TUGUDTUBTRU

Part I Hopetown

We had our good friends Joanie and Dieter join us for a bit of island living and easy adventure. Our plans were to depart Boat Harbor the day they arrived and travel to Hopetown. We need a high tide to enter the Hopetown harbour which was a bit after 6pm, truthfully 30 min before or after high tide are fine too. Anything less just wont cut it. There are two channels into the entrance and we can only use the deep draft channel which cuts away from the entrance towards the south making a sharp turn to the north about fifty feet from shore giving us about an extra foot of water.
Joanie and Dieter arrived in the early afternoon with just enough time to get things stored before pulling off from the dock. It was a bit iffy because  the winds were forecasted to be 20-25kts from the NNE. If so we might need to delay until things settled down. Fortunately, the actual winds while still breezy, were in the mid teens and doable and would settle further still. With that in mind we made the decision to keep to our itinerary.  

Officially we named this cruise 
TUGUDTUBTRU.....From a sign we found in Hopetown
...meaning Too Good To Be True !!
well said!

FAWLINDC ....
was a naming option too but somehow Fall in da sea did not quite cover a subject on a boat we liked!
Folks in Hopetown definitely have a sharp sense of humor.

The only marina were we can stay is on the west side of the harbor and is Hopetown Inn and Marina which is being redone as part of a resort. To get to town we need to drop the dinghy and go to the other side through the mooring fields. So first thing the next morning we got busy and also decide to get the kayaks out.

We have two Airis kayaks which are inflatable for easy storage and quick and simple deployment.They are incredibly strong and stable in the water.

Dieter is all decked out and ready to go for a nice kayak tour of the harbor.

After a bit of early morning fun activities we "dinked" across the harbor to the Hopetown dingy dock.

The local sailing club provides a free dinghy dock open to the public and is the main place folks tie up too. You must use a stern anchor and bow in, which allows a larger number of folks to dock.

We set out for a beautiful morning of exploring this very charming Cay.

Not too strenuous but so many nice places to stop and enjoy the moment.

Such colorful scenery and beautiful plantings which kept us quite entertained.

 On the ocean side of Elbow Cay is a beautiful setting with clear waters and outer reefs, no pun intended.

If there is an image of what the Bahamas looks like this is one of the ones that come to mind.

These Cays do not have a lot of natural resources, no fresh water or indigenous food sources. Water is supplied using cisterns and more  recently water makers both large scale and small residential units like we have aboard Seabright.
This was an interesting monument recounting the history of the early English who transplanted edible plants to the Cays. Made more noteworthy by this particular Captain and crew aboard HMS Bounty and Captain Bligh and the infamous mutiny! 

When we first arrived in Hopetown we made dinner reservations at a relatively new and very good restaurant called Firefly
It is approximately 2.5 miles south of Hopetown at the bend in Elbow Cay. They would pick us up in what we assumed would be a golf cart, which is one of the main methods of getting around. We were surprised and later charmed by Donnis our wonderful driver and our method of transportation (Joanie rode shotgun)... .certainly open air for the rest of us! He avoided every bump in the road along the way.....
Our return was in the golf cart with only stars to light the way back to the Harbor.

We departed the next morning,
again at high tide and made our way out of the tranquil Hopetown Harbor on our way to Man-O-War Cay.