Bentley Sails Varua

Friday, June 5, 2015

Abaco Islands

Crossing from Egg Island to Little Harbor in the Southern part of the Abacos was an easy day trip.
No coral heads to watch out for. We did however see a pod of whales coming straight for us. They
sensed us and moved out of the way passing along our port side, and they didn't hit the boat. It is so
hard to take good pictures of dolphins and whales. They just won't stop and pose.

Arriving in Hope Town on Elbow Cay. The lighthouse is the most photographed lighthouse in the Abacos....maybe even in the world.

More to come

Spanish Wells, Eleuthra

After an overnight anchor at Egg Island.....for all of you that know my love of eggcups....this was a real treat. We didn't find any eggs, but we did find lots of birds and a beautiful beach to walk on.

Egg Island on the GPS

Will did enjoy the fishing here and brought in many different kinds of fish. None of them were the good eating kind though. They make great bait, however.

Little snappers

Horse eyed jack

We left the next morning and arrived in Spanish Wells on May 13th. We anchored next to our friends on Rainbow. Mark poked his head out to say hello, but no Tina....how sad. So as we were below resting, I could have sworn I heard someone calling my name. Looking out of the hatch all I saw was the big ferry going by. Turns out Tina had taken the ferry to Harbor Island and was excited to see our boat and was yelling out my name.

We spend 4 nights and 5 days on this historical beautiful island. It was founded by a group of 70 people called the Adventurers that left from Bermuda. Their boat called the Williams crashed on the rocks on the north side of Spanish Wells in the area known as the Devil's Back Bone. They lived in a cave they called Preacher's Cave until they finally began settling in what is now known as Spanish Wells. Eueuthera ithe the island called Freedom.

The people here are descendants of the Adventures and they live off the sea. Their homes are brightly colored and well maintained. The school bus is actually a restaurant where Tina and I had great burgers one day. After lunch we had a museum tour and met our new friend Jean. We were invited to her home on first street. I captured a picture of her waving goodbye to us from the side of her house.

Jean waving good bye

Off to Egg Island again only this time with Rainbow. We had fun even if there was a rainy day once in awhile. A day of snorkeling and walking the beach was exciting.

Tina

Mark with a helmet conch

We are now off to the Abaco Islands. Little Harbor will be our first stop

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Eleuthera-Spanish Wells

We left Georgetown and had a leisurely sail up to Lee Stocking Island. We were so glad to see our new friends Anne and Mark on Alderaan. We were almost the only two boats in the harbor. We spent a nice happy hour together and hope to join them again next year as they are returning to George Town for the summer.

Dolphins showing us the way out of George Town

Sailing along with Alderaan

Happy Birthday to Emma

Our next destination was to be Little Farmer Cay. We had never stopped there on any of our trips. However, cruising through the harbor at 1:00 pm, we found it to be a ghost town. There was one boat in the harbor and it had to have been there awhile. The marina was closed and we saw only one man fishing on the dock.

Little Farmer Cay's empty marina

So we continued along till we found another new anchorage at White Point. It is south of Black Point where we have visited many times. Bentley waits patiently while Will dives to set the anchor. A regular practice he has.....just another excuse to dive into the clear blue water.

Our next destination was Shroud Cay a 40 mile trip into the Exuma National Park. This is our favorite place in all of the Exumas. We have been here many of times, so instead of going to shore and exploring again, we leave the next morning. We are anxious to meet our friends on Rainbow and they are waiting for us in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera.

We stop at the northern most point of the Exuma Cays.....again another first for us. It is called the Ship Channel Cay and it is completely deserted. Even the house on the hill is vacant. We were joined later by a sailboat called Serena that hailed us on the radio and discussed our route tomorrow to Eleuthera. We will be going through hundreds of coral heads, so it is going to the a

VPR....visual piloting reguired. Will stayed on the bow while I dodged the coral heads we saw.

This house has been vacant for awhile

Our route from George Town to Ship Channel Cay....4 days of travel 80 miles approximately

All those red dots are coral heads. Massive rocks of coral that are in the water. Most of them are below the surface, but some can rise above the water line and need to be avoided.