Modified Plans, But Great Sailing to Hope Town

   The winds were steady all night at around 10-12, but the forecast is for them to increase as the day progresses. As we turned on the radio for the Cruiser’s Net, we already heard other cruisers looking for safe places to hold up for the next two days.  The winds are expected to increase to 25 knots from the ESE, which limits the safe anchorages.  Our consensus was to skip the snorkeling and head directly to Hope Town as they do not reserve moorings.  As of just prior to the Net at 8:15 there were plenty of moorings available.

Narrow entrance into Hope Town Harbor

    We hoisted anchor at 9 and primarily sailed with our mainsail, using the engine only to charge the batteries.  We were averaging 6 MPH.   As we approached the north end of Lynyard Cay, where it is open to the ocean, we were escorted by a dolphin for about 200 yards. We were able to keep the main up with all the zigzagging through the shallows in the Sea of Abaco until we approached Hope Town.

     We took the lead as we have a Garmin GPS, which uses the Explorer Charts, so we were able to know exactly where the preferred channel into the harbor was, even though there are channel markers.  Once in the harbor, all three of us were able to find open moorings. This is a small, very cute, but very crowded harbor.  No sooner did we settle in, when we were visited by Sue from Stolen Moments. We chatted for a while.  Sue confirmed that when the boats swing in slack tide, they practically touch.

     After lunch and some reading, we headed to the light house. It was well worth the 102 steps. What a spectacular view.  A quick cruise of the gift shop and liquor store and we were headed back to the boats. 

     The interior shots from inside the light house I couldn't resist.  I can't believe they turned out so well without a tripod.

 

View from on top of the light house

    





        












 We were back around 4 and I promptly fell asleep.  I only had 2 hours of sleep last night and it caught up with me.  Unfortunately, because of my nap we missed the appetizers on Brunelle.  After dinner, I downloaded the pictures taken from the lighthouse and worked on the blog while the generator charged the batteries.

    It was another great day of sailing, photo ops, and fun now off to finish catching up on that missed sleep.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete