Crossing the Bank to the Abacos
After completing our Bahamas check-in, we topped off our diesel fuel tank and motored out of the West End marina at about 1200 hours. In the daytime, it seems pretty simple to get out of the marina. We spent the next three days on the “Bank.”
The Bank is what we call the little Bahamas Bank. Just miles and miles of water that is not very deep; it varies between 7 and 12 feet. From the adjacent pictures you can see how beautiful the water is in the Bahamas.
After we left West End, we motored 23 Nautical Miles (NM) in about 4 hours, until we came to a spit of land called Mangrove Cay. The wind was about 10 knots from the east so we anchored at low tide in about 8 feet of water on the southwest side of the cay. This was the only land in sight in all directions which means there is no other land for 15 miles.
When you see water this color, you know you are in the Bahamas
The next morning was very calm with winds of about 3 to 5 knots. I knew we were in the Bahamas when I went to the bow to raise our anchor at 0800 hours. I could see our anchor and chain on the seabed as if I was looking through 10 feet of glass. With no wind we motored about 43 NM for about 8 hours to our next stop, which was off a very small settlement called Fox Town, at the very western part of the Little Abaco Island. We anchored in about 7 feet of water.
On this day we only saw one other boat, a 34-foot Catalina, on their way to the Exumas. It surprised me that we only encountered one other cruising boat. Typically this is the time of year that cruising boats are headed to the Bahamas and the route we took is a commonly travelled one. However many cruisers we talked to in North Palm Beach were going to wait a few more days for a better weather window before crossing over the Gulf Stream. Since we were paying a delivery captain, we had to leave. As it turned out the weather for the next week was not really any better and most people decided to make the crossing in similar weather to what we experienced, which was not really that bad.
No one for miles in any direction
We raised our anchor off Fox Town at about 0850 hours. The weather on our third morning on the bank was also pretty calm so we motored about 20 NM to Green Turtle Cay arriving at about 1320 hours. On this day we again only saw a couple other boats until we got about 5 miles from Green Turtle Cay. However, we did pass the “Center of the World Rock.” I do not know why this rock is called this, but it was just a rock perhaps 30 feet square that stuck out about 6 feet above the water with nothing else around. Well now at least we can say we have seen it. We took a slip at the Green Turtle Club in White Sound.
Green Turtle Cay has one of the biggest settlements in the Abacos out-islands with about 450 full-time residents. It is one of the cays that really cater to cruisers. For example the Green Turtle Club has a deal, where if you stay at their marina ($1.50 per foot plus electric); your dinner/bar tab in their restaurant is credited toward your marina fee. In our case, Odyssey being a 36-foot vessel, we were charged $54 for the slip fee. But that gave us a credit of $54 in their restaurant and bar. We easily surpassed that amount.
Entering White Sound at Green Turtle Cay
The next morning we left Green Turtle Cay at about 0900 hours and travelled the last 26 NM to our final destination at Hopetown on Elbow Cay. The weather on this leg of our trip was terrible. It rained more on this day than I have seen it rain in 8 years of going to the Abacos although the wind was still relatively calm. This leg of our trip required us to go through the “Whale Cut.” The Whale cut requires larger vessels to go out into the Atlantic Ocean for about 2 miles and then come back into the Sea of Abaco. This is the only way to get from Green Turtle Cay to the rest of the Abaco islands. The reason for this circuitous route is the water depth on the Sea of Abaco side of Whale cut is only about 2 to 3 feet deep. It is possible for a small powerboat to go through this area if they have what is called “local knowledge” but a sailboat cannot pass through this area.
Odyssey at dock at The Green Turtle Club
The entrance to Hopetown harbor is pretty shallow, about 5 feet at low tide. However, we arrived about an hour before high tide so we had no problem getting into the harbor.
Getting into the slip at Hopetown Marina our winter home is pretty tight. The marinas in the Abaco do not have floating docks so it is not as easy to get into slips. However, with the help of the marina dockhand and 2 other cruisers who saw us coming in, we managed to make it in without incident. The people in the cruising community are always very helpful even to people they do not know. You will hear more about these people in future posts.
Hopetown is the largest settlement of all the Abacos out-islands. However I think it still has less than 1,000 full-time residents. It is a very beautiful place and a great place to make our base as we cruise throughout the Abaco islands.
Odyssey at rest in Hopetown Marina
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