March 23, 2013 Treasure Key, Abaco



Carole looking at the sharks sleeping on the bottom behind our boat!

Great Guana Cay is such a nice place that we decided to stay for a couple of extra days to look around and relax. We went back to Nippers where we had been for the Barefoot Man's concert just to have a beer and walk the beach. We never get tired of the Bahamian beaches!

Beachin' at Nippers
 

Bahamian snow plow!



Jack and Darla's beautiful Outer Reefs 65

Why wouldn't they just cut it down!


 We moved the boat over to Fisher's Bay for a change in scenery and easy access to Grabbers Beach Bar. What's great about this place is you can have lunch and a drink as well as a swim in their pool while overlooking our boat in the bay. Our stay in Fisher's Bay also rewarded us with a beautiful sunset.

Treasure Cay is on the main island of Abaco. It was developed some years back as an exclusive resort community with its own airstrip. There's a great anchorage that's well protected and very busy when we were there. The water is clear as in most of the Bahamas.  You can see your anchor in twelve feet of water and you would think that there's only two feet of water under your boat.
Being able to see your anchor doesn't always mean that it's set well. A thunder storm came up one night around midnight along with rain and strong winds. We were still awake and after closing up the boat, we went up to the flybridge to watch the lighting. What we didn't expect to see was a sailboat moving by us at about 4 knots, dragging its anchor! The occupant was obviously asleep and unaware of his predicament, so Carole started yelling out the name of his boat (Music) and Roly was blowing the air horns of our boat to wake him up. When he emerged from his cabin, totally disoriented, he started his engine to stop his rearward movement as his boat was about to crash into the sea wall behind him. His buddy hopped into his dinghy in the pouring rain and lousy visibility to go over to help him by steering the boat while he tried to retrieve his anchor. As he was maneuvering the boat around the anchorage while still trying to get the anchor up, he side swiped our boat with his bow pulpit and hanging anchor. The owner of the sailboat, Roy, did manage to get his boat to the marina for the rest of the night. We didn't see the extent of the damage until the next day when we took our dinghy out around the boat. The gell coat along the hull was scratched up pretty bad and there was damage to the railings and rub rail which Roly had just replaced last year. Roy was quite the gentleman about the whole affair and called his insurance company to have our damage repaired. Would you believe that our insurance provider, who was also notified, is sending an adjuster all the way to the Bahamas to assess the cost of repair! You never know when you'll be part of an adventure!

The sailboat "Music" back at anchor

There's a resort and bar facing the anchorage called the Tipsey Seagull that serves great mango slushies, with rum of course and Fridays are pizza night. A large round pizza goes for $32 by the way and a beer sells for $6. Not a cheap night out when you stay to watch the band! The place was packed with tourists, boaters and even the locals show up later in the evening, with their young children!

Carole enjoying her mango rum slushy

 

 

 

Carole's buddy, "Flipper"

 

The next morning brought calm waters and beautiful sunshine so we left early for Marsh Harbour with a planned stop along the way to do some snorkeling and spearfishing. There's a couple of rock formations that stick out of the Sea of Abaco called the Two Sisters. This area seemed like a good prospect for lobster and we weren't disappointed as we bagged three for the supper table! It was a joint effort, Carole spotted them and Roly speared them with a "Hawaiian Sling", which is basically a spear with a rubber band on the dull end.  It can be a challenge when you miss the first time and the little critter takes off and you have to chase it while still holding the same breath! With one lobster still in the freezer from our catch in Freeport, we had a total of four, added a couple of steaks and voila, Surf and Turf!

Yum!

The Two Sisters lobster hideout