After dropping Dave off at the Treasure Cay airport we were a bit bummed out as is always the case when a crew member has to leave. We don’t believe in goodbyes though; it’s always “See you later!” We took our time prepping the boat and pulling out of the biggest slip I think we have ever had. As we exited the marina into the baby blue waters of the Sea of Abaco we were quickly confronted by a disappointing reality. Fairly strong winds with 3-4′ of chop had us pinned into the the Treasure Cay Marina. We were only trying to go a few miles to Great Guana Cay but it was a long, wet slog dead to wind.
Our goal for the rest of our trip was to be in the water as much as possible, either snorkeling or diving (but we were about to discover that the East winds make this not as easy as we would hope). Based on the guides and maps, we thought there might be something to see near a cut at the southern end of the island, but when we tried to anchor there, we could not get the anchor to dig in after about 4 tries. So much for our quiet, secluded anchorage – we moved north to the crowded anchorage near Grabbers bar. The holding was fine but between the wind moving west and the constant ferry and rental boat traffic, this was the least comfortable anchorage we stayed in.
To prep for scuba diving, we decided to dive in the 10 feet under our boat to test our gear and brandy new scuba compressor. I got to see my first green mantis shrimp, which made the dive totally worth it but otherwise there wasn’t much else to see. If you don’t know what a mantis shrimp is, check out this video. They are pretty much the most badass creature in the ocean.
The next day it was too windy to head out to the reef, so we took the dinghy ashore to explore. While getting ready to head out, we had a little reef shark swimming around the boat – our first shark sighting!
We had heard a lot of people talk about the Nippers Bar. Nippers advertises a Sunday “pig roast,” which we were really excited about until we heard there is no roasting pig – just a buffet that includes pork and a lot of drunk partiers. We heard it can still be a cool, more peaceful place on other days of the week so we went to check it out.
On our way to Nippers we noticed a sign on a tree saying “Poisonwood – No Touch”! WTF is that, we thought as we quickly googled it. Turns out the Bahamas have two rather nasty poisonous trees the aptly named Poisonwood and the Manchineel. Poisonwood is similiar to poison ivy or posion oak while Manchineel is more toxic but also less common. Suddenly the rash Dave had on his leg made sense, he must have brushed up against poisonwood on one of our hikes. “So much for the forests being tame here,” we thought.
A short walk later we had made it over to the Atlantic side where we easily found Nippers. Nestled on bluff overlooking the ocean and a nice white sand beach, Nippers has plenty of loud music, seating and a pool. The drinks and food are on the expensive side. We hung out for a couple hours but weren’t really feeling the vibe and left for a walk around town in the early afternoon.
We wandered about for a bit before looking for a place to get some food. Naturally we picked a place as far away as possible, Mermaids, and went off hiking figuring we would see more of the island on the way. We hiked for a pretty long time through rolling hills dappled with vacation houses. Everything on Great Guana was pretty upscale (but not without herds of cats and roosters hanging out in some yards). Finally a nice lady in a golf cart stopped and offered us a ride which Lindsey promptly shot down.
“Gee babe, whats your problem with a free ride?” I asked as the golf cart sped away.
“We are here to hike!” she winked.
“True but there’s no shame in taking a free ride and we’ve been going for a while now” I quipped.
“OK, next one.” she said. The next golf cart to offer a ride had two very nice and maybe tipsy guys in the front. We jumped on thinking this was gonna be fun, but we rounded a single corner to find we were at Mermaids after about a 15 second ride. We all had a good laugh at what had to be the record for the shortest hitchhike ever.
Mermaids was really beautiful. They had a gorgeous pool on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea and a beautiful outdoor dining area. They also had a dress code with prices to match. Surveying the scene we quickly decided we weren’t really going to be welcome in our salty, worn, paint-splattered clothes. We prefer the locals hangouts anyways. So we started our hike back across the island. About 10 minutes in a local stopped and offered a ride. “Yes, please!” I said before Lindsey could think twice. Turns out our driver was turned away at Mermaids for failure to wear shoes. We zipped back to Grabbers bar where our dinghy was beached. We looked around Grabbers but decided dinner on the boat was best.
Great Guana just didn’t have a vibe we were into. Turns out the island is overshadowed by Bakers Bay resort. From what we researched and heard through the grapevine, Bakers Bay is the most upscale resort in the Abacos where all the famous people hang out. They even have a marina which was made private a few years ago to keep riff raff like us out – or as we prefer to think of it, keep riff raff like them in. Still though, the resort provides around 1000 much needed jobs to the locals so I guess its not all bad. We would have left after just one day but were heard there were some dive sites at the north end of island.
We were ready for diving the next day and the wind had seemingly calmed down. We loaded the dinghy up and began the slow trek up past Bakers Bay to the dive site. Unfortunately when we got there the waves were breaking over the reef and after several attempts to find a good spot, we aborted and went snorkeling at the rocks off of Bakers Bay beach. The snorkeling was ok – we were excited to finally see some coral, healthy coral too! – but the tidal current prevented us from getting to the really good parts. We did see a stingray without a stinger and a nurse shark, relaxing on the bottom under a ledge – but typical Lindsey… even though I kept pointing to the shark just a few feet away from me, she never figured out what I was trying to point to and didn’t even see it. On the ride back, we decided to try another spot.
We motored down to the anchorage at Fowl Cay Marine Reserve but alas it was going to be too rolly for an overnight spot, even by our lax standards, so we continued to the north side of Man O War Cay. The next day, we assessed our sunburns and decided wearing our heavy scuba gear might not be the best plan. We grabbed our snorkel gear and took the dinghy up to Fowl and Hawksbill Cays.
The ocean was still very choppy and the current was very strong but we came up with an ingenious plan to see the reef. We parked the dinghy in the lee of a small cay and swam hard across the cut to the next small cay. We then hiked over the rocks to the the ocean side and swam out to the nearby reef thereby using the cay to defeat the current. This allowed us to have a great snorkel in less than ideal conditions. When we were done all we had to do was swim over to the cut and drift back to our dinghy. Fowl Cay turned out to be a great stop, even with the weather preventing us from seeing the reef farther out. We still got to see plenty of snapper, a sea turtle, a grouper, lots of small fish, and great coral – purple sea fans, brain and horn corals.
That evening and the following day we went to explore Man O War Cay. Our boat being parked on the extreme north end of the island meant that we would be able to stretch our legs before getting to town. Man O War turned out to be a beautiful very laid back island. It has deep religious roots so alcohol has only recently become available at one restaurant. The “roads” are narrow and sandy, and lined with vegetation. The town is small with several shops selling local goods like hand carved boat models and locally made canvas bags. There is a long tradition of boat building on the island and we saw that they are still making fiberglass boats to this day. If your looking for a really quiet island to get away from it all this is the place. If you want to have some drinks with rowdy sailors or 5 star accommodations, this is not the place.
We made friends with random cats and dogs that walked with us through town, checked out the fish hiding under the docks, and had a delicious conch burger and ice cream at Hibiscus Cafe. We laughed that almost everyone here has the same last name – Albury. We chatted for a while with a homeowner, an American who spends a few weeks here each year.
We snorkeled around the rocks at the anchorage, spotting some large french angelfish, barracudas, and a moray eel. It seemed like we were the only boat staying here for more than one day, so we decided to head to Hopetown next and see what all the fuss was about.
