Reflections in the Abacos

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Now that we hopefully sent Captain Ron off in the right direction, Mel can continue drawing conclusions about Marvin’s great adventure.  Inductive reasoning is a weird hobby to indulge in when one travels through the Abacos.  Most people around Marvin, who is currently on a mooring in busy Hope Town Harbor in Elbow Cay, seem more interested in stand-up-paddleboarding.  This is as it should be.

Mel has been busy composing some posts summarizing lessons learned, medical mishaps, the kids’ experience, our favorite anchorages, and other highlights these past two years.  Those will be coming soon.  Before she forgets, by popular demand she and Greg have come up with a document summarizing the changes they made to their 2015 Leopard 48’s reefing system, before Dyneema shackles and nylon webbing become a distant memory.  This document is here.

While thinking deep thoughts, the Burnetts have been cruising the Abacos.  Mel was going to write that the Abacos were the British Virgin Islands of the Bahamas, with cute islands with expensive amenities (and lots of alcohol) strategically placed just a few hours away from each other, a playground for wealthy extroverts.  However, there is a significant difference.  Unlike the BVI’s, the beautiful Abacos are far less friendly to the cruiser than the charterer.  While super-expensive marinas and moorings in murky harbors are available everywhere, good anchorages protected from winds that aren’t from the east are tricky to find.  Oh, stalwart cruisers have done it, but it takes planning and lucky weather.  Plus, because we are not keen to stay in the marinas, we have struggled greatly to offload our trash, almost making a two-hour sail this morning to dispose of 4 bags because we missed the 1-hour window three days a week we mere mooring occupants are allotted to deposit trash in Hope Town.  Also unlike the BVI’s, it’s hard to sail a non-shoal-draft boat here in a carefree way because of the numerous sandbars and the paucity of cuts.  It looks like people have figured out how to vacation in the Abacos, though.  You rent one of those cute little villas where you don’t have to care about the winds and then get a small powerboat and zoom wherever you want.  It’s motorboat paradise.

To summarize, the Burnetts didn’t make it very far through the Abacos.  We’ve have had some great experiences here, including amazing snorkeling in the Pelican Marine Park and nightly swims on the sand flats of Tilloo Cay.  Unfortunately, the winds are not favorable to rounding the elbow at Elbow Cay, as they are coming from ESE to SE now.  So, we are turning around at Hope Town and skipping some really fun places that we might have to reserve for an Abacos trip of some kind in the future, when we are more in a vacationy mood.  But, in the Bahamas, it looks like the Exumas and the Far Bahamas will always come first in our hearts.

We have updated The Aquatic Adventures of The Amazing Marvin.  Since it’s been a while, here is a link to all of the chapters, and here is a link to Chapter 10: Inking Toward the Truth.  Marvin and Susie summarize their findings.

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