On to Allan's-Pensacola Cay. Day 12. April 3. Mile 35.2. Total mile

 Day 12

We left our anchorage at sunrise to head out of Great Sale Cay Harbor.

Turning west and then north, we will cruise around Great Sale Cay toward Abaco's barrier islands, eventually reaching the eastern edge of the Little Bahama Bank today.

As we turn Northeast, we get some spray.  Crustacean is quite salty now!   Winds are out of the east 10-15 knots with waves at one foot.

We cruise past Little Sale Cay we see a steady stream of sailboats going both east and west.  I counted 15 total.  Nice wind for sailing.

Halfway through our trip, you begin to see the outer barrier islands on the horizon to the north.  Five miles later you can see Little Abaco Island to our south.  Here is a chart of the area we traveled from Great Sale to Allan's-Pensacola Cay today.

The further we travel east, the Little Bahama Bank narrows,  The winds pick up and seas run 1-2 feet.

Crustacean got even saltier!

As we approached Allan's-Pensacola the wind and seas diminished.  We will anchor here for two days to wait for the winds to die down.  Here are some shots of the anchorage.

 

Allan's-Pensacola used to be two cays, which were joined together by a recent hurricane.  This cay also was a missile tracking site that has been abandoned for years.  The ruins are still on the island, along with a signing tree which boaters decorate to prove they have been here.

I will add on our Day 13 adventures tomorrow as we will be here one more day.

Day 13. 

Woke to a breezy sunny day with 11 boats in the harbor with us.  Three are trawlers, the others are sailboat and catamarans.  

We will explore the island once we get a few chores completed, but for now I will regale you with a bit of Bahamian history.

The first known inhabitants of record in the Bahamas were the Arawak/Lucayans.  They came by canoe from South America, fleeing from the Carib Indians.  The Lucayans also traveled to Hispaniola, Cuba and Jamaica. Archeologist have found  a dugout canoe dating back to this time,  It was 96 feet long with an 8 foot beam which could accommodate 150 rowers.  That's quite a canoe!!

The Lucayans lived of the bounty of the sea and limited farming. Several words we use today have origins in Lucayan language -avocado, barbecue, canoe, cassava, hurricane, iguana, tobacco, manatee.

In 1492, Columbus landed in San Salvador, Bahamas.  He took some of the Lucayans back with him to Spain.  For the next 90 years, the Spanish made near 500 trips to the Bahama Islands stopping for fresh water and capturing the natives to work the mines and plantations on their more lucrative sites in South America and Cuba.  By 1595 the Spanish had determined that the Bahamas had little agricultural or mining opportunities and they lost all interest in the Bahamas.  Thus end this period of history. 

Little is known of the Bahamian history between 1580- early 1600's,  Recorded history continues in 1647, when a group of Bermudan and English religious refugees ship wrecked off Eleuthera.  The settlers eventually moved to cays in the Abacos, and in 1666 colonized New Providence with its natural harbor of Nassau.

Now back to our island exploration.  We lowered the dinghy and went ashore.  Easily found the path to the signing tree.

The trail winds through the mangrove and sea grape trees.  You had to really watch your step for all the roots and low branches.

The trail is marked by all the "treasures that previous boaters have left.

The trail ends on the Atlantic side of the island with its limestone and sandy beach.

and the famous signing tree  which is filled with signs and messages from all the boaters who have visited Allan's-Pensacola.

Someone left a hammock made of lines and fishing net, so Bill gave it a try!

Wandering the beach Bill found a large piece of bamboo which we used to add our sign to the tree.

We met Carol and Gary who added their sign to the tree.

Decorating over, we retraced our steps through the trail and back to the dinghy.

and dinghied back to the boat.