TO Guana Cay and Elbow Cay

Cay is pronounced "key", just for your knowledge.

Sorry so slow, but wifi has been sketchy and the Internet is a crap shoot. I will update February as much as I can. There will be lots of pictures.

We left Green Turtle Jan 26, a mild day because we had to do the "whale" . It is a cut out to the Atlantic Ocean for a few miles because the Sea of Abaco is too shallow. We had a day with gentle 3-4 foot swells and calm winds. Perfect! We anchored for the night at Great Guana Cay. This Cay is known for it's Sunday pig roast at Nippers. We just missed it, but met many people stumbling back to the ferries and their boats. Nippers is dog friendly and has a beautiful view. We dinghy Oliver to a beach by another restaurant called Grabber's. They have a wicked rum punch. New friends from Coyote anchored right behind us.

wreck by Loggerhead pass

Restaurant we dinghy to on Great Guana Cay

The path to Nipper's

Nipper's

The beach on the Atlantic side of Great Guana

Oliver loves the waves. He goes in head first!

We then moved on to Sea Spray Resort and Marina a month plus a few days. We found out from friends they had a monthly special, less than a mooring ball in town and places to walk the dog. It was lovely. We had access to a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. There is a lot of coral, but for tidal pools and watching surfers it is great. Oliver likes sandier beaches, so we dinghy to a beach called Tahiti Beach in the Sea of Abaco for him at least twice a week. It is pretty shallow so he can wade or swim when the tide goes up. We also dinghy to the public docks in Hopetown or White Sound to shop. You could walk to the Abaco Inn or another beach on the Sea of Abaco or The Food Store.

Sea Spray is a very welcoming place. They have a pool, a beach, I mentioned and walks to smaller beaches, around neighborhoods and an outside restaurant and bar that let's you bring your dog. We try to leave Oliver at home on the boat, but others always have their pets with them. Oliver's favorite place after the morning walk is on the veranda in the shade. They have rocking Adirondack chairs, so we spend an hour there every morning. All the workers pay attention to him and love how he is "chillin".  We have met new friends, some who fish and gave us wahoo and mahi mahi, others with dogs for Oliver to meet and those to share a cocktail or meal. It was a pleasant month. We especially  loved a restaurant called "On Da Beach" and the Abaco Inn.

Since we were to stay put a while, Mary, my sister came down for a week. Her week was cut short a
day due to another lovely Polar Vortex in Michigan, but the weather was great the whole time she was here. Sunny and high 70"s. We rented a golf cart so we could zip around the island faster and see everything. We did different meals out, beach runs by foot and in the dinghy, museum visit and numerous runs in to Hopetown. The time flew by.

Hopetown is the only city on the island. It is fun to visit , which we did one or two times a week for groceries. I learned to be quite the savvy shopper. Vernon's would score us some produce and bread, Harborview for some supplies and water then the Food Store for cereal, chips and even milkbones twice. I felt like I won the marathon when I actually found the freshest produce and a good price on some items. who knew shopping would be a competitive sport! We also checked out some tourist stores, maybe 3 or 4, the coffeehouse, the liquor store, the ice cream shop, for our intellect the museum and Capn Jack's for lunch. 
.

Our dock at Sea Spray. Nautical Dreamer is in one piece!

Oliver with his friend FIN getting in our picture. 

Chillin 

Tahiti Beach

Walking to the Sea Spray beach on the Atlantic

Rough day, so Oliver stays on a leash.

or you could pick him up in Europe

Oliver's veranda as they now call it.

Yes, we are walking to another beach.

Tahiti Beach.

Mary, my sister  enjoying the sanbar

Oliver and I wading around looking for starfish.

Still looking

OK, people are good!

Oliver on the docks looking for fish.

Hopetown Harbor

Hopetown Harbor moorings. 

 You park your golf cart here, not allowed on streets in Hopetown.. 

Lighthouse. Quite a controversy building this. The locals did not want it so they could have boats wrecked on a reef and then salvaged. They lost that fight in the 1800s and it is photographed all the time. 

Conch shell path markers.

Love the gardens here.

There are 3 aisles in this store and the circumference shelves. 

Pretty store front. Love the colors. 

Memorial to the cholera epidemic.

 ON DA BEACH

This is the most beautiful road. What a view!

Some Spartans were here before us. Notice the  ROSE!

The school is even cute.

More Tahiti Beach. With this wifi, it is what it is.

riding in the dinghy to Tahiti Beach.

I have more pictures of Elbow Key and Hopetown, but the Iphone has to sync and for that I need good Internet.

So I will do another blog of February pictures.

On March 1 we left Elbow Cay for Marsh Harbor that blog is coming. 

Green Turtle Cay

We arrived in Green Turtle Cay, White Sound at low tide. It was a long day of 56 miles from Great Sale. Cruiser's net said the channel had been dredged to 7 feet from 5 feet at low tide , so with our 5 1/2 feet we thought we would be Ok. We made it in but had a few bumps near the entrance and then near a narrow portion. Luckily it was sand, so no harm done. The other choice was Black Sound, but that is rocky and you really need high tide as it is only 4 1/2 feet at low tide. We could have anchored outside, but the weather was going to get nasty.

We joined Marsh Harbor Yacht Club before we set out on this venture. They have a very active community and many marinas give discounts. The Bluff House Resort and Marina was one of those. So in we pulled to Oliver's delight. Many boats were anchored out, but with a northerly coming, I was glad to be at a dock. As the winds and rain came, other boats joined us.

Tuesday the 21st was cold and rainy, so we stayed inside mostly, cleaned, read and were lazy. Wednesday was still windy, but Oliver and I went to the beach for our morning walk anyway.

We did leave the beast onboard and went to dinner one night. I loved that it was called jolly Roger as we were one of the families that started Jolly Roger Swim Club. Alas it is no more. 

The dinghy ride to New Plymouth

Thursday things calmed down so we took the dinghy into New Plymouth, the one town on Green Turtle Cay. The food deliveries came today, so I was tracking down salad foods. I scored BIG! We also bought some of the famous "coconut bread" and a few other things. We ran into our friends from S/V Old Sam. Everyone in town was very friendly. They love to chat.

walking off dinghy dock

Narrow streets, only golf carts are used.

McQuire's restaurant

park with busts of all important people in Green Turtle's history, very cool

Sid's grocery, great homemade bread

Methodist church

even the picnic tables are quaint

leaving to our dinghy

Just a note: The water here is so clear you can see starfish, urchins and anemones on the bottom. Just looking over the side of the boat there is a free aquarium with many different fish.Oliver just stands on the side of the boat and stares over at the fish.  

Friday I walked to Green Turtle Resort, about a mile. It is lovely, but a bit pricey. I bought one Bahamian beer called Kalik to share with Dale when I got back to the boat. We like our beer better.

Later that day, our friends Jon and Mimi called about a dinghy adventure with the dogs to an isolated beach on the northern side of the island. We said, " sure", so Saturday we met then between the sounds (they were in Black Sound) and we followed them to this beautiful clean, isolated beach. Their dogs , Muffin and Arthur were ecstatic to have a new playmate. Poor Ollie was treated like sheep as the two sheepdogs inherently did what their breed does. They are 2 and 3 years old, so they had boundless energy. Oliver finally gave them a couple of growls, but would try to run and keep up with them anyway. It was a fun day.

Oliver going for a dip.

A packed dinghy. Jon, Mimi with Muffin and Arthur

Love the colors

"This is how you swim"

Oliver being herded.

When we got back, Oliver slept and slept and slept. We saw the weather was good to move south. From here we had to go outside into the Atlantic called Whales Cut for a while and then turn back in at Loggershead channel.

More coming!