Life in the Abacos...

Jane at "Tahiti Beach".....a floating bar in the background.

Capt Bob having lunch at Firefly, great view over Sea of Abaco

Bob with his new toy....a seat with a view!

We are presently in Hopetown, in the Abacos.   This is another beautiful marina (that everyone said you won't get in to)  but we had no trouble getting a reservation..maybe the crowd is thinning out....there are lots of empty slips in here, and the price is not as steep as previous marinas. 

On Easter Sunday we attended a Methodist church that overlooks the ocean. It was very nice and well attended by folks that must "winter here".....as a lot of them talked about when they were going back home.

Most stores were closed on Easter Sunday AND on Easter Monday.....so we went on a long dinghy ride on Monday, to Tahiti Beach.....like someone said..."I've never been, but I would imagine this is what Tahiti looks like!"  It was very scenic, and a bar barge is anchored off shore that we ordered lunch and drinks from.  Bob walked the beach and found a conch shell with the conch still in it...UGH  (disgusting) as the small girl I was visiting with proclaimed!  We brought it back to boat, not sure if that was legal or not, but we did it anyway....(we rely A LOT on the fact that son Rob has "friends in high places" in case we end up in trouble out of the country😱) so we read up on how to get the conch out of the shell (which is the part we wanted...the beautiful shell).....put it in freezer for a few hours and then tug with a pliers.... double disgusting! but it did come out....I tried to cut it up.....as we do pay for conch in restaurants....but it was SO darn tough that I couldn't...so I probably threw about $10 worth overboard....Boy, did the fish flock to it.  I should have at least saved it for bait....in case we ever do put a pole in the water! 

We will be here until tomorrow....we really enjoyed our time here, even ran in to other loopers in town that we had met originally in Key West....its good to see  familiar faces.  We did get in to the shops on Tuesday and Bob purchased another shirt that is an instant dry type that "all the fishermen" wear...I really do like them also as washing and drying are a breeze!  I have been using the washer on the boat more lately, as they want $5.50 for a token that is for one wash....and another $5.50 to dry.....AND I am doing it myself!! (for $11. I would think someone else would at least do the folding!!)  The wooden rack I picked up in Rogers City does the trick for drying with solar power up on the top deck.  I haven't figured out how much water I am buying to do a load of wash on board, but I doubt it is $5.50 worth.  (water and elect are metered in addition to the slip fee)

Here are some pictures from previous ports.....this one is outside the "club" at Chubb Cay....a beautiful private island...but "the club" is ALL that was there....they also had a small store in the club, where I purchased a box of club crackers for $7.98!   I had invited over some loopers we had previously met in Michigan, for cheese and crackers....unfortunately I needed crackers!

Then we were on to Spanish Wells.....here we discovered yet another beautiful shallow beach,  Bob walked out for probably a mile and was never in water over his waist.....so he discovered an easier way to get completely cooled off.  I floated around for a couple hours in a floating chair....what a life!  Also in Spanish Wells, we were introduced to "johnny cakes" ..they were described to me to be like a English muffin, without the crannies.  I found them to be much sweeter and tastier.  We ate them as a breakfast food, but they also serve them as a side with lunch or dinner.  I might attempt to bake some in my future life.  This is were I discovered the giant crab claws.

Almost every cay we been to, we have said that we would like to come back here sometime.....but there are so many more places that we haven't seen yet and would like to...we exchange stories about our favorite places with other loopers, as in "have you been here, no, have you been there......" etc.  So we will continue to move on and take in all we can this trip......but there will definitely be a future visit here, perhaps next winter??