Pure joy is sharing our experience with one of the boys! Zach flew into Marsh Harbor, Abaco and we spent 10 days island hopping!
We explored 4 different locations in the Abacos traveling just short jumps totaling around 30 Nautical Miles.
We started in Marsh Harbor where we docked at the Conch Inn and Marina and spent the day by the pool and had dinner at Snappers. Day two we ventured further by renting a car and visiting Treasure Cay Beach. The area is truly one of the most beautiful beaches! Returning the car, a pot hole finally got us and a tire blow out was quick fix thanks to the rental having a spare.
Our second stop was a night at Man of War Cay, which is a tiny island nestled between Great Abaco Island and the Atlantic. Yikes, the entrance to the harbor was not only shallow, but not very wide. However, our captain drove us through with no issues. Pulling into our slip, we saw the vessel “Saving Grace” Max and Sheila were our dock mates that we spend 5 months with during the winter of ’22. We have not chatted with them in over a year and were thrilled when they emerged. We enjoyed catching up.
We did not visit this little slice of Bahamian paradise last year because the marina had not yet rebuilt after Hurricane Dorian. Man of War Marian Village was open for business this year so we were excited to check out this small, peaceful island renowned for its traditional boat building and Loyalist history. We enjoyed walking around this well-kept village, clean streets, and the noticed the absence of alcohol sales (it’s a “dry” island). Our walk down the narrow sand path called “Queens Highway” brought us to where the Atlantic meets the Abaco Sea aka Low Country or The Narrows. Appropriately named since a narrow strip of land separates the two brilliant, vibrant blue bodies of water. Once again, transportation is via golf carts or walking. The narrow street had only cart parking between the grocery store and coffee shop/museum.
We then hopped over to Hope Town, where we got a mooring ball thanks to Silver Lining! Taking advantage of the beautiful day, dignyed to town to walk around and ventured up the hill to On the Beach. After a few cocktails, I told Zach we could hitch a ride on a golf cart on the way back. Yup, he was surprised that within a minute a kind stranger had picked us and drove us to our dingy! We ended the day with lovely dinner at view at Hope Inn and Resort. The next day, We rented a golf cart and explore the whole island including lunch at Fire Fly, walking the docks at Sea Scrap and Abaco Inn and finished the day with a lovely dinner and view at Hope Inn Resort.
Leaving Hope Town, we cruised just a few miles and dropped the hook outside of Tahiti Beach. Located on the southern tip of Elbow Cay, this picturesque beach with soft white sand is lined with coconut trees However, the beautiful of this location is created a low tide when sand arcs out into calm clear water. We enjoyed the day hanging on our own little patch of sand surrounded by water with Into the Mystic and their family. For dinner, we ventured across the Sea of Abaco in the dingy and had pizza at Lubber’s Quarters. We enjoyed not only watching the pizza being cooked in a unique outdoor wood fire pizza over but the story of it survived Hurricane Dorian along with the antics of the chef.
Great Guana Cay was next on the agenda, where some wind from the wrong direction forced us into a marina. Docking at Orchid Bay Marina did make visiting Nippers and Grabbers easy.
Our final cruise was back to Marsh Harbor where we spent one night before Zach flew back to MA.
