Life on the Boat Q&A Part 2

 

Lindsey getting her Yoga on.

You can read Part 1 here for the Q&A that we did with the Newly Salted blog. Here’s part 2 to answer the rest of your questions!

Is Paul not going to shave for the whole trip? How can I grow a beard like that?

Lindsey: He’s not going to shave. His trick to his wildman look is to do next to no maintenance on it. When he got his haircut, he let the guy cleanup the edges of the beard but wouldn’t let him trim it. If your own mother calls you “Sasquatch Face,” you know you’ve reached your goal.

How do you shower on the boat?

Lindsey: There are more options than you think! We have MSR water bladders that have an attachment that allows it to be used as a solar shower. We actually don’t use this much though because 1) I forget to lay it out in the sun and 2) it’s black but not insulated so it heats up  but doesn’t hold heat until after dark very well. Right now this is an outdoor activity but we do have a drain in our head (bathroom) floor that could be hooked up for indoor showering. Most often we use Walgreens Rinse Free Body Wash and Shampoo, which requires minimal water (less than a quart for 2 people). We’re pretty sure the shampoo is just a watered-down, more fragrant version of the body wash, so we’ll probably buy just the wash in the future. The other options include jumping into the sea to bathe or using the cockpit washdown pump – this uses sea water but the pressurized hose is great for hair washing.

What do you eat on the boat? Do you cook?

Lindsey: We have a 3 burner stove and oven, plus a fridge with a mini-fridge-sized freezer, so we eat pretty similarly to what we eat at home. When we first left Florida, we didn’t buy much meat cause we were hoping to fish a lot. It’s been better lately, but we weren’t very successful with fishing in the beginning and wished we’d brought more meat initially. When we grocery shop we try to do so for 3 weeks at a time – so we pack the freezer, buy vacuum sealed meats if we can, and buy long lasting veggies like onions, mini peppers, and cabbage. Certain grocery items can be expensive here, especially in the less populated areas (we’re talking $3 for the can of green beans that costs $0.89 at Walmart; $8 for Oreos; we haven’t even really seen deals on locally caught fish), so we’d recommend stocking up as much as you can in the US. It seems that some people stock up on weird, canned foods that they never normally eat, so I tried to avoid that – but I did buy one can of chicken kind of as a joke. We haven’t eaten it.

Did Lindsey take makeup on the boat?

Lindsey: I did. On the ICW, I’d put makeup on after showering at a marina. In the Bahamas I’ve worn mascara twice.

Paul: Does sunscreen count? Cause she uses a lot of it.

How can you stand to be near your spouse that much in a tiny space?

Lindsey: Soooo many people have asked me this, but for us this wasn’t really a change. When we met, Paul lived in an apartment so small he couldn’t have a couch. I shared a 3 bedroom house with 3-4 other people. When Paul moved to PA, we traveled for work together during the week and stayed in my parents’ house on weekends. Then for 5 years we rented an apartment that the previous tenant described as “maybe not big enough for 2 people.” Not that I don’t dream about living in a place where someone can get out of bed without having to climb over the other person, but we’re pretty used to constantly being in each other’s bubbles.

Paul: I think we both realize that a little bit of discomfort is part of the price we pay to have some really awesome adventures. If everything was easy and comfortable it wouldn’t be much of an adventure.

Why won’t you answer your phone?

Lindsey: We bought a sim card for BTC data but don’t pay for minutes or texts. We use WhatsApp, Google Voice, and occasionally Skype. Google Voice rings if I’m on the computer, but it doesn’t ring on my phone – I just see the missed call later, so that’s why I don’t answer.

When are you going to sail to Texas?

Lindsey: It was a real possibility when we were considering taking the boat into the Gulf of Mexico and up the Tenn-Tom canal to TN, but we now have reasons to keep the boat in FL this year – so we’ll see. 🙂

How many times a day do you sing “I’m On A Boat?”

Lindsey: At the beginning of the trip, at least 8, but now I’m probably down to 3.

Have you seen any cool birds?

Lindsey: Bird sightings on the ICW were awesome. In the Bahamas it’s been mostly sea gulls, cormorants, and mourning doves. There is a black bird with bright orange on his wings I’ve been seeing lately. And this little guy was pretty friendly:

Paul: We have yet to track down the elusive Bahamas Parrot.

How’s the sailing?

Lindsey: Pretty good! We cruise around under sail most of the time. We’ve been told the Abacos aren’t the easiest part of the Bahamas, navigation-wise, but I wouldn’t call it difficult (for the most part, we actively avoid passes near reefs or shallow spots requiring super accurate visual navigation). I’d say its much more enjoyable sailing conditions than the Chesapeake. A lot of days we sail all day on a single tack which is pretty relaxing.

What is it like in the Bahamas? Weather? Food? 

Lindsey: If you’re nervous about foreign travel, I would highly recommend the Bahamas as a start, because I don’t think there’s anything here that’s really going to give Americans culture shock. Vendors take Bahamanian or US dollars (1:1 street value). People are friendly, it’s easy to travel via water taxi, it’s freakin’ gorgeous here, and there’s so much to see under the water. There are so few people outside the two major cities (Nassau and Freeport) that everywhere we go has a nice small town community feel to it and it’s truly beautiful. A lot of the take-out food places and restaurants seem to have mostly fried food, and it isn’t cheap – fish and chips may cost you nearly $20, and if you do find bbq, or grilled, or steamed food, it’s not surprising to see stuff in the $20-40 range. Variety of restaurants is probably what we miss most from home. Our first few weeks here were nothing but sunny, but lately a lot more rain and scattered storms have been rolling through, and the Atlantic seas have been rough. Temps have been 70s-80s. Everyone says it’s been an unusual weather pattern this year (no surprise) and that summer is the best and calmest, outside of hurricanes. We really like it here. I can see the appeal of island hopping in the Caribbean where you are going to see more culture changes from island to island, but there’s so much more of the Bahamas we want to see.

Lindsey Petting a Ray

 

Our Guide to Great Abaco

[Google_Maps_WD id=3 map=2]

Our journey from Green Turtle to Treasure Cay, Great Abaco was uneventful. The temperature was in the 70s, sunny but surprisingly cool in the shade. After passing through the Whale Channel (easily done with only a few feet of swell and long periods), we turned to head for Treasure Cay. Treasure Cay is not an island, but a resort with a marina, anchorage, and vacation homes on Great Abaco Island. It’s probably the largest resort in the Abacos. It’s about a 40 minute drive north of Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas’ 3rd largest city (~5000 people).

Whale Cay from the Atlantic side on a calm day.

The first thing you might notice entering the channel to Treasure Cay are the signs warning you that a cable blocks the channel after 10pm, after which you need to radio for entry. Once in the marina, you will see that the gates to the docks close at 1am, security guards are on patrol, and the marina advertises itself as the “safest.” What in the world could be so bad here that made all this security necessary?! The Bahamas overall comes across as an extremely safe and welcoming place, so we were a bit confused. From our Googling, it looks like some years ago there were several boat thefts in a very short period of time, so we’re guessing that for the sake of the resort’s reputation, they wanted to make sure this would not happen again and took it to the extreme.

What Treasure Cay has going for it is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – white, white sand and blue, blue water. It has a restaurant at the beach, an Italian restaurant, and a large bar with food stands and a pool at the marina. There is an onsite shopping center with cell phones, car rentals, bakery, and gift shops. There are also some massive Tarpon hanging around the fish cleaning station.

Paul and the Tarpon, having a stare-off

 

The idyllic beach at Treasure Cay

What Treasure Cay doesn’t have going for it is that it just didn’t seem very exciting. We had heard we’d just missed the crowd – all the sailors hiding from a month of bad weather had departed the week prior – but this was still spring break time, and the place just didn’t seem that lively. To be fair, everyone at Green Turtle kept telling us how it was the busiest March ever and we couldn’t figure out where everyone was hiding, or maybe our idea is busy is just different from the island version of busy – a definite possibility. The other thing Treasure Cay doesn’t have going for it is their not-so-nice bathrooms. Now, I’m not really complaining, because they have showers and my boat doesn’t! It just seemed strange that for a place that comes across as fairly upscale, the bathrooms would be dirty or malfunctioning. Plus, the marina showers were in the same restroom used by the bar, and it’s just a little awkward to be naked with drunk people coming in from the bar. Without a rental car you are pretty much stuck on the resort property since it’s a heck of a walk to anything. It didn’t matter to us though as we specifically came to Treasure Cay to rent a car and go exploring!

Lindsey driving on the wrong side.

A large amount of cars in the Bahamas are used imports from Japan, and our Honda rental was no exception. What does this mean? Well, the steering wheel is on the right hand side and the GPS nav system is hopelessly in Japanese and has you positioned somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. Some of you used to driving on the right side of the road might find this opportunity to drive on the left at highway speeds with no navigation terrifying, but we found it to be great sport. Plus, passengers got to yell our “left to live motto” at every turn. Over the next couple of days we explored a bunch of places on the island of Great Abaco, a.k.a. “the mainland.” Funny thing is, when I asked locals what there is to do here, the most common suggestion was to hop a ferry to another cay, so we were somewhat on our own to find the fun. Here is our summary of the spots from north to south.

Treasure Cay Blue Hole

This inland blue hole is not on the resort property and therefore open to all. You can find it a few miles north of the resort turn off on the left hand side. If you hit the airport you went too far. There is a small sign that denotes the turnoff. The blue hole is located several miles from the sea with a diameter of about 100′ and a depth of 254′. It is luxuriously filled with copious amounts of clean clear freshwater. While a bit erie due to its depths it is very safe with no currents or marine life. Its a unique and free experience that we would rate a must see. (On our visit, we had the added bonus of a wild fire having just roared through the area, so there was still smoldering underbrush and burning telephone poles – but luckily no houses appeared to be damaged. While we’ve been in the Bahamas, it seems there is always at least one part of Great Abaco on fire).

Marsh Harbour

Marsh Harbour is the 3rd largest town in the Bahamas at a whopping 5000 people, but it feels like it has half that population. It is, however, the main supply point for all of the Abacos. Food and goods are significantly cheaper here and they have several large grocery stores with reasonable (almost mainland America) prices . We like to shop at Maxwells grocery and pick out things we wouldn’t normally buy at home, like lamb chops and goat. When we are done we call a cab on VHF 6 and for $6 they take us to the Union Jack dinghy dock.  At the dinghy dock, little kids hang out, swim, and play on boats.  They’ll also gladly help you tie up, unload groceries, or carry your luggage, and although they accept tips, they seemed at least equally interested in snacks. The Abaco Asian Market is fun stop where you can buy pre-made food or ingredients for your own dishes. Beware: If the guy says the hot sauces are “not too hot,” he means “not too hot if you like really hot things!” The Coin Laundry in town is closed so we do laundry at Harbour View Marina. We always anchor out because the holding is good in Marsh, but the cheapest marina in town is Marsh Harbour Marina. On calm days it can get very hot in Marsh and swimming is not recommended due to water quality. There is a large hardware store called Standard Hardware and many other shops. Marsh gets a bit of a bad rap from locals for being the big dangerous city, but we had no issues and while not as fun as many of the other islands there are still a few interesting things to do.

Mermaid Reef Marsh harbour
Mermaid Reef

Mermaid Reef is a small artificial reef just outside the harbor with lots of fish. Its a good spot to cool off or take small children but not something we would seek out. Restaurant-wise, Marsh is home to the only fast food in all of the Abacos – KFC! While not exciting normally, after a few months on a boat some good cheap (by island standards) fried chicken is a welcome relief on your way to the grocery store. Mangoes was our favorite restaurant. Wally’s was good as well and the most upscale. Snappas is somewhat of a hangout because of their draft beer (a rare find here) and good food. Jib Room at Marsh Harbour Marina has a guy who limbos under a flaming limbo stick after Wednesday and Saturday dinners. Jake’s has great reviews but we didn’t find it exceptional. We were told Colors by the Sea has great food but haven’t made it there. If you are into shopping, Marsh has a variety of small gift shops and clothing stores. Liquor stores abound; our favorite is right behind Harbour View Marina but selection varies. Lindsey is in love with the banana rum. Beer and wine are expensive but rum is pretty reasonable. Marsh is not really a place we go except for supplies.

Mermaid reef Marsh Harbour
2 Sergeant Majors at Mermaid Reef

Little Harbour

Bronze Artwork at Pete’s Gallery.

Going south the next stop is Little Harbour. We highly recommend visiting this idyllic harbor by either car or boat – just be aware it’s a bumpy ride by car. It is is home to Johnston’s Bronze Art foundry and Pete’s Pub. The bronze art is world class and really spectacular. It’s a must see.

Pete's Gallery little harbor Abaco
Turtle Sculpture

Cherokee Sound

Lindsey and Dave on the longest wood dock in the Bahamas!

Cherokee is only a few miles from Little Harbour but it is outside of the Sea of Abaco and too shallow for most boats to enter, therefore few cruisers know about it. It is however our favorite spot in all of Great Abaco. Home to the largest wooden dock in the Bahamas at ~700 feet long, the extremely shallow bay offers beautiful crystal clear baby blue water and fluffy white sand that you can walk in for about 1000′ offshore. The town is very laidback with a small but well appointed grocery store (including reasonably priced souveniers – and fireworks!). If you want a spectacular beach day this is the place to do it.

Baby conch!
Lone fisherman in the knee deep water

Schooner Bay

This is a real estate development community. It’s still in the early stages of development and wasn’t really worth a stop. The tour is free, and supposedly there is a restaurant but we don’t know how they stay in business. We didn’t see a single resident, just maintenance workers. We did get to see a house owned by the Prime Minister of the Bahamas.

Dave and Paul at Schooner Bay

Sandy Point

Sandy Point lies at the southwest tip of Great Abaco. We didn’t find much to see here, other than Gorda Cay a.k.a Disney’s Castaway Cay off on the horizon. We tried to find something worth doing but came up blank. We read some articles about the town’s big plans for a new high speed ferry that would bring in bonefishing tourism – the articles were from 2007, so I’m guessing the recession squashed those plans. We passed a National Park en route to Sandy Point – habitat for the Bahamian parrot! – but the road into it is 4-wheel-drive only and rental cars are specifically not permitted to drive that road. It sounds like it could be fun to explore as there is a blue hole and a lighthouse.

Cruise ship at Disney’s Castaway Cay (Gorda Cay)

We had a great time exploring Great Abaco by car. We didn’t drive all the way to the northern towns, like Cooperstown and Foxtown – maybe we’ll catch those next time, or by boat.

With our road trip complete and one last night of conch fritters and lobster dinners to top it all off, it was sadly time to say goodbye to my dad. We dropped him off at the teeny tiny Treasure Cay airport before returning the rental car. Lindsey and I returned to the boat and readied it to go explore another island.

 

Exploring Green Turtle Cay

Coco Bay Green Turtle Cay

After so many days at uninhabited islands, we were ready for some civilization!  Green Turtle Cay’s White Sound is a mix of a narrow channel, mooring balls, anchored boats, and busy marinas. Despite looking crowded, it never felt that way. Green Turtle turned out to be the laid back island we were looking for.

After an easy refueling stop at Green Turtle Club’s t-dock, the dockmaster helped us into our slip and we rushed off to truly enjoy some REAL SHOWERS (it’d been over a week!).  Walking around the Green Turtle Club, I noticed everyone just seemed so darn happy! Staff seemed happy, guests seemed happy, fishing charter captains seemed happy. People who hadn’t seen each other in a year were exchanging hugs. Fishermen were showing off their catches. Everyone immediately came across as friendly and helpful. We couldn’t help but smile. Dave says hello to everyone so this just multiplied the good vibes.

Clean and refreshed, we were ready to hit the town- but New Plymouth is at least a 40 minute walk from the more touristy White Sound area, and we weren’t up for getting wet in the dinghy or changing our clothes to meet the Green Turtle Club restaurant dress code. The most popular form of travel on the island is by golf cart, but we’d already found out there were no more available today. We talked to the dockmaster, and he called a friend who is not officially a taxi but is willing to drive folks around. The guy didn’t answer his phone, so we decided, with some disappointment, on a shorter 10 minute walk to a nearby restaurant.

We’d just stepped onto the road, when a truck pulled over. A man leaned out the window and said, “Are you the ones looking for a ride? I’ll be back in 10 minutes!”

He returned promptly in a car and introduced himself – we’ll call him “Mr. Z” (obviously, not his real name). We said we were looking for “a good bar with some good food.” He said he’d take us to one spot, and if it wasn’t what we were looking for, he could keep taking us to more.

The roads to New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay.

First stop was Pineapples, a bar just outside of town down a bumpy dirt road, that faces the water and has a very deep swimming pool within stumbling distance of the bar. Dave went to order a round of beers, and while we were waiting on them, I asked Dave if he thought we should arrange to have Mr. Z pick us up somewhere in town so we could check out the restaurants there without having to come back to Pineapples to meet him. “Oh he’s not leaving yet,” Dave said with a mischievous smile, “I’m buying him a beer.”  With those words, I should have known it would be a fun night.

Next stop was Sundowners – Mr. Z said it should be popular tonight because Sax Man was playing – and sure enough the nearby parking lot was jam-packed with golf carts. Inside we found a pool table, a bar, a deck overlooking the soon-setting sun, and a stage where Sax Man was setting up. The place was crowded and getting more so, with both tourists and locals, and even families that seemed to be there for some sort of charity event. “Another round of beers?” Dave said and we all obliged.

The problem is, Dave is just thirstier than the rest of us. “Another round?” he said, before we were halfway through with our drinks.  The rest of us laughed at our pitiful drinking abilities as he gleefully passed around more bottles of Kalik or Sands. Mr. Z told us Green Turtle is a great place with no crime – “No one dies here unless they are sick.” He told us about becoming a Bahamas resident (he’s from the Carribbean), the lack of rain the past 2 months, and the town’s important people and places, like the police officer, the school, and his wife’s business.  Then finally, taking pitty on my small stature, as Dave calls for another round, Mr. Z told us the key to surviving a night out with Dave: “There is a female drink! The pink one!” Well, we have to try this – mercifully the next round  we order is Sands Pink Radler – a 2% ABV beer that tastes like sparkling grapefruit juice. Everybody had one, and I wisely stuck to them for the rest of the night.

Photo Courtesy of Sands Brewery, bahamianbrewery.com

Maybe it was alcohol-induced hallucinations, but after Paul explained the green flash to Dave and Mr. Z, they swore they saw it as the sunset. Paul and I still don’t believe them. For any doubters the Green Flash is indeed a real thing.

After swaying to the music of Saxman for a very long time and singing along to Bob Marley tunes, we had worked up a pretty good buzz and one heck of an appetite. Dave knew that Lobster season was quickly coming to an end. “Mr. Z, do they sell Lobster dinners here?” he inquired. “Nah mon, but I know just the place,” he replied.  After a short drive across the tiny town we arrived at the Wrecking Tree. “What does Wrecking mean?” Paul inquired. Mr. Z explained that Wrecking was once a big industry on the island of Green Turtle and throughout the Bahamas where locals would be licensed by the government to go salvage shipwrecks. The goods were then collected at the Wrecking tree before being transported to Nassau for auction. At one point the Bahamas had over 300 ships dedicated to wrecking and two-thirds of the islands’ exports were salvaged goods. This was all very interesting as we sipped on various local beers, but we were starving. Dave and Mr. Z ordered up the cracked lobster (cracked=fried) while Paul and I both got orders of cracked conch and Grouper. The fried conch and grouper was the best we’d ever had by far. We actually didn’t know conch could be so tender or grouper so flavorful. The portions were also huge so we struggled to finish them and have one more after-dinner beer.

Mr. Z, ever the gentleman, drove us home safely, but as I watched the golf carts scatter as the bars emptied out, there was the disturbing thought that in a country where you drive on the left, there are way too many partying Americans who might accidentally drive that golf cart on the right. When we arrived at the Green Turtle Club we asked how much for his services. “You guys don’t owe me anything, I had a blast, mon!” he replied. We gave him a nice tip and hearty handshake for showing us a tremendous time.

The next morning, we rented a golf cart and got a tour of the local real estate market  and headed to town for lunch and groceries. Luckily, the lady at the golf cart rental declared, “Left to live!” as we pulled out and this became our mantra at every turn or anytime the driver got too close to the right.

After booking Dave’s flight and doing laundry (around $5 per load, ouch – it’s at least $4 everwhere here), we headed over to Coco Bay, where we heard some people feed the sea turtles.

Coco Bay Green Turtle Cay

We didn’t take any food for the turtles and the bay didn’t look like much at first glance. We couldn’t see a turtle or really any fish from the dock but we figured it would be nice to cool off even if we didn’t see anything. Paul was the first in and had barely made it into chest deep water when he exclaimed, “Turtle!” Soon we were surrounded by turtles and though we had no food for them, it did not  stop them from wanting to eat! We quickly learned to keep our fists closed as an outstretched finger looks a lot like a piece of squid and greatly interests the turtles. The turtles swam with us until we got cold, occasionally dashing off then sneaking up behind us, popping up to breathe, or going to visit a boat that may give them a tasty morsel.

Coco Bay Green Turtle Cay
Green Sea Turtle at Coco Bay

After our swim, we drove past Mr. Z. He rolled down the window, laughing about last night. With a promise to see him at Sundowners later, we headed to the Bluff House Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar, not realizing they closed in about half an hour, at 6:00. It is one of the most idyllic beach bars we have ever encountered and a worthy stop if you are in Green Turtle Cay. There was no one else there, so we had the deck, beach, hammocks, and palm trees to ourselves as the sun started to set. We watched the distant flames of a wildfire flicker over Great Abaco.

Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar Green Turtle Cay, photo from bluffhouse.com

We ended our night at Sundowners, where we watched people dance and mingle, snacked on fried food and pizza, and took it easy as we would be traveling the next day. Unsure of the weather, we had debated taking the Green Turtle Ferry to Treasure Cay on Great Abaco (at $15 per person, one way) to see the island before Dave’s flight. This would allow us to avoid crossing the notorious “Whale Cay,” a short but potentially rough passage that requires you to leave the Sea of Abaco and be exposed broadside to ocean swell for 2 miles. Luckily, the latest weather report looked clear and we would be able to take our own boat through the Whale and around to Treasure Cay (ironically not a cay at all).

The next morning we prepared to cast off, and realized we were facing a conundrum: The boat to our port side had a dinghy on davits, easily sticking out of their slip 8 feet. The bow on the boat across from them stuck out nearly 10 feet. This meant we had very limited space to back out our boat into the fairway for a forward exit and wouldn’t be able to pivot around the piling without the potential for crashing into the neighbor’s dinghy. On top of that, the wind would be fighting us. With our heavy, under-powered, full-keeled boat, this was not an ideal situation. Precision is not our forte. Brute force is our specialty… Not a good combination here. The other option was to back our boat in the opposite direction, which would mean backing up for a longer distance. As we were debating this, yet another (super nice, super expensive) boat that was way longer than its slip pulled in, adding yet another obstacle to consider.

The docks at Green Turtle Club, photo from greenturtleclub.com

We started brainstorming with our starboard side neighbors, debating using his dinghy to tow us out, or redirect us if things went awry.  We discussed numerous way to tie, control, and release our lines. We were somewhat limited in our options as the boat’s deck sat several feet below the dock, making it unsafe for any of us to leap onto the moving boat. We grabbed a dockhand and got his opinion as well. 6 people and 30 minutes later, we had a workable plan though Paul didn’t like it much. The dockhand controlled our bow while the neighbors helped with the stern. We smoothly backed into the fairway away from 2 of the 3 obstacle boats, waving and yelling “thank you!” to everyone who had helped. We continued to back until we cleared the last slip and fully exited the marina. Like they say, proper preparation prevents piss poor performance!