Abacos, Bahamas
26.54.271N
77.29.084W
10.1 NM
5.9 Kt Avg.
6.8 Kt Max
1.42 Hrs.
Current Odom:
7963.0
After listening to the cruisers net this morning and one last check of the e-mail, we disconnected, hoisted the anchor and moved north to Powell Cay. We tucked as close as we could to shore in the open bay, dropped the hook in an tiny circle of sand and backed down. We noted that Belezia (remember Bakers Bay?) was also in the anchorage.
Dale dove the anchor to make sure that it was indeed set, then returned to lower the dink. We took a quick trip around the bay checking out the various wrecks before heading back to the Palace due to some nasty weather that appeared to be heading toward us.
Luckily it passed us without a single drop so we grabbed our snorkel gear and our paper trash and headed to the opposite side of the island. While I beach combed for sea shells, Dale burned our paper thus cutting our garbage in half. I found a few bits of sponge for Kenny and a few shells here and there. A pair of terns spied me walking and started making quite a fuss. First they peeped and squeaked incredibly, then they acted as if they were injured. Clearly they were trying to create a division to focus my attention toward them, so I looked around to see what they didn’t want me to see. Two tiny little chicks were scurrying through the leaves near the beach, so I must of encroached too close to their nest. Too bad for them I had my camera. A couple of steps toward one of the baby chicks and suddenly the little tyke stopped dead in its tracks and didn’t move in the slightest. I zoomed in on him, got my picture and continued on down the beach. I’m sure, much to the delight of the parents.Dale and I were heading back to the dink, when we stopped in our tracks looking north. It was absolutely black toward Allens-Pensacola, the cay where we would have been had we stuck to our schedule. We learned later via the radio chatter that the anchorage where Toucan Dream had been (and we would have been) had been hit by a couple of water spouts. A couple of boats were spun around; one lost its bimini as a result but thankfully, no injuries were reported.
We headed back the way we had come and stopped along the beach to follow a couple of trails. One led over the island to the beach on the ocean side and the other led to the cliffs overlooking the anchorage. Both trails were marked with flotsam and jetsam and anything else that people could grab to mark the trail. We never did find the memorial that Bob & Karen had told us about.
On one of the trails, we met a guy who was quite the chatterbox. He told us that he has been living aboard for 30 years. We chatted about the various places that we’ve been and he told us of the changes over the years. He’s very disappointed that there are hardly any nice places left where you can anchor in Florida. I didn’t even want to mention the state of insurance for fear that we’d never get back to the boat. A nice guy but a bit of a displaced hippy sort. He probably saw Dale’s ponytail as symbolic of a lost era. Eventually, we excused ourselves and made our way back to the Palace.
Tomorrow, we think that we’ll try to locate the memorial at the other end of the island before moving north to Allens-Pensacola. We figure that it’s safe now. Surely, it won’t be hit twice in the same week.
Photo 1: Wreck on the beach
Photo 2: Look real close and you'll see the baby bird
