Dinner at Rosie's Pub
Learning Bahamian Dominoes
View out to the Atlantic from Grand Cay
A shop in Grand Cay-all are like this
Main Street in Grand Cay
The hardware store which is no longer much of a hardware store but mostly stocks liquor
The memorabilia tree at Allens Pensocala cay. Used to be 2 cays but a recent hurricane joined them
Bringing the dinghy ashore on Allens-Pensacola Cay. The Atlantic Ocean is in the background
We reluctantly must say good bye to our home for the last several months in Boat Harbour. The day is very windy as we shove off-blowing 35 mph from the south and gusting higher as we leave the dock. Our trip will take us about 35 miles through a dangerous exposed area from the Atlantic Ocean when the wind is blowing from the north or the northeast. But a south wind is somewhat okay. As we approach the "whale", the dangerous area, a boat ahead of us reports the going is a little bit rough so we alter our course to go through the Dont Rock cut. Very shallow (5') but not as exposed to the south winds. The passage turned out well and we set anchor in front of Coopers Town, a very small outpost in the Abacos but it gave us protection from the south wind.
The next day we set out for an anchorage at Allens Pensacola Cay. Abeautiful protected anchorage. The wind died and the dinghy's were lowered to travel to the north side of the cay on the Atlantic ocean side. A very nice sandy beach and the remnants of those who had travelled before us to leave their memorabilia. After returning to the beach we were approached by a fisherman who had just harvested Stone Crab Claws. Biggest ones we had ever seen. He said after we cook them we will sell you some. So sometime later Judy and I dinghied over to their boat and purchased several pounds. Fantastic meal that night. The secret to cooking Stone Crab Claws is not to over cook them. Just warm them up. Stone Crab Claws are taken from the actual Stone Crabs. Their Claws are harvested and the Stone Crabs are thrown back where they regenerate new claws and meat.
Off to Grand Cay-out of the way on our quest to cross the Pond but we hadn't been here before. 200 people live here and it is miles from anywhere. All make their living from the Sea or operating very very small stores or restaurants. We arrived early in the day. No Internet but we stopped in the police station (one policeman)-he happened to be there so he let us use his computer to pull up the weather. After we toured the town on Sunday afternoon we retired to Rosie's Pub where we whiled the afternoon away playing Dominoes and drinking the beer of the Bahamas- Kalik (pronounced Click). Earlier in the day we ordered our evening meal at Rosie's. No menu to order from-but Lobster was $14.95. It would be served sometime between 7 and 7:30 pm depending on when the chef would come to work. Fresh Turtle was also on the menu but we respectfully declined. Grand Cay is really a great stop and one of the highlights of our trek home.
The wind picked up the next day as we made our way some 40 miles to the Lucayan Waterway on Grand Bahama Island. The Lucyan Waterway is a man made canal some 8 miles long that cuts across Grand Bahama Island from the Sea of Abaco to the Atlantic ocean. It is deep (12') but the problem is that the entrance to the Waterway from the Sea of Abaco which we must traverse is very shallow-only 3 1/2' deep at low tide. Our arrival was several hours before high tide so we threw out an anchor near the entrance in the rolling seas and waited about 4 hours which was supposed to be near high tide. High tide never came because the strong winds blew all the tide away. I volunteered to lead the way through the entrance which is about 1000' long. The depth sounder hovered around 5' much of the way but in several places we read 4' and we require 3'10". Our time followed us in. They require 4'6". They heard the the thump of their keel on the ground several times but no damage and no impediment to their forward motion. Tense moments but all turned well
No comments:
Post a Comment