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January - April, 2010
Hope Town, Abaco,
Bahamas
(Click on the
photos to enlarge)
Hopetown Harbor |
Rainbow |
Marsh Harbor Sunset |
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Steve & Nancy
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Burrowing Owl
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Hummingbird
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Steve and I have had a great winter in the Abacos. It’s true that
the cold fronts have come barreling in one after the other (most
with 25 to 30+ knot winds), but the calm days in between were great
for snorkeling and dinghy exploration. Even on the cooler and
blustery days (average 60 to 70 degree temps), the sun shone 95
percent of the time and we enjoyed daily walks around Hope Town and
the beaches. I collected coconuts and palm fronds to make silly
decorative birds. Muffin, from Antares, showed me the hot beach
spots to collect pretty sea glass. Steve and I enjoyed observing
all the colorful flowers and birds. Spotting the burrowing owl,
which is rather rare in the Abacos, was a real find!
Salty Turtle Dinghy
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HT Harbor Taken from Lighthouse |
Nancy with Dolphin
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For most of the winter, we kept the Salty Turtle on our mooring in
Hope Town, which worked out great as a home base. In the photo taken
from the lighthouse, that’s the Salty Turtle bottom center of the
picture. We both slept a lot better at night during the big blows,
when we didn’t have to worry about dragging anchor and violently
rocking. Even at a dock, storms can be uncomfortable if the wind is
coming from the wrong direction. On the calm days, we made trips in
the dinghy to Marsh Harbour for shopping at the
“big” Price Right grocery and lunch at “Jamie’s”. We also took lots
of trips to Man-O-War, for walks and lunch at “Dock and Dine”. On
the REALLY flat calm days, we took longer dinghy trips to Little
Harbour and Guana Cay.
Calm days were also great for fishing and diving for conch. Water
temperatures were in the low eighties in early December, but dropped
to the low sixties by January. A bit nippy without a wetsuit, but
we tolerated it if we limited our dives to an hour or so.
Cleaning Conch
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Pulling out the Critter
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The animal outside his shell
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Our social schedule definitely increased this year, and it has been
fun meeting so many new people. We joined the Hope Town Sailing
Club and participated in their activities. We served as committee
boat at one of the sailboat races which was fun. With membership,
we have access to use their Sunfish sailboats. Steve hadn’t sailed
a Sunfish in more than 30 years, but enjoyed giving it another try.
He had a ball! I begged off trying it this winter, pleading cold
water as my excuse!
Ben & Belinda
on Belinda B
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Will, Muffin & Lucy
on Antares
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Peter & Carolyn
on Summer Tilt
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Steve on Sunfish
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Steve on Sunfish
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Doug & Betsy on Surf Song
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We had a fun visit from our good friend Jean Anderson, who lives in
Ft. Lauderdale. Jean came in early
February and stayed at the Abaco Inn in a cottage overlooking the
ocean. We rented a golf cart to tour around Elbow Cay, walked a
couple times at Tahiti Beach and checked out all the
local shops. We really enjoyed our time with Jean.
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Photo Coming Soon! |
Abaco Inn
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Photo Coming Soon! |
Steve’s 60th birthday on February 24 was another big
event. We had fourteen friends on board the Salty Turtle to
celebrate. It was a terrific evening!
Nemo and Gypsy are both doing great. We were so fortunate to find
such easy-going, adaptable kitties. They just turned one year old
in March. Nemo’s favorite hobbies are popping soap bubbles, chasing
a string and eating. Eating is actually his FIRST priority. Gypsy
could be a champion soccer player, at least with a ping pong ball.
They have attempted a couple unsuccessful escapes when we have been
tied up to the dock in Marsh Harbour. Luckily, they
surrender even to total strangers, so neighboring boaters have
returned them to our boat on a couple occasions. After being
“busted”, the kitties generally pout for a while, but then resign
themselves to stay on board.
Captain Gypsy
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What's for Dinner?
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Who us?
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Nemo's new friend |
Caught again! |
Dog show aficionado. |
Nemo is curious about EVERYTHING. One photo shows Nemo supervising
while Steve was replacing a water pump in the bilge. Nemo tried to
touch the dog on the TV when we were watching the Westminster Dog
Show (rather distracting for the other TV viewers in the room).
One day he jumped from the big boat into the dinghy, tied behind
the Salty Turtle. He wasn’t quite sure what to do once he was in
there….
Now what?
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Supervising Steve
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Time for a bath!
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More than once Nemo’s curiosity has gotten him in trouble. Nemo’s
most recent blunder was when we accidentally locked him in the
engine room for 5 hours. Nemo snuck in there when Steve didn’t see
him, and then closed the door. We frantically searched the boat at
9:30 PM when we couldn’t find him. We were convinced that Nemo had
gone overboard, since Gypsy was pacing the foredeck outside.
Finally we heard a faint meow, once we shut off the generator
noise. Nemo was fine and we were relieved. Maybe he learned a
lesson? We’ll see…
Our current plan is to stay in the Abacos until late April, go back
to the U.S. for a few weeks and then return for the summer. We
spent summers here back in the 1980’s and the warm, clear water is
great for fishing and snorkeling! We are looking forward to it!
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