 Each
day, Bob and Ann would go to Settlement Point (west end of West
End) to check out the weather. Waves were building every day.
Nobody was leaving West End nor were we receiving visitors. We
saw one sailboat leave only to return 30 minutes later. The wind
was blowing so hard that we couldn't use the bicycles. Had to
walk everywhere. The temperature dropped into the mid 50 degrees
at night. Hey, this is supposed to be the sub tropics.
 Next
day, the waters off Settlement Point hadn't improved. We were
promised at least two more days of this stuff, followed by a
brief respite, followed by another nasty blow. We decided that
the Abacos was not to be for us this season. If we continued to
the Abacos, we would be stuck on the western edge of the Little
Bahamas Bank without protection from another four day blow. The
crew was disappointed, but it was almost time to head back
anyway.
 We
made this decision at the Old Bahama Bay Conch Shack, the only
restaurant/watering hole on the resort (a week after we left,
they opened the restaurant and razed the Conch Shack). Ann had a
Bahama Mama at the Shack and begged the bartender on the recipe
(and she got it). More about Bahama Mamas later. Toby and Bob
took the diesel jerry cans to the fuel dock to top the tanks
before we left (still at least two days away)
 Meet
Tony! He was our Harbormaster during our stay. He helped us into
our slip, helped with fueling, introduced us to Hammer (read
later about the Hammer), and was generally a good guy. Actually,
the entire staff went out of their way to make our stay
enjoyable. We hope the friendliness continues and the cost goes
back to $.70. Probably never happen. If you go down that way, ask
Tony about his lasso-ing. Pretty impressive.
 Meet
Hammer, our 'cab' driver. For $15/day, Hammer would take us
pretty much anywhere we wanted to go. His cab, actually a minivan
was a familiar site at the marina. Many cruisers shared Hammer's
cab, either for sight-seeing or boat part acquisition. Freeport
was less than a half hour drive so Hammer drove the cruisers
there often. Our trip to Freeport included a trip to the
International Market where we bought the requisite tee shirts and
Bahamian trinkets. Bob was dying for a pizza so he made us walk
to the Pizza Hut.
|
