Day 80 - Farewell to the Abacos

On our final day in the Abacos we left at 9:30am and stopped at Lighthouse Marina to get fuel - $5.75/gallon for diesel!! We pulled away from the fuel dock into boat traffic at 9:55am.  Outside the harbor we stayed in the channel to avoid the very shallow water.  The water is so clear we could see starfish on the bottom.  Sugarloaf Cay was to our starboard and there were a few private homes in view.  Next, we could see 2 marinas on the “backside” of Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco Island.  The channel leading to the Atlantic Ocean was supposed to be marked, but it was not as far as we could tell.  There was a “candy-striped” building on Channel Cay to the starboard and the long, narrow Tilloo Cay to our port.

A series of Cays called the Pelican Cays and Sandy Cay form the Bahamian National Trust Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park.  Several boats were anchored in this area, probably doing some snorkeling.  The land is made up of sandy, rocky ground with scrubby trees.  As we cruised out to the Atlantic, we could see the smoke from a forest fire behind us on Great Abaco Island.  Cruisers.net was mentioning a few of these fires on their broadcast.

 

We could feel the swells of the ocean as we continued south, keeping Great Abaco to our starboard (west).  There were a few private homes on the shore between Little Harbor and Ocean Point, then not much for the next 10 miles or so to Schooner Bay Village and Harbor.  This harbor was opened to the sea in June, 2011 and is the only harbor of refuge along the hostile coastline from Little Harbor (south of Marsh Harbor) to Hole-in-the-Wall (southern tip of Great Abaco Island).  The village itself is new, and presently has a fishing lodge and a few rental cottages.  Envisioned as a business center serving southern Abaco, it is to eventually have a bank, post office and supermarket.  We entered the harbor around noon to take a look and it appeared basically empty except for a few construction workers and resort personnel.  We had considered stopping here but decided to move on.  The shoreline seemed to alternate between rocks and beach from here to Hole-in-the-Wall, and there were very few boats.

At 1pm we rounded the southern tip of Great Abaco at Hole-in-the-Wall.  There is a lighthouse on land, with a stone wall that extends out into the sea.  There is a break in the wall that used to have a connecting piece on top of the opening, thus the name Hole-in-the-Wall. The connecting piece was blown off during Hurricane Sandy, and what is left is essentially a break-in-the-wall.  From here we turned west and it was 36 miles to the Berry Islands via New Providence Channel.

The Berry Islands lie southeast of Grand Bahama Island and northwest of Nassau.  Great Stirrup and Little Stirrup Cays are just east of the Berry’s and these are where the Cruise ships have their “private island” villages.  Carnival Cruiseline’s Fascination was anchored offshore and tenders were carrying passengers to and from Little Stirrup Cay. 

The channel to Great Harbor, Berry Islands, is very shallow and we had to travel slowly, arriving at the marina at 3:40pm. We were not overly impressed with this port as the amenities were not in the best condition and there were very few boats.  However, the marina staff was friendly and helpful.  A second marina next door had a few small charter boats, but the building was closed and in disrepair.  The day’s lobster catch was displayed on the dock and it was quite impressive.

We walked around the harbor, but it was too far to walk to town.  A few of the locals were cooking a fish fry and we picked up some conch fritters to go.  We cooked the grouper fillet we had bought in New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay for dinner.  It was excellent!  The wifi in the marina was very good as well, so we took the opportunity to post a few blog entries before calling it a night.