Monday, December 23

The week of Christmas is supposed to be a time to slow down and enjoy family, friends, and reflect on our blessings.  Seeing the damage caused by Dorian certainly makes it easy to count our blessings.  This week was also dominated by windy, squally weather that made life on the boat interesting.

We finished our work at Che’s house although we were unable to complete the plumbing to get water to the cistern.  The only hardware store on the island, which had the couplings we needed to join the pipes together is closed until January 3.  Such are logistics in the Bahamas.

Tuesday was dominated by rain and wind.  A squall came through around 6am, right at dawn,  with torrential rain and several gusts of wind that had to be 70 knots or more.  Makani healed over to where I thought, for only the second time in our sailing, that she might capsize.  The pots and pans in the cabinets flew out, clanging on the floor.  Two of the boats in the harbor had their dinghies flip over, another dinghy tied to a mooring ball flipped, and one boat snapped their bridle that attached them to their mooring and had to motor out of the harbor to anchor away from the other boats.  Several other boats had various pieces of gear blown off; a kayak, oars, cushions and life jackets.  All the boaters scrambled to get into their dinghies to help retrieve gear and right the upended dinghies.  Fortunately this all happened when the morning allowed us to see.  All of the excitement was over in 2 hours.

Prepping Windows

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed a wonderful get-together with 5 other couples on Second Sojourn for cocktails and snacks.  Christmas morning, Gary and we went out lobster hunting even though the weather was still windy and squally.  Another couple was going with us as well but as soon as we got out of the harbor and they saw the conditions they turned back.  We got 4 lobster to use for Christmas dinner but only stayed out a short time due to the weather and currents.  Christmas dinner was surf and turf.

Thursday we did our last task in Hopetown, at least for a while.  Eight of the windows in the lighthouse were broken so Gary and I went and installed new glass.  Gary was a glazier for a few years after college.  My job was to prep the windows which proved harder than it should have been.  The new glazing compound was old and would not stick.  We had to clean all of the old glazing/paint off of the frames to allow the new glazing to have a chance at sticking.  Even then, Gary, always the perfectionist, was not happy with the finished product.  After 5 hours we had the job done.  At least the windows were whole again.  The lighthouse is a treasured symbol in Hopetown.  It is purported to be the last Kerosene burning lighthouse in the world and is hand-lit each evening.  Clinbing to the top of the lighthouse is one of the must-do activities for anyone visiting Hometown.  Since Dorian however, the lighthouse has been closed to visitors so our getting to work in the lighthouse, and see the views, was a treat.

Normally, Hopetown Harbor is filled with boats this time of year.  Many boats take a mooring ball and spend the entire winter season in the harbor enjoying the numerous social activities.  As you can see from the picture of the harbor, it is not 1/4 full.  Repairs to the infrastructure on the Cay are progressing faster than we would have thought, despite the logistical challenges of getting materials.  We have been amazed at the industriousness of the people and the strides they have made to put Elbow Cay back together.

Hopetown Harbor from the Lighthouse.
Makani is in the center of the photo

The weather will start calming down around New Year and give us an opportunity to leave the Abacos and travel south about 55 miles to Eluthera.  We wanted to spend a couple of days visiting our favorite spots at some of the Cays south of Hopetown and Marsh Harbor.  We hope that the next couple of days will allow us to get back into our normal routine of snorkeling 3-4 hours each day; something that we missed while being in Hopetown Harbor.  Our next stop will be Armstrong Cay, one of our favorite stops, before we have to stage for the crossing to Eluthera.