Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 Nothing much happening here....strong winds from the east kept us on the boat all day.  No worries, time for a relaxing few days.

 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 Because the next few days are going to be very blustery, we decided to take the fairly calm wind opportunity to go about 2 miles north in the dinghy to Sandy Cay (Pelican Harbour) to a nice snorkel spot.  It's in a marine preserve area so you can't fish there.

We'd been to this spot before a couple of times - others were using the same weather window to enjoy.  There are about 5 mooring balls for dinghy tie-up which is nice.

 

 It was a lovely snorkel....I will just share lots of photos with little commentary.

 

Loved to see the healthy elkhorn coral, the first we've seen this year.

One of my favorites - a school of blue tangs.

 

 The tangs feeding on the coral.

 

A school of some sort of pampano I believe.

 

Blue parrotfish - completely different coloring vs the normal "rainbow" parrotfish that we see swimming alone on the reefs regularly.

 

I was thrilled to be able to get a good photo of a rainbow parrotfish.  They normally are pretty elusive and tend to swim away from a camera.  I did notice the fish in the marine park were less "shy" - I assume because they know we're not going to spear them!!

Just an absolutely lovely snorkel!

Ross and Phyllis from Kohina came over for a relaxing sundown.  We're all set for 30 knots from the east that we'll be seeing in the morning.  Will probably be a day in the sling-seat with my Kindle.
 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 We're in a bit of a holding pattern with some strong east winds coming up in the forecast.  

We just enjoyed the day with some occasional boat chores - defrosted the freezer for the first time in a good while.

Took a little shore walk.  Soft deep sand made it quite the workout!

 

Collected a bit of sea glass for my collection....still don't have a clue of a use for the hoards of sea glass I've collected over the years.....

 Back to the boat for a relaxing evening.  Still watching a few TV series - Murdoch Mysteries and The Pitt.

 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 Just hanging out.....we went ashore to stretch our legs.

Not much of a trail left....I believe there was a road roughed-in at some point in the past but it's mostly grown over now.  (There are no utilities on this island and the sparse houses seem to be either abandoned or lightly inhabited). 

 

 View back towards the anchorage from a low hilltop. 

We did make it over to the ocean side of the island....the terrain is a bit intimidating!

Ross and Phyllis had invited us over for sundown - had a really fun tour of their nice catamaran - a Maine Cat 41.  We'd never been on one before.  It's got some really cool qualities.  Always fun to compare boats.....

 

Ross discussing their sails.

 

 

Thanks, Ross for the photo of Duane and I relaxing in their spacious cockpit.

 

The lovely hosts!  Huge open cockpit.

 We had a very nice visit and returned to Sojourn well past dark.

 

 

 

 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 Busy day....did a couple of loads of much needed laundry...then around lunchtime we headed over on the dinghy to Pete's Pub. 

 

Lovely day.  Pete's pub has done some improvements since our first visits several years ago.  Nice dinghy dock and more outside seating.

 

Same delicious food - I got a mango-marinated grouper sandwich.  It was yummy and way too much!

 

Walked on the ironshore over to the lighthouse.

 

Seems like the pathway is getting rather overgrown.

 

Back to the dinghy, didn't bother to stop at the gallery since we've seen the castings and they're crazy $$$$.

Back to the boat, we had invited the crew from Kohina over for sundown....I made some cookies and we tidied the boat up a bit as it had gotten rather cluttered over the past week or more.

 

Had a nice visit with Ross and Phyllis.  They're based in Wilmington and was fun to get to know them.

 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 We got an early start, going out the narrow Ridley Channel right at sunrise.

 

 We knew it would be a calm day so didn't bother putting up any sails just to have them flap around.  There was a gentle, long period swell all day.  Not even a nibble on either of the fishing lines.....it has not been a good season for fishing off the boat!

 

An amazing view on the chartplotter approaching Little Harbour Cut...an armada heading north!  I don't believe I've ever seen so many boats actively moving before!

There is a forecast for strong winds in a few days so we may just stay put.....
 

Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, Bahamas

 We're sort of taking the day off from moving much.....but we did want to top off with fuel.  We haven't used that much but want to be full as we head up to the Abacos.  We may not end up going anywhere with fuel available so thought it best to fill up the tank.  Not worth the trouble to go to the power plant for cheap fuel (kind of a pain to arrange for someone to pump it then pay up at the office at the crest of the hill).  The diesel at Ronald's was just $5.98 a gallon so we opted for the easy way out.

Normal sights along the waterfront.

 

At the fuel dock.

All fueled up, we opted to go out past Gun Point and anchor.  This will set us up for an easy morning departure for the Abacos tomorrow.

We've never anchored here before - it can be untenable in a lot of different sea conditions.  But the winds were very light and not a lot of boat traffic to whip things up.

 

As we were rounding the point, the oil tanker Trust was in the channel.  Pretty close in tight quarters.

 

After we got settled at anchor, it was about lunchtime.  

We took the dinghy and made a nice walk of it over to Budda's......nice sandwiches and cold beer.  I noticed after we got back to the boat that they had added a 15% gratuity to our check - but I had left a 20% tip in cash.....I need to read my receipts I suppose, but that young man was tipped very nicely for his service!

 

Pleasant walk back to the dinghy.

 

And Sojourn at rest....