Cruising the Hub of Abaco, Post #25-14
- sondrawinter
- Apr 6
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 15
Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco
Hope Town, Elbow Cay
Man-O-War, Man-O-War Cay
Fishers Bay, Great Guana Cay
Friday, March 28 through Friday, April 4, 2025
21 nautical miles (24 statute miles)
This week was rather nice with only a few mishaps as we worked our way north through the hub of Abaco.
Marsh Harbour Recap
As Jimmy mentioned last week, our time in Marsh Harbour was primarily spent running errands. If someone needed boat work done, this would be a good spot to search for parts and skilled labor. Walking the streets in the area did not have us reaching for our cameras. Surprisingly, we saw a manatee, dolphin and turtles in the harbor during our stay.
We enjoyed the two restaurants that we stopped at: Colors on the waterfront, and Fork & Spoon near the Union Jack dinghy dock. The laundry facility was really nice, the grocery store was huge, and both hardware stores we visited had a great stock of items. Saturday morning, we walked the 1.5 miles out to the Abaco Gas Company to fill a propane tank. Rex, a super nice employee that grew up in Abaco and has done some extensive sailing, felt bad that we walked all the way out there and offered to flag down a return ride for us. We declined the offer since we were happy to be moving our legs after staying on the boat all day long the previous day.
Hope Town, Elbow Cay
It was a short route over to Hope Town (8 nm), and on the trip over we passed Alboe who was heading into Marsh Harbour.
It was fun to edge our way over to Alboe to say hello
Our anchorage near Hope Town was in relatively shallow waters, and it took a while to find a spot that was deep enough to avoid hitting the bottom at low tide. One afternoon our depth sounder read 0.0’ under the keel, but we never felt any hard pounding of the seafloor.
Walking around Hope Town had each of us reaching for our phones to snap photos of this very cute village. Most of the houses appear to be available for a vacation rental and are adorned with bright colors and a lot of plants.
The jewel of Hope Town is the Elbow Cay Lighthouse. It is the last hand-operated, kerosine lighthouse in the world. The five-flash pattern was visible from Utopia each night. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse and crawled out a tiny half door for access to the exterior platform that encircled the lighthouse. Views of the Atlantic, Hope Town Harbour, and the Sea of Abaco were fantastic from the top.
Man-O-War Cay
Our next stop had us heading around some shallows then behind some cays to reach Man-O-War Cay (just 3.8 nm). We flew the jib and enjoyed some light wind sailing and on this short voyage I learned that getting familiar with your route prior to departure can make a tricky situation less stressful.
Our chart plotter glitched out while crossing between the two islands, just before we needed to gybe (change directions when the wind is behind you). In order to fix it, Jimmy had to do a complete reboot of our electronics. During the reboot all of our electronic instruments were shutdown, meaning we did not have the sonar fishing charts to determine likely water depths, nor a working depth finder, as well as not having a handy screen showing wind direction. Luckily, I had a good idea where the sandbar to starboard and the reef to port were located and felt I could put off the gybe until Jimmy finished trying to fix the electronics. For a short while it was fun to sail with no digital instrumentation, just using the feel of the wind with the assistance of the masthead fly (the wind vane at the top of the mast), visual cues for direction, and keeping a close eye out for changes in the colors of the water. I was happy to have not accidentally gybed the jib or ran aground during this electronics fix.
After all was reset, we gybed towards the east only to have the jib get all tangled up. Since we were close to our destination, we just turned on the motor and untangled the jib and jib sheets later that afternoon.
The harbor entrance was rocky, and narrow followed by some shallow water on the way to the mooring field. Because the cut also has limited visibility, we called a Sécurité which was answered by an announcement that two other boats were about to exit the cut. So, we just bobbed around a bit, lining up for the entrance once the second boat was out. Although not as hair raising as some other cuts, it still required close attention at the helm.
While the last stop was cute with pretty rental cottages, the settlement of Man-O-War had a hometown charm. The waterfront was filled with businesses catering to the boating community, including Albury Brothers, where they are making boats right there in the settlement. The waterfront is surrounded by homes of varying sizes and conditions with a strong sense of community here. A bonus was seeing a lot of turtles while on our mooring ball.
On Friday, we slipped the lines from the mooring and motored to the Western Harbour to top up the diesel tanks. We are pleased that although it was not a textbook stopping line maneuver, our docking was under control with a slow, smooth stop. At one point the fuel attendant told Jimmy that she thought we would need a second attempt, and Jimmy kindly said, “just wait, this stopping line will bring us back to the dock” and sure enough it did. It sure felt good to gently kiss the fuel dock in gusty winds. Getting off the dock was a bit easier, and we headed for the cut out into the Sea of Abaco.
Fishers Bay, Great Guana Cay
This low drama fueling event was followed by a sweet, dreamy downwind, 9.1 nm sail across smooth seas to Fishers Bay at Great Guana Cay.
After the anchor was set and we did our post-voyage chores, we jumped in the water and swam around Utopia, enjoying possibly our last swim around the boat in the Bahamas.
Our great day ended with my phone falling from my pocket as I went to sit in one of our stern seats prior to sunset. This was followed by Jimmy immediately jumping into the water to retrieve it. The phone landed screen side up, and he could see a photo of Baxter illuminating from the seafloor, 11 feet down. Only time will tell whether his effort was worth it.
Tomorrow we will venture to shore and explore the nearby settlement as we wait for some great weather for crossing The Whale.
Also, now that we’ve completed the Appalachian Trail video series, we have returned to making little videos of our time here in the Bahamas. Here is a link to the most recent video:
Post #25-14 | See link below to view last week's post and the one following this one.
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