excellent. We did some snorkeling around the area and would definitely visit here again. Winds were briskly blowing from the south and the boat was being tossed in the exposed bay so we decided to move on to Allens-Pensacola Cay.
 
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Allans-Pensacola Cay is one of our favorite stops. There were 8 or 9 other boats there already anchored when we got there. After anchoring and having lunch we took the dingy to the sand beach and met just about all the other travelers; some from Australia, some from Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and the New England areas. That night we met with all and had BBQ and bon-fire on the beach until well after midnight. The next day we found a path across the island to the Atlantic Ocean side and found the famous “signing trees”. We added our boat’s name and date to the tree then moved back to the boat and prepared to move on to Green Turtle Cay. As a note on most of the Cays as well as Allens-Pensacola there are Poisonwood trees so be able to recognize and avoid; ones vacation could take a turn if encountering.
From Allans we went on to Manjack Cay (pronounced Munjack) and Crab Cay and found yet another spectacular island with pristine beaches and crystal clear water. We anchored for our forth night in a nice protected harbor between Crab and Manjack. There were quite a few other boats in the harbor so we kept the Creed and Blue Oyster Cult at a low rumble. The next morning we ran the dingy up into some fantastic mangrove estuaries on the north side of Manjack. There were turtles, grouper, snapper everywhere in the mangroves; pretty cool.
From Manjack we moved on to Green Turtle and into White Sound, fueled and took a slip at the Green Turtle Club for our fifth night. Unfortunately, the dingy ran out of gas at Manjack and Green Turtle had no gasoline; they said the closest gasoline was at Treasure Cay. Green turtle has two harbors, White Sound and to the south Black Sound. Green Turtle is one of the social hubs in the Abaco islands; we rented a golf cart (golf carts are the principal transportation on most of the islands) and toured the island (read that as hit all of the establishments) and again met a plethora of great people. In the slip next to us was a Sanjuan 48ip which I think needs to be our next boat; what a beautiful machine. The owners had nothing but great things to say about it and have owned it since new in 2011. Regardless, for the traveler that needs a bit of evening entertainment Green Turtle is a great stop. You might have noted, what happened to Spanish Cay? Well, everyone we talked to said there is nothing more at Spanish that any of the other islands can’t offer and they charge fifty dollars to pull into the docks so we went around.
The next day we needed to navigate around Whale Cay which entailed either a treacherous path through the shoals between Treasure Cay and Whale Cay or outside on the ocean which can be just as perfidious depending upon wind, current and tide. The weather was perfect with a 10 knot breeze from the southeast so we went the outside route then went across the Sea Of Abaco to Treasure Cay for five gallons of dingy gasoline. Treasure Cay, as it ends up, was a great place with a modern marina and all of the trimmings to make a comfortable stay. We anchored in the marina and had lunch on-board. From Treasure Cay we moved back across the sea to Great Guana.
Now I have to say that Great Guana is my favorite place, hands down. In fact, we ended up staying two nights (6th and 7th) and again on the way back another night. The first stop from the north is Baker’s Bay which is the inlet to Baker’s Bay Marina. The Marina and the surrounding improvement and golf course is a recent development and caters to the upper of the upper crust. Anchored just outside of the marina’s inlet was the yacht Gracious Lady, a 200+ foot behemoth that has a Viking 52 sport yacht as a tender. From Baker’s Bay we moved south to Fisher’s Bay and there found, again, paradise. Dive Abaco operates out of Fisher’s so if one should want to do some diving in the area this is where I would center out of. We took the dingy to shore and found Grabbers Bar and Grill which is a great laid back and shaded area with a bar, grill, sandy beach and pool. This is a place that many vacation to on a regular basis and I can see why. A short walk takes one across the island to the Atlantic side to another bar and grill called Nippers and a most spectacular view of the beaches and turquoise ocean water. Out about a half a mile you can see the ocean breaking on the reef structure. The next day we took the dingy around the north end of the island and to the close-by reef. I tied the dingy to me and we spent over two hours snorkeling the reef structure. The reef and sea life was healthy and thriving. We encountered several loggerhead turtles, a couple of nurse sharks meandering the bottom, a couple of white tip reef sharks, a black tip reef shark, snapper, grouper, huge parrot fish, lobster, and a host of colorful reef fishees then back to the boat and beer and tacos for the evening meal then retirement. The next morning we lifted the anchor and moved on to Elbow Cay and Hope Town.
 
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Hope Town is the quintessential Bahamian definition of style and ambiance; it is a closely packed town which the buildings are all the bright colors one expects in the islands. Across the harbor from the town is Hope Town Inn and Marina which is a modern well maintained inn and pool. We actually used their shower facilities which were akin to upscale hotels. We found an unused mooring and hooked the boat then took the dingy to the west side and walked up to the old light house which was built in the early 1800’s and still operates today. 110 steps up and we found the original kerosene lamps still being used and the lens rotator still using the original gears and drop weight. For the mechanical imaginaries the light house is a marvel and a must visit; and then there is the view from the outside catwalk… The next day we took the dingy into Hope Town and got groceries at Vernon’s. Vernon’s bakes their own bread and everyone who visits Hope Town stops in for it and I know why; it’s righteous. We spent night 8 in Hope Town bay.
The next morning after a visit to Vernon’s grocery we unhooked and moved on down Elbow Cay to a little area called Tahiti Beach and threw the anchor for lunch and a visit to the beach. Our main goal was to find the Pink sand on the eastern beaches of Elbow. Tahiti Beach is a wonderful area with a sand spit partially submerged. From the beach one can see Tilioo Cut which is the Atlantic inlet between Elbow and Tilloo Cay. It’s a dynamic area with the waves breaking on the razor sharp lava flows jutting into the inlet. As it ends up there is no path from Tahiti Beach to the island’s eastern beaches so the mission to the pink sand was a bust. We did however, trip upon a coconut grove and got some sweet snacks. Before too late we again lifted anchor and moved south towards Little Harbor.
The trip south along Tilloo Cay is pretty straight forward except at the southern tip Tilloo Bank juts westward and is very shallow then right after Tilloo Bank you need to zag southeast then south to miss Channel Cay and Sandy Cay. From there it’s an easy path on down to Little Harbor. We captured a mooring in Little Harbor at dusk and settled in for night 9. After dinner we took the dingy on in to Pete’s Pub for a couple of beers and enjoyed to sunset. Little harbor is better recognized for Peter Johnson’s bronze sculptures and the art gallery he displays them in. Worth the visit. The next morning we raised the anchor and headed north to get back to Great Guana for the much ballyhooed Sunday Nipper’s Pig Roast.
We motored to the north end of Great Guana and cut to the Atlantic through Loggerhead Channel then south around the reef structure to a cut through the reef about 4 miles southeast where we turned to go inside of the reef. I must say, plan this well, the reef and rocks are shallow with breakers and if one should make a mistake the boat would be on the reef. We planned high tide and verified the cut with slow progress. We anchored 50 feet off the beach with Nipper’s looking out over the beach. A short swim in and we were in a mix of at least a thousand people at Nippers and on the beach. There were also at least 40 or so boats anchored in the same area as we. This place rocked and we played there until just before dusk when we back-tracked to the west side of Guana and to Fisher’s Bay where we stayed for night 10. After breakfast in the morning we motored northwest back to Green Turtle and fueled up then back to Manjack where we stayed another night.
Night 11 in Manjack was met with quite the squall and I was up all hours vexing about the anchor holding. There were boats coming in all hours and trying to anchor in the mess. I set up an anchor alarm and found that we didn’t move at all in the morning. We probably got six inches of rain that night. That morning we took our time with a pot of coffee and breakfast then decided to make the move to West End as reports alluded more bad weather coming.
 
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Our run to West End kept us close to the Great Abaco Island coast, around Crab Cay Point, to Hawksbill Cay, Center of the Earth Rock, Veteran’s Rock, and to Great Sale. We ran into Great Sale bay and anchored for lunch and a break from fighting the waves coming broadside. The weather was coming in. After lunch we moved on to Mangrove Cay then through the Barracuda Shoals to the entry into West End. A note here; keep to the charts when going through Barracuda Shoals and watch for coral heads and shoaling. The weather was on us and constantly raining with winds from the southeast at 25 plus knots. We were met with 6 to 8’s coming through Indian Cay Rock and they were coming from the South; this is where we need to make an eastward turn around the rocks and towards the harbor’s inlet. I could not completely see the rocks and the inlet was completely obscured so the planning on the NAV/398 and the Bluechart really paid off as we tracked to the inlet perfectly. As we came in we contacted Old Bahama Bay Marina and got one of the last slips they had for night 12. Apparently many of the boats had been there for a couple of days awaiting acceptable conditions to make the crossing back to Florida. Before moving to the slip we fueled and when in the slip the marina employees completely washed the salt covered boat including the cockpit and upholstery ; that was the best $30 tip I ever gave out. It was a quite night at West End and we both really appreciated it.
The next morning (0500) we readied the boat and got the report on conditions. At 0600 there were boats flocking out of the marina and at 0700 we followed. The seas back across to Fort Pierce stayed at 3 to 4’s but we were taking them on the port rear quarter making for quite the challenge to hold course but SOG was an impressive 23 knots at 2350 RPM. We made the right decision to move early from West End as the weather closed up right behind us. We decided to come into Fort Pierce and made a leisurely trip back to Merritt Island in the ICW. We were in our home slip at 1530 in the afternoon.
In the end what would we do differently? Not a thing. I think we probably spent $3000 in fuel total and $500 in marina fees so compare that to ten days at Disney World? Not that bad. So what are the Lessons Learned:
I need to upgrade my battery banks to 3 8D’s rather than the Group 27’s. We found that after a pot of coffee in the morning the inverter alarm was indicating 11 volts on the Starboard bank; I have three new Group 27’s on that bank and the refer is also on that bank. I need to also step up the charger to a full 40 amp unit as the bank was not getting a full charge from the engines or generator/charger.
I don’t like the dingy mount at all; it’s a Hurley and it allowed the RIB to be exposed to the engines’ exhaust water which trashed my nearly new Mercury dink. It took me two days to clean it. Also coming off plane the back wash floated the dingy when in the stowed position.
I started out with a bit of a fuel algae problem and worried about it all the way but I added treatment each fill and carried a dozen Racor elements; as it ends up no issues at all.
Make sure to carry some head treatment – we needed a bottle about half way through the trip; no issues after the treatment.
I am hugely impressed with the Garmin Bluechart software so I will plan to upgrade my instruments to a Garmin complement including autopilot.
For a couple of outings we had before this trip I made an anchor chain bridle so we wouldn’t be dependent on the windlass holding the boat and it would take away any anchor chain noise when the boat moved on the hook. This, no doubt, was one the best things I could have ever done for a quite night’s sleep.
Well, that’s it; we are already musing now about our trip next year.
 
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What a "GREAT" write up! I have not been to the Abacos yet. Six (6) trips to the Exumas so far tho. I hope you post some pictures for us. Next year if GOD will's we will be 75% retired and sometime after that spend a summer exploring the Abacos. Late summer or early fall we are going to make a Bimini run. Can not wait to get back to that beautifull water. Thanks again for such a nice post it gets me fired up for the run to Key Largo next month. JC

Edit: Any way to put stat's of trip up in a Post. ie: NM traveled, etc...
 
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Great write up, I did a similar trip in 2011 and will be heading back next year. The Abacos are one of my favorite areas on Earth!
 
Great write up, your words describe the areas perfectly.

My trip wasn't quite so wonderful. We got caught up in the wind and rain. I think Sunday evening the 30th, we weathered a hurricane! All worked out though, and did manage to get some snorkling and spearing in.

Port Lucaya is usually a fun crowded place, but not this year. Alot of business closures, and the crowds of the past were not there. The fish fry was fun as was the fourth celebration.

The cross back was met with large following seas, and was a tough cross. But all worked out.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip, sounds like you hit all the hot spots, and had much better weather.
 
The only mistake I see in the post was the yacht at Guana is called the Gallant Lady not the Gracious Lady. I think this was either #5 or 6 of the Gallant Lady Fleet. They are there every year and the sister ship and the one you saw reside in Ft. Lauderdale, awesome site to see when they are both docked there.
 
We had a great time, GTC, Treasure, Guana, Hopetown, Marsh, Man O War, snorkeling on Fowl, Cracker P's, Wallys, to name a few places. Weather was rough coming back and we cut our trip a couple days short to have a better crossing window (wasn't much better but a little) and spent a couple days in WPB for the celebration on Flagler in downtown. Wind was kind of blowing so we didn't fish as much as I had wished but did pretty much everything else we planning on doing. I was very disappointed in Hopetown this year. The new marina really crowded the entire area up even the mooring balls. We planning on staying there for one night but once we saw the crowd and drunk (assuming) morons, we passed. Too crowded, too tight and the new marina is expensive and slow. I know the Bahamas is slow and I am ok with that but we tried to have lunch at the new marina and we waited 30 minutes without anyone even noticing we were there. Cracker P's was much better anyway with local fare.
 
trit21 said:
We had a great time, GTC, Treasure, Guana, Hopetown, Marsh, Man O War, snorkeling on Fowl, Cracker P's, Wallys, to name a few places. Weather was rough coming back and we cut our trip a couple days short to have a better crossing window (wasn't much better but a little) and spent a couple days in WPB for the celebration on Flagler in downtown. Wind was kind of blowing so we didn't fish as much as I had wished but did pretty much everything else we planning on doing. I was very disappointed in Hopetown this year. The new marina really crowded the entire area up even the mooring balls. We planning on staying there for one night but once we saw the crowd and drunk (assuming) morons, we passed. Too crowded, too tight and the new marina is expensive and slow. I know the Bahamas is slow and I am ok with that but we tried to have lunch at the new marina and we waited 30 minutes without anyone even noticing we were there. Cracker P's was much better anyway with local fare.
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I came back from GTC non-stop last Friday and got pounded from the West End to Port Everglades. Second roughest water I've been in.
Got back to the house and called with my LBO's. 20 minutes later 5 armed guys and a narc dog from CBP went through every nook and cranny of the boat. Odd.
Great trip though.
 
Boulder GT3 said:
I came back from GTC non-stop last Friday and got pounded from the West End to Port Everglades. Second roughest water I've been in.
Got back to the house and called with my LBO's. 20 minutes later 5 armed guys and a narc dog from CBP went through every nook and cranny of the boat. Odd.
Great trip though.
Click to expand...

I've never been searched in person. I wondered if they actually did physical searches. Bet that was nail biting watching them go thru your stuff.
 
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