March Pictures
Great Inagua is famous for wild donkeys, flamingos, and tiny lizards.
There sure where a lot of lizards.
We saw plenty of donkey poop but no donkeys. Each night we would see the
flamingos at the shore wading but too far away for a picture
Every day of our week's stay we would go for a walk ashore. Amy loves these flattering shots.
Very dry. Quite a change from the Dominican Republic.
Cactus and the sea
This deserted house was the only sign of development in the bay
I was constantly amazed by the size and calmness of this bay directly facing the open water
The protective reef is to Amy's left. The Lantern Head Rock is right over her left shoulder and the sheltered bay is behind the trees to her right.
I think I'm beginning to look a little rough around the edges.
Our nightly view of Lantern Head during cocktail hour
A morning view of Lantern Head from ashore
The bay was a very fertile place for small fish and other creatures. Here's a small ray in the shallows behind some mangroves.
Here are some baby bonefish, tough to see. Apparently the bonefishing is quite good here.
The one day of rain produced a couple of scary rain spouts but not much rain for our water tanks.
The Coast Guard came by one day to check out who we were. Nice to have company.
On our way down the coast to Matthew Town. Again, a wonderful downwind run.
Matthew Town has one of the three remaining kerosene light houses in the world!
We had not seen Kevin from Windigo since Rum Cay. An avid cyclist, he and Karen use "Pedigo" as their dinghy!!
Matthew Town's government jetty.
A couple times a week sailboats from Haiti come to check in to the
Bahamas on their way to
Nassau to deliver charcoal. No engines. Just manpower to do the docking.
Inside the jetty was the boat that boarded us for an inspection at Lantern Head.
The basin is exposed to the open sea. The guide book warns with good cause that the basin is no place to be in a storm.
Here's the Haitian crew waiting for Immigration to arrive.
In addition to wild donkeys, lizards, and flamingoes, the island is also full of stray dogs. Some are friendly. Most are very wary.
Here's the big guy lumbering down the street with his laundry.
And Miss Amy inspecting the remains of an attempt to raise cotton in the 1800's.
Morton Salt in the 60's offered these apartments for $5 per month. No one appeared to be using them currently.
Local Flora
Our very friendly spot for internet and browsing.
Amy and A'Zavier Cox the lovely daughter of the Librarian, Veda Mae Palacious.
We had lunch at Angie's Place and this little girl missed her mother and was a little scared of me as well.
Angie tried with some success to cheer her up.
Grounded drug boat in downtown Matthew Town
The next day's mailboat/supply boat arrival. Big happenings.
Another Haitian charcoal boat as well.
Karen and Kevin leaving in Windigo for Lantern Head.
Our last stop on Great Inagua, Man-Of-War Bay. A deserted church.
Little Inagua anchorage after wet ride ride from Great Inagua
Amazing spot. Dark blue off soundings. Light blue 20 feet.
Wet ride and clogged anchor drain meant drying out V- berth mattress, sheets, and deck panels.
Another beach to explore.
This one is a very big one!
Cactus in the making
The only development on Little Inagua, the Doll House. Bonfires, dolls, and assorted strange debris.
All alone as usual.
Amy in search of shells instead of beans.
Much of the rock shore had fossil images
The next day we where off to the other side of the island exposed to the prevailing winds
All along the interior of the island, everything was desert like, very Bahamian
Yucca or Sisal Amy wonders
Despite the aridness there still was a beauty of color contrasts.
The prevailing southeast tradewinds on the other side of the island
This shot almost reminded me of the Elizabeth Islands off Woods Hole in
Massachusetts.
Amy is the red speck at center right.
Looking back over to the sheltered side of the island. No roads, paths, or any signs of present or past inhabitants
Most of this side of the island was surrounded by a barrier reef like our anchorage at Lantern Head . Unfortunately, there was no entrance through this reef to the calmer waters.
Probably an old wooden fishing boat
I couldn't make out the name on the bow
Like Rum Cay and many other islands, pseudo salt ponds can be found in the interiors.
This was as far as we got. The next day we walk along this crescent.
Local flora and bee
Another example of the beautiful colors and textures of the vegetation despite the aridness
Each day, this fishing boat from Andros would troll along the island's shores. He was our only neighbor for the 5 days we were at Little Inagua
Whenever we come back from a long walk I am always relieved to see Shango still at her anchor.
Still amazed by the close drop off to deep waters
Shango doing her thing
65 beans today. Sure wish Lorraine could have been here with us today. The doll head will be contributed to the Doll House.
This was Conch day.
After a lot of pounding they were ready for the pan
Despite Amy's best efforts, she still got covered with spitting vegetable oil.
The next day and another view of the spectacular barrier reef
The view across to Great Inagua
Bean in situ
Today's walk
We found this doll head on our walk and placed it into the Doll House. Do you think we may have been out of touch with civilization a little too long??.
A blurry sunset.
The next morning leaving Little Inagua for Hogsty Reef
A long day of motoring and no wind...a little bored
The librarian can always read....as long as travel or the art of food is involved
Our destination. Not freighters at anchor but the Bahamas only atoll, Hogsty Reef. These two ships claimed by its coral
Here's the entrance to our mid ocean anchorage
Another ship that did not quite make it into the atoll
Another very remote place gets us buzzed again by the Coast Guard
Coffee before our circumnav of Hogsty Reef
I'm the breakfast cook thus the smile
This inter island ferry permanently aground
Looking across the atoll entrance to Shango. I began to feel a little vulnerable...
Amy just kept on Beachcombing
Looking back out to the open water. A lot of nothing.
Here's the inter island ferry hard aground. Note the fork lift on the stern with the boarding platform down???
Here's the Liberty Ship on the coral
We could only imagine the view when the normal 20 knot tradewinds and 8
foot seas are crashing.
We obviously picked our weather very carefully.
A lot of rust and decay since 1963
After our dinghy trip we needed to fix our recently damaged jib. Amy did her usual careful and complete job.
Our next stop, Castle Island at the southern tip of Acklins Island. Note another wreck at the base and to the left of the light.
A freighter from Belize carrying a cargo of shoes.
I often try to imagine the terrible sea conditions that may have been present to cause wrecks like this to occur. In calm conditions they seem so unlikely.
Our windless weather streak continues as we motor to Long Cay/Crooked
The beautiful shore of Long Cay
Beautiful but shallow and very exposed to the North
Motoring across the Bight of Acklins. 15 miles of 6-9 feet of water
This was our view across the calm waters of the Bight
The captain continues to look a little bit worse for the wear
Amy entertains herself with the sites
The hook is finally down in Delectable Bay, Acklins Island. The cat
does his usual thing....
Looks safe,
Let's just go take a closer look
Be careful
I think I made it. Now I can lie down and enjoy the sunset
We had a sunset which reminded me of the melting Witch of the West
The next day as forecast, the winds arrived. Rum Tum Tiger, Kalida beyond,
and Shango did not move
for several days
Allison from Kalida getting supplies in Acklins
After provisioning and a walk it was time for a beer.
Another customer looked on at the Americans and Brits with a smile
The next day it was off to the ocean side beach.
After the winds abated it was off across the Bight of Acklins to Crooked
Island. Sorry about
all the downwind shots. We still can't get over how nice the "downhill" return
trip is after all the
up wind work of the thorny path to Luperon
It was Homecoming on Crooked Island so we went to the concert and picnic. Here's the drum section
The majorettes
the horns
and the Man
On the way to Clarencetown, Long Island, Amy continued to complain
about her long hair.
I've given up worrying
Milo doesn't worry about such things.
Here's the view from our anchorage in Clarencetown. It would have been
a great spot for waiting out
the front but we did not like the holding, so after 50+ miles to get here we
left the next day for Rum hoping to arrive before the winds.
We made Rum before the wind and found only one other boat, a couple from
Camden, Maine in their
Jarvis Newman lobster boat.
Milo liked the holding much better at Rum as well.
Off Cape Santa Maria at the northern tip of Long Island. A Commemorative statute to Christopher Columbus
A big reef and rollers off the tip
The next day another great sail down the backside of Long Island to Thompson Bay to wait out another front and a place for Amy's haircut.
Doesn't get any better. All day long 60 degrees off the wind, flat water, and 6-7 knots.
We were not the only people choosing Thompson's Bay to wait out the
front. There were
about 20 boats. Way too much company for our tastes, but we needed a good place
to hang out.
The next morning we had our first squall of the front arrive. 30 knots of wind and strong rain for 10-15 minutes.
As soon as it started it was over. The winds continued between 18-25.
The crew remained calm..