Here, we became infected with our passion for the Out Islands. It was in Eleuthera where we discovered that most wondrous of Bahamian delicacies: the bread. In its most typical form, it is white bread, but it is denser and sweeter than commercial sorts of bread, and smells – simply – of yeasty nirvana. Ever since then, every memory of every trip to the Out Islands is leavened with that amazing bread – be it BLTs packed in a picnic lunch eaten on a beach, or delicious rolls accompanying conch chowder.
And so it was that we spent the early part of our trip trying to get our hands on some to provision our boat. After the pig roast at Nipper’s, we walked through the Settlement, but found none because it was Sunday. Monday’s quick stop in Marsh Harbour yielded two freshly-baked loaves, Rick having waited outside the bakery until the appointed hour of 9:30 a.m. Whether filled with salmon salad or peanut butter and jelly, or forming the base of french toast like no other, the bread – together with Kalik and rum – was a staple of our week’s diet.
Bahamian bakers are justly renowned, and it is not just for their bread. We spent a lazy afternoon wandering the lanes of Hopetown. When we stopped at Vernon’s grocery store – with the express purpose of getting more bread – we scored again. Not just a loaf of bread, but an apple spice coffee cake (which we ate for breakfast the next morning) as well as that holiest-of-holies: Vernon’s key lime pie. Somehow, we were able to control ourselves and made the pie last for two dinners. But it wasn’t easy.
With the basics of bread, rum and beer covered, we did eat well on Sunshine. I’ve made it a tradition to make conch chowder whenever I get a chance to cook in the Bahamas, so we had that one night (and had leftovers the next day for lunch). We also enjoyed on-board dinners of shrimp stir fry and grilled tuna. Ashore, we held to Bahamian basics of conch, fish, and more conch (with the exception of pig at Nipper’s). In addition to those already mentioned, we enjoyed meals at Captain Jack’s in Hopetown, Pineapple’s on Green Turtle Cay, and Snappa’s in Marsh Harbour. But it all comes down to the bread.
It’s a Small World After All
I can’t explain it, short of blaming it on the Bahamas’ being in the Bermuda Triangle, but I keep having those neck-prickling “small world” experiences whenever I travel to Abaco.
The first time I had a small-world encounter was during my second trip to Abaco – in 1997. We had so enjoyed our first trip the year before that I invited my parents to join us in a stay at Sea Spray Resort on Elbow Cay. Most days, we’d stroll south to Tahiti Beach, where we spent many an hour – passing each way a beautiful home under construction atop the cliffs overlooking the ocean. When I returned to work, I dove right into a transaction for a lovely English couple who’d hired me and my firm on a friend’s referral while I was away. Many weeks later, en route to Boston to close their deal, I was chatting with their investment banker, who mentioned casually that the clients were building a home on some obscure little island in the Bahamas. Sure enough, they were building that beautiful oceanfront home I was walking past on Elbow Cay.
Two years later, Rick and I had closed on the purchase of the first of our Sabres, a 34-footer named Lattitudes II, just before leaving for our first sailing trip in the Abacos. While in Hopetown harbour, we spied a sistership, but found no one home. As we ended our trip, we thought of our sistership and started hatching our own plan to go on an extended cruise. Over the ensuing months, we researched and plotted. One day, while cruising the internet trying to flesh out our 5-year plan (which, incidentally, we’ve since dropped for various reasons), I found a series of logs of a Sabre 34 cruising the Bahamas – it was the very boat we’d seen in Hopetown, but now it appeared that the couple had returned to the U.S. On a whim, I sent an e-mail to them. In the course of our e-mail exchange, we confirmed not only that the couple were Annapolis-area sailors and were members of the Chesapeake Bay Sabre Association we’d just joined, but also that they lived in our development!! We decided to meet the couple for drinks, and have retained a friendship with the wife (who, not-so-incidentally, is also friends with Skip and Harriet, whom we met through the CBSA).
Given this past history, I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that close encounters occur, but I still get a little thrill when it happens. On this trip, we had no less than three such encounters.
Not long before leaving for our trip, I exchanged e-mails with fellow sailor, sfalko, on Traveltalkonline. He mentioned that he, too, would be in the Abacos the same week we were there, and we exchanged details. As these things go, I look forward to bumping into web-friends, but crews tend to have their own dynamics and agendas, so I rarely do anything affirmative to seek out a web-friend while traveling. After many trips to the BVI, we NEVER ran into anyone we knew. But somehow, in the Abacos, it happens. So, when we dropped anchor in Black Sound, GTC, I spied the boat in question, Sloop du Jour, but no one was home. When we went ashore with Mike, we walked past a group of guys going the other way, one of whom asked for me. Mike’s wearing a Manta shirt tipped of them off to my possible identity. We shared a pleasant chat, then went our different ways, unplanned mission accomplished.
Before becoming a Manta man, Mike used to work for PDQ catamarans. He continues to have a keen eye for the boats, having delivered many of them from the factory to their destination or to the Bahamas. While in White Sound, GTC, we were anchored next to one, and Mike started sharing its provenance with us. Something about the boat’s name (Dream Catcher) and story rang familiar to me, and as I cleared the rum fog, I remembered the owners as another pair of young Chesapeake sailors gone cruising, whose exploits I’ve been following on their website. We saw the boat again in Settlement Harbour, as well as on our last day in Marsh Harbour. I dropped them an e-mail just to say hello, and found out that they had met the folks on the boat next to them in Marsh.
Harriet was the first one to spot the white Bristol 38.8 in Marsh Harbour (which was next to Dream Catcher). Unfortunately, we couldn’t see its stern and so we couldn’t make out its name, but we thought that the boat could just be Seaquel, carrying friends George and Julie on their way to the Exumas, where they have spent part of most winters since their circumnavigation. We kept calling on the radio (VHF 16), but heard nothing. When we went into town for lunch, we carried our handheld radio with us, but got no response. As we ate lunch at Snappa’s, we saw a dinghy leave the boat, but by now had given up. And so it was that we ran into George and Julie on the street, as we were walking back to Marsh Harbour Marina! It turned out that George and Julie had learned of our plans to be in the Abacos and were trying to find us, but they were using VHF 68 – who knew? It was through dumb luck that we got a chance to get together for a little while, just as we were heading north and they were going further south.
Sunday, November 6
Beach time on Great Guana Cay
Nipper’s Pig Roast
Sail back to Marsh Harbour
Dinner aboard (Eva’s conch chowder)
Monday, November 7
Take care of boat business and send Margaret home
Sail to Sandy Cay for snorkeling
Sail to Little Harbour
Explore Pete’s Pub
Dinner aboard
Tuesday, November 8
Sail to Tilloo Bank
Anchor at Tilloo, snorkel, and explore beach
Sail to Hopetown via Lubber’s/Tahiti Beach
Explore Hopetown
Drinks at Hopetown Harbour Lodge
Dinner at Captain Jack’s
Wednesday, November 9
Explore Hopetown lighthouse
Sail to Green Turtle Cay via Don’t Rock
Anchor in Black Sound
Beach time at Gillam Bay
Explore New Plymouth
Drinks at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar
Dinner at Pineapple’s
Thursday, November 10
Quick run into New Plymouth
Manjack Cay beach time
Sail to White Bay
Drinks at the Bluff House
Dinner aboard
Friday, November 11
Sail back to Great Guana Cay via Don’t Rock
Beach time on Great Guana
Pool time at Nipper’s
Sundowner’s aboard Sunshine
Dinner at Nipper’s
Saturday, November 12
Sail back to Marsh Harbour
Pack up
Shopping in Marsh Harbour
Lunch at Snappa’s
Ice cream with friends from Seaquel
Fly to Ft. Lauderdale
Stay at Doubletree Galleria
Dinner at Seasons 52
Sunday, November 13
Early flight back to BWI
