Little Harbour lighthouse ruins
On Monday, February 25th, we awoke to ideal conditions to sail
over to the Abacos islands crossing the Northeast Providence Channel…a distance
of 50 miles of bluewater sailing. There
were several sailboats that crossed with us. We had a light southeasterly
breeze and two-foot swell under a beautiful sunny sky. By 16:00 we had entered the Little Harbour
cut and anchored in the lee of Lynyard Cay.
The next morning we had one more day forecast of southerly breezes
before the winds were supposed to swing into the north for the foreseeable
future. We took advantage of the wind
direction and sailed up to Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island. There we anchored among 50-60 other
boats. It is a town where you can do
laundry and re-provision in a supermarket that is equivalent to any found in
Canada. What a treat to have a whole
aisle of produce and vegetables instead of a few small bins of onions and yams
and plantain, and possibly a few bananas and tomatoes. The variety was much appreciated….
After the chores, we left on Thursday, February 28th and sailed back
south to Sandy Cay where a Land & Sea Park provides a beautiful coral reef
to snorkel. There was a large swell that
made launching the dinghy a challenge, but the snorkeling was superb. Immediately we spotted a hawksbill turtle
that nonchalantly swam by, and several huge spotted rays that with huge
tails! There were lots of varieties of
coral including elkhorn coral as well as a huge variety of reef fish. After lunch we sailed back to Lynyard Cay for
a walk on the beach. On Friday, March 1st
we ventured into Little Harbour at high tide and picked up a mooring ball. We went ashore and visited the Johnston
Gallery. We visited this gallery twenty-eight
years ago when we did this trip. Back
then, Walter had discovered a ring buried in the sand on a deserted island beach.
Many of you have heard this tale and seen the ring….amethyst stones
around a huge pearl with small diamonds.
It looked like costume jewelry to us, but we took it into Johnston’s
Gallery back then and Pete Johnston told us it was actually real gold and quite
a valuable ring. Walt had found buried
treasure!!! Pete is still running the
gallery. His father, Randolph Johnston, has since passed away. Randolph was originally from Toronto. He and his wife Margot with their four
children sailed on their schooner here back in the 1950s. They originally lived in a cave while they
built their small house in Little Harbour and established a foundry. Randolph made bronze sculptures. His son, Pete, has continued that tradition
as well as establishing Pete’s Pub…a popular hangout for cruisers at Happy Hour! We explored the community including the
abandoned old lighthouse. We did do one
small snorkel just outside of the harbor where there were lots of fan corals,
but not much else. We left Saturday,
March 2nd to go back to Marsh Harbour in anticipation of a week of strong
northwest winds…Unfortunately, the other safe havens, Hopetown and Man-of-war
cays were full with boats on moorings and no anchoring is allowed. We stayed aboard for the rest of the day on
Saturday and also Sunday since the winds and waves were too strong to attempt
to go ashore. On Monday, March 4th
we got ashore to explore Marsh Harbour, pick up some new books to read from the
“buck a book” , and arrange an internet connection. And now we are caught up with our wanderings!
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