Tahiti Beach
Elbow Cay
Bahamas
26.30.420N
76.59.036W

Another gray day but at least the rain was limited to the occasional sprinkle. We tidied up the Palace a bit as we were hosting the evening social hour before making our way across the channel to an island called Lubbers Quarters and Cracker P’s for lunch. Cracker P’s is another in a long line of great little seaside bar and grills but the history behind the name is rather colorful.

Apparently the proprietors of Cracker P’s were looking for a name for their establishment when they came across the story of a old man who used to live on the island but originally hailed from Georgia. Back home in Georgia, he had a duck that terrorized the neighbors. Apparently, the local sheriff confronted the man about the terrorist duck; a disagreement ensued and the man shot and killed the sheriff. On the lam, he made his way to the Abacos where he quietly lived the remainder of his life hiding out and growing vegetables and sapodilla trees. As the man was of limited means, the islanders were introduced to their first nudist in the islands. However once they got used to the guy, they often traded meat and fish (and I’m sure the occasional pair of trousers) for his fresh vegetables. There was no mention of what became of the duck.

On the way back to the Palace, we dropped by Annabelle II and gobbled up the fresh crumb cake that Karen had baked then surveyed the improvements that they added to their Hunter. I liked a couple of their ideas in the galley and added them to my list of “Nice Things to Have” on the Palace when we get back home (thanks Karen!). We reciprocated the ‘show and tell’ later in the day when they came over for sundowners. Bob & Caron from Toucan Dream were also invited for the social hour and the guys, all of them handy with hammer and saw, compared ideas of problems they had encountered and what they had done with regard to improvements on our respective boats. We figure that by the time we’re all ready to give up sailing, we’ll have the perfect cruising boats.

Tomorrow we’ll make our way to Marsh Harbor but this time, we’ll wait for high tide before we leave.

Tahiti Beach
Elbow Cay
Bahamas
26.30.420N
76.59.036W

18.9 NM
3.28 Hrs.
5.4 Kt Avg.
6.6 Kt Max

Current Odom: 7914.1


When the tide changed direction, our anchor spot proved to be a bit more rolly than we first thought but we stuck it out and managed to sleep through the majority of the slaps and motion.

Once again, the day dawned gray and overcast but we were on a mission to visit Pete’s Pub and Art Gallery when it opened, so that we could still catch the high tide for our transit north to Tahiti Beach. We lowered the dink and worked our way into the horseshoe shaped harbor tucked behind patch reefs. When we rounded the entrance, we were surprised to find some good sized boats in the little marina. Obviously, they must have used a high tide to transit across the shallow areas we observed coming in.

There were two high docks that extended out into the harbor. One had a sign indicating Pete’s Pub and Art Gallery, so we tied the dink up to that one. Climbed the ladder and started down the dock. At the end, we found several life sized bronze statues of dolphins, turtles, sting rays and figurines. We followed the dirt road a bit to the gallery but found that it was still closed. Pete’s Pub was actually next door to this and it too wasn’t quite open.

Dale and I walked the boardwalk past huge bronze turtles & rays placed like garden art in the seaside vegetation on our way to the beach that faced the Northeast Providence Channel. I snapped a couple of photos and then caught up to Dale on his way back to the Pub.

Dale had spied a line of Adirondack chairs placed between the bar and several picnic tables scattered in ever expanding locations. They were along one side of the bar under the thatched roof covering the open establishment. Several other couples were making their way in and waiting patiently for the waitress to start taking orders. One couple told us that they had been here yesterday and watched as the lone waitress served 122 lunches.

The food was good (Dale had grouper; I had a blue cheese burger) but we were actually here to see the gallery. The bar was filling up quickly, so as soon as I was done, I left Dale to pay the bill to get a head start at the gallery and walk around a bit more leisurely. Dale soon joined me and we methodically circled the gallery to view everything on display. We really like the bronze statutes. Dale like the rays, I liked the turtles.

We headed back to the Palace and lifted our anchor to make our way to Tahati Beach on the south end of Elbow Cay. Dale suggested taking the longer, deeper route to make sure I didn’t have a nervous conniption on the way there. I have to admit, most of the trip north, I stayed in my seat, hopping up only when the depth sounder indicated 7’ of water (we draw 5.5’). But on the very last leg, Dale ended up hand steering very slowly; the theory being that if we touch earth going slow enough, we can back out without any damage being done. The depth sounder indicated 6’ and slightly less for an extended amount of time. I can’t remember ever being so happy to see a 7’ depth before. I’m obviously going to have to get used to being in the Bahamas again.

We made our approach to the Tahiti Beach anchorage and spotted Toucan Dream and Annabelle II right away. We selected a spot right between the two to anchor. We waved Bob & Karen on Annabelle II over as soon as we were anchored. They had been watching us through binoculars and were wondering whether we would make it or not. We spent the rest of the evening catching up and speculating about whether or not we’ll be able to buy a home in Florida at this time. Apparently the availability of (or rather the lack of) insurance is a determining factor these days. Bob & Caron dropped by as they returned to Toucan Dream from a day out fishing. They had caught 3 tuna and were handing out portions of it to those they knew. They gave us a couple fillets and Bob & Karen a couple.

Before heading below for the evening, we dropped the screens and buttoned up the Palace against invading mosquitoes. With all of this rain and humidity, the little blood suckers are thriving.