When you’re anchored near the southernmost point in the Abaco sound, it’s almost a requirement that you dinghy over to Little Harbour, a great hurricane hole where a quaint community was founded in the 1950’s by Randolph Johnston. Johnston was a sculptor, who with his family, basically “founded” this area around the then still-working Old Lighthouse. Today, the foundry is run by Randolph’s son Pete, and Pete’s Pub is a tourist spot (that was closed due to Covid when we visited the harbor last year).
After checking out the gallery and grounds, we headed for the trail to the Old Lighthouse ruins that overlook the North Atlantic and mark the cut into the Sea of Abaco.
That’s when the trouble started. Susie’s camera went on the fritz. OH NO! Not the camera! Yep, the camera.
The shutter began partially opening/closing, and the screen became striped like an old tube TV when it dies, then went totally black.
Calm down, Honey. This is 2023. We have options, like the same thing everyone else uses, a cellphone. UGH. Or a friend with a camera and phone (thank you, Lynn). With Lynn stepping in to help document our adventure and Todd promising to take a look at the camera when we got home, the group moved on to find the ruins.
Built in 1889, the lighthouse was changed to solar in the 1990’s but was destroyed by Floyd in 1999. Then, it got a metal tower that was wiped by Sandy in 2012. Now it appears the government has given up.
On the trail to the lighthouse ruins
In a couple of places, a machete might have come in handy, but it was a fairly short hike, just 15-minutes or so.
The view from the lighthouse ruins is wonderful.
From the top, there’s a small path down to the cliff’s edge, where you can feel the sea spray as the waves crash into the little bay below. A cooling, spritzy shower on a warm day!
Todd went further out onto the point to capture the view from the water, looking up at the ruins.
Using the cellphone (did someone say, “UGH?”), Todd took a panoramic view of the rest of the group and the ruins. On the right day with the right seas and tides, there is a “musical” blowhole called the “Dragon,” that roars and snorts, and blows out spray! The dragon was congested this day. Ha!
Having seen the ruins, it was time for the fairly short trek back.
This time, our little hike ended at Pete’s Pub, a classic eatery/bar with a couple of notable twists. First, you look at a posted menu and order at the bar, no real servers. Second, and we thought this was handy and ingenious, there was an insulated cooler with plenty of help-yourself COLD fresh water! We enjoyed the lunch and the water.
No, there are no shots of Pete’s Pub or the group having lunch. UGH. About that camera, Honey…
Knowing Purrfect would be striking out in a different direction Tuesday morning, Chris & Allison joined us and Terry & Lynn from Finish Grade aboard SaltyMare for dinner. We had a good time exchanging stories and stayed up beyond our normal cruiser bedtimes. There’s no group photo, of course, because… well, you know. UGH (camera withdrawal)
Until next time, Chris & Allison!
Purrfect leaving Lynyard Cay April 25
With a week to get to the nearby Marsh Harbour (our destination for Susie to catch her May 2 flight and Todd to hopefully await her return in the safety of the harbor), we stopped at Tilloo Cay for some exploring.
Among some tree roots on the shore, Susie found an interesting egg case, later identified as most likely that of a Queen Conch. (Thanks, Shel!)
After stretching our legs, we slowly dinghied through Tilloo Pond, a smallish indent into the island, where we spotted plenty of turtles enjoying the grass and trees. Thinking it might be fun to snorkel with the turtles, we geared up and jumped in. The turtles easily evaded us, but being in the water was fun, nonetheless. Always is.
The pond dive looked very different than our typical coral head dives. In some areas, just the current swept sand. In others, storm damage blown into the water created a new environment for the fish.
Seen in the above video, there were these odd looking “things” scattered along the bottom. Todd got close enough to one to see it was a jellyfish, but why are they pulsing (swimming?) against the bottom? A little time with the interwebs and voila! Cassiopea – the upside-down jellyfish!
After a break for lunch, we went looking for another spot for some snorkeling, opting for an interesting rocky ledge where Lynn thought she spied a Lionfish through her “lookie bucket.” So, in we went.
Then, thunder. Aww, man, time to get out of the water.
Mission Control, we have a problem.
This is the time of year when many cruisers have either already left the Bahamas or are in the process of heading back to the states. Since the weather had been fairly mild, we hoped many would be gone, leaving room for us to secure a deep enough spot in the somewhat shallow Marsh Harbour. With Susie seriously wanting that spot secured before her departure and for the duration of her trip to Virginia, we cut the explorations off and headed to Marsh on Thursday the 27th.
With prayers said, fingers crossed, and great optimism, we “serpentine-d” our way up to Marsh, passed a seemingly out-of-place turret on the way, and as we came around the point into the harbor…. Oh my…. A LOT of boats. We slowly wiggled (if you can call moving this 60-foot boat “wiggling”) our way through a ridiculous number of anchored boats. In the end, there was no room at the inn.
So, Mission complete? Not quite. Sure, we have completed the 290+ nautical miles. But….. with strong southern winds (20-30knots) forecasted, we decided to continue “north” to tuck into Red Bay about 8 nm beyond our objective.
No worries, we still have a few days, the strong winds should be exhausted, and we will try Marsh Harbour (the pink star) again on Monday the 1st!
Our Travels 