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Day 24-25 April 15-16 On to Hopetown and Lay day in Hopetown. Miles 12.6. Total 460.6

Day 24

We had a change of plans.  Our friends who we met cruising the Loop, Trisha and Mike, are traveling north through the Bahamas and are close, so we will join then in Hope Town.  

We will then back track a bit to visit Man-o-War Cay and Marsh Harbor after visiting with them.

It is a bright sunny day with light winds as we weigh anchor to leave Great Guana.

There is lots of freight and commercial traffic today- tugs and barges, large freighters and flat bed delivery boats.  It takes all these to handle the shipping needs and construction on the islands.




We trip today took along the north east side of Great Guana and then past Scotland Cay, which is all privately owned.  Next we passed Fowl Cay which is a nature preserve known for its diving.  Following Fowl Cay is Man-o-War Channel with its deep water access to the Atlantic and Man-o-War Cay, known for its ship building and maintenance.

Sorry, pictures of the passes and islands did not turn out too well.  Too far away!

Can now see the iconic red and white striped lighthouse on Elbow Cay.  Will stay at the Elbow Cay Inn and Marina at least one night to allow us to recharge all the batteries and resupply with water.


On the way in, we had our friends, Trish and Mike on MV Darlin Lea, pull into the harbor just ahead of us and take a mooring ball.

Now we will settle in and get ready to explore this quaint town.  But first Mike and Trish came over  in their dinghy and we shared stories of our cruises.  

They added to our Exuma knowledge and we helped them get the low down on the Abaco islands we visited.  Was good to see them again.

Here are some shots of the marina and restaurant where we are staying.



We all four of us loaded into our dinghy to go ashore and walk through town.  The homes are colorful and many have lush gardens. We also stopped in a few stores to help the local economy.








We walked to the museum which unfortunately has not been able to reopen since the hurricane.  But Bill found some interesting things outside the museum.






We also found our way to the beach on the Atlantic which had lots of limestone rock along the water line.




Getting hungry we walked back to Captain Jack's Restaurant on the waterfront and had dinner with another Looper we met last year who is also in Hopetown.- Bobbi and Mike Hopkins.  Small world!!


Day 25

Another beautiful sunny day greets us for our Lay Day in Hope Town.  Bill took the drone up and here are some of his shots.





Here is shot of the lighthouse with the marina in the foreground and a few shots of us at the marina, but it is from the ground


This is Crustacean at the dock.

Bill decided to take his turn at the marina bar!


We will transfer to a mooring ball for tonight, but it took the assistance of our friends Mike  and Trish who guarded it for us!


Moorings are a precious commodity in Hope Town!!!

Once we settled at the mooring ball, we dinghied over to the lower town dock and reconnected with our friends that had dinner with us last night.  From there we could take the ferry over to tour the lighthouse.  Will warn you lots of pictures today!

The lighthouse was built in 1863 by the British Imperial Lighthouse Service, and it still uses a small kerosene-fueled light and a rotating fresnel lens to send it's beam of light out some 20 miles.  This is the last kerosene lit lighthouse the British built that is still operating today.



That last flight of stairs was pretty steep!


Now here are the shots from the top of the lighthouse.








Retracing our steps back down the circular stairs to the ground we made a quick stop at the gift shop. Bill added a T-short to his collection! Then on to the ferry to take us back to town.



Returning to our boats, we all - Trish and Mike and Bobbi and Mike and Bill and I, had a quick lunch and changed into suitable beach clothes.  In two dinghies, we took off for a slightly wet ride to the south end of the island, Tahiti Beach.  The beach has a very large sand bar exposed at low tide and a  floating restaurant anchors just off the beach which serves drinks and lunch.



Was a beautiful setting and we got good exercise wading out in the water.  We even found a swing set which we tried!  Below are pictures of Mike and Trish taking their turn.  I promise to add pics of us, but Trish has them on her phone.






Brought the dinghy back to Hope Town and cleaned up for a walk to the Abaco Inn about a mile south of town on the Atlantic Ocean.  We joined Trish and Mike on this expedition, walking on the Queen's Highway that runs north to south on Elbow Cay.




We enjoyed dinner at On Da Beach Bar and Grill right on the ocean.










Returning to town, Trish and Mike stopped at our boat to give us their last minute pointers on the Eleuthera and Exumas.
Was a full day to say the least!!!

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