Becca, look what Gramps and I found down here in the Bahamas!! We found Rapunzel’s castle! As soon as I saw it I pointed it out to Gramps and said, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair”!!!
We have the picture of Rapunzel that you drew for us hanging in the galley over the stove. When anyone comes over and ask who it is I answer with “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair” And they say, “of course it is, I can see that”! And I tell them that you drew it for us.
We found her castle!!
Isn’t it beautiful!! It has several gargoyles at the top. We have sailed past it several times and I always tell Gramps that you would love that castle of Rapunzel’s!
We LOVE you, and Eliana, Zach, Noah and Ben!!!
Nana and Gramps
We’ve been very fortunate to happen upon a variety of annual events that take place just when we arrive on a particular island. We were at Man-o-War for the annual island wide flea market. And we were in Marsh Harbor for the annual Love Rush Junkanoo celebration.
According to local lore, junkanoo dates back to slave days when an African tribal chief named John Canoe demanded the right to celebrate with his people and one day was set aside during the Christmas season. There are several other versions of the origin of the word and the festivities, but regardless of the origin, it’s a spectacle to behold.
Love Rush Junkanoo is a 2 night affair. The first night is Junior Junkanoo for young kids, mostly elementary school age. They were fabulous! Then the second night is for the adults – bigger, louder and longer. And each night was a contest with judges all along the route. We’re not sure what the criteria were, but people told us that costumes take months to make and each troupe, usually representing a town or a small island, practices for weeks.
Imagine the most colorful, flamboyant costumes on a troupe of maybe 100 or more people, all dancing to music provided by a couple dozen kazoos, whistles and drums (think 55 gallon barrels with skins). It’s amazing how just those 3 “instruments” can produce such amazing music. As one Bahamian we were sitting with said: “when the junkanoo music comes, if you don’t start dancing, you’re not alive.” He was right. The rhythm, the volume and the atmosphere had everyone along the street up and dancing along with the music – junkanoo!!
But if not…
We loved Man-o-War Cay!
We almost didn’t go in because we read and were told that it’s all mooring balls and they are really, really, really close together. We decided to give it a try for one night then leave before any strong winds came up. We had to go in with at least half-tide, rising to have enough depth. Once inside the channel we slowly motored around in the small harbor by the the town. There were several empty mooring balls so we picked one and tied up. Then we put the dinghy in the water and drove around to look at some of the others and talked to several people on other boats then decided that even though it was pretty tight, it looked like there was enough room to swing so we would stay. It was close enough had to tie our dinghy to the side of Paperbird and not on the stern or it would have hit the boat behind us. YES, they were that close together. In the end we were so glad we decided to give it a try. We met so many really friendly people and the island itself is so beautiful. And we did stay for a big blow…..with 30 to 35 kts of wind. But everything was fine. The harbor is one of the most secure and is protected from winds from every direction .
Man-o-War is a dry island….so no liquor or tobacco are sold on the island. The population of the island is around 300. There are 3 churches and 2 grocery stores. At the church we attended we were told that on any given Sunday there are about 70 in attendance with a youth group of 15 to 20. We bought pizza from the youth group one night for their fund raiser.
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- Grace Community Church
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- Pizza fundraiser
Boat building on Man-o-War dates back to the 1880’s and is still in operation today. Willard Albury, the grandfather that we met, led the way to the change over to the fiberglass design.
A local industry on the island is the famous Albury Sail Shop. There are women sitting at sewing machines in there everyday making bags of every size, shape and color to sell in this shop and, apparently, around the world.
Phil, we thought of you when we saw these 2 foot long lures.
Waterfront house with a driveway and garage for his boat!!
We first met William and his wife in Marsh Harbour at a local restaurant. They are from Man-o-War and have been the caretakers for a large estate on Man-o-War for 49 years. The owners are from St Louis and come down several times a year. They told us to come by when we were on the island and they would show us around the property. It was gorgeous!!
An old submersible out in front of the local dive shop.
Communication on the island….we were told to read messages on the poles along the roads.
USS Adirondack was wrecked on a reef near Man-o-War in 1862, this cannon was recovered in 1949.
We also were fortunate to arrive a few days before the annual Man-o-War flee market that raises money for the local school. It is a huge event and ferry’s come from the other islands to bring people over for it. There are venders from local shops and lots of food for sale as well as fun for the kids like a moon bounce and hermit crab races.
Man-o-War is high on our favorites list. We’ll be back!
He quieted the sea with His power
Tradition holds that a conch horn should be sounded at sunset each day to herald the end of another beautiful day. There are a couple small details that make keeping that tradition a challenge.
First, you have to have a conch shell. And one made into a horn. It turns out that’s not as easy as it looks. Conch shell is incredibly tough. Tough enough to wear through more than a couple dremel cut-off blades to cut off the tip of the conch shell. Then once the tip is cut off, the inside of the hole needs to be cleaned out – there goes another cut-off blade. Once the tip is cut off and the hole is augured out – voila – a conch horn.
At least in the hands of someone who knows how to blow one, it’s a conch horn. In the hands of some of us, it’s mostly a funny sounding noise maker. It would have been helpful to have played the trumpet or trombone at some point in the past.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way – and a couple youtube videos, of course. Now we can make at least a passable attempt each evening at sunset to join the chorus in each anchorage.
Practice makes perfect.
Did you know that the US Coast Guard accepts a conch horn as a certified distress signaling device? That’s how loud a conch horn is! So the anchorages sound pretty amazing at sunset.
But if not…
We’ve learned that cruising is much more rewarding when we slow down and not try to rush from place to place. That is especially true when it comes to meeting some of the amazing people who live here. When you get to know them, they have great stories and are generous in sharing them and teaching us about the islands.
On Man-o-War, we’ve had the privilege to meet and spend some time with Willard Albury. Man-o-War is known as the Boat Building Capital of the Bahamas and Albury Brothers is the boat building family on the island. Willard is the grandfather who led the switch from wood to fiberglass. They’re amazing boats, sold here and in Florida. Check out AlburyBrothers.com for more info.
Anyway, he and a young man named Zach were working on rebuilding an old Hobie cat when we walked by and stopped to chat. We remarked that our first boat was a Hobie 16 and that led to a much longer conversation about how the boat was supposed to be rigged. We ended up spending a few hours over several days helping them raise the mast, figure out the rig and the various missing parts. After scrounging a new boom from “the weeds over in Marsh Harbour,” they got it together successfully and delivered it to the owner over on Elbow Cay on Sunday.
Yesterday we stopped by Willard’s shop to hear how the sail across went – it was not without some fun as the wind and chop picked up during the trip. After laughing together about the adventure, he asked us if we wanted some conch as he had just stopped out on the flats (“over by Johnie Cay”) to get some. Turns out he gets conch all the time, but never dives. He just idles along in his boat until he sees a likely spot and then uses a look-bucket (glass bottomed) to find the conch. Then he uses a long pole with hooks to reach in and pull them up.
So he pulled up a stringer full of conch from the pier and showed us how to get them out of the shell, how to clean them and the variety of ways locals prepare them.
So last night we had cracked conch for dinner! And, no, it doesn’t taste like chicken. It tastes like conch. It was great.
By the way, Willard’s boat is named “Our Boat,” which makes all the sense in the world when you realize it’s an Albury 23 and it literally is his family’s design.
But if not…
Watching an Abaco dinghy
He quieted the sea with His power
One day last week I went up into the cockpit to turn on the propane to make coffee. Instead, I grabbed the camera first and took this picture. When I showed it to Greg his response was “wow, that’s pretty.” I said no….it’s red and it’s in the morning.
If you haven’t heard the saying…Red sky at night, sailors delight, Red sky in the morning sailor take warning.
We all love to look at beautiful Sunrises and sunsets. But this is what we got that afternoon….Never mess with the old wisdom of the seas!
Big thunderstorms and lots of rain all afternoon.
That saying originates from sailing on the open ocean where cold fronts pass through about every 3 days. If the sky is red in the morning, that means there is no storm between you and the sunrise, to the east. It also means the law of averages says a front is fast approaching from the west. That’s also been our experience this winter in the Bahamas. A cold front has rolled off the coast of the US about every 2-3 days. Each one brings strong clocking winds up to 30 kts or more. And so we seek out a snug harbor to hide for a day or so as the front passes through. The sky goes from brilliant blue to dark gray. The wind goes from the East to the south to the west. The strongest winds usually hit with the wind from the northwest. Then finally it continues around to the north and then east and the skies clear again. Each storm is a gentle reminder of the power of God over His creation. His beauty is in both the calms and the storms.
He quieted the sea with His power
Treasure Cay is a cross between a residential area and a resort marina. There are a handful of stores, a couple restaurants and a very protected harbor with a small marina.
But the real claim to fame for Treasure Cay is the beach, ranked in the top beaches in the world. (Not sure who rates beaches, but when we find out, we’re applying for the job). It was spectacular. The sand was the finest we’ve ever seen. As one person said, it’s more like powdered sugar than sand.
And the color of the water, probably because of the fine white sand, was an incredible blue!
It was a great sail across the Sea of Abaco to a great destination.
He quieted the sea with His power
Hello Becca, Eliana, Zach, Noah and Bennett,
The little yellow building is the library in Hopetown with a really fun playground beside it. Unfortunately it’s been closed every time we’ve walked past so we haven’t been in to see the books but the playground looks like fun and we have seen kids playing on it.
This tree house is in the same fence as the playground. It is in the big tree you can see on the right side of the picture above. It is built in its branches and looks really fun.
This is a picnic area that we walked past when we were visiting Treasure Cay. It was all sized for kids. It’s hard to tell but everything in it is small even the bird bath was small. I could see you guys having a picnic here and having so much fun!!
We love you and miss you!!
Nana and Gramps
He quieted the sea with His power
Happy birthday sweet Zach….2 years old, wow, you are getting so big!!
We miss you and love you,
Nana and Gramps
He quieted the sea with His power
