Last week was a quick trip through the Abacos.  This island group is the northern most in the Bahamas and looks very different from the Exumas where we spent most of the winter.  The islands are more forested with tall pines as well as low brush and instead of a sandy bottom that gives the water a swimming pool appearance, the bottom is covered with grass which makes it look dark.  Luckily, the water is still clear and warm.

We buddy boated with Dream Catcher.  The girls had fun playing, we shared a few great dinners, sunsets, and beach time.  These islands are lined with beautiful houses, boat docks, and occasional towns.  We had a bit of fun on the Hobie sailing between anchorages with the three boat fleet of Hobie, Makai and Dream Catcher.

Hope Town has a protected harbor filled with moorings and lined with restaurants and docks. The red and white striped lighthouse was built in 1862 and was one of the last operational kerosene lighthouses in the world. We went into town and strolled along looking for lunch.  The crew had cheeseburgers and I had jerk chicken and conch fritters.

The beach houses and little hotels were beautiful but we’re still happy to be on Makai.

Eric quietly turned 50 with cupcakes and friends over for sundowners and a movie.  May 4th was Star Wars day, so we watched the original from our youth.  Ok, say it slowly: may the force be with you / May the 4th be with you.  Get it?

A little Northern wind was expected so we moved over by Marsh Harbor.  The first night we anchored on the south side of the island for protection and the no-see-ums got me.  Little did I know that their bites would produce 2am hives.  The next day we went around into the harbor on the other side of the island and got hives at 1am.  One of them nailed me on my upper lip and it swelled up like Daffy Duck, oh boy.  The upside to Marsh Harbor is a fantastic grocery store and other such provisions.

By now we were getting sick of towns and wanted to get a little snorkeling in.  Fowl Cay on the other side of the channel had some over the top great reefs.

We could see ‘forever’, the water was warm, the reefs were huge and full of fish.

Topaz always snorkels with us.  She could see the fish in the water and spent her time scrambling around after them.

One of the reefs was shaped like a mushroom surrounded by white sand.

The coral was all very healthy like this beautiful stag horn coral.

This area is also a preserve so the fish are gigantic.

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The reefs were only a 100 feet away from each other but their structures were very different.  One was a long bar, another a mushroom, others had tunnels.

Some had those big stag horn corals and others had schools of fish.

Next was Guana Cay. Disney’s cruise ship used to anchor here, they called it Treasure Cay, to treat their passengers to private beach parties. Instead Makai and Dream Catcher rafted up so the girls could visit each other at their leisure.

This is where we said goodbye to Dream Catcher.  They are on their way to Maryland to start their summer projects and adventures.  We’ll meet up with them in a few weeks. Makai continued on, two more stops before leaving the Bahamas.  While we’re underway I usually cook.  Today I made corn muffins, a loaf of bread and bagels.

Allans Cay was an interesting stop.  This must be a boater’s favorite stop with trees dangling all sorts of junk and strange collections of trash put together to look like a club house.

After a few attempts to find the path, Eric finally made his way through the jungle to the other side of the island.  He was in search of the ruins of a 1960′s missile tracking station.  We met a Bahamian boater who said he remembered coming here as a kid and it was a busy place.

Roy loved it because it was a fisherboy’s paradise.

One throw of the cast net filled his bait bucket with cigar minnows.  Apparently everything in the bay eats these poor little guys. He caught snapper, one after another.  A shark came and took his bait and about 50 feet of line before we cut it.

Marie came to try her luck.  She finally got brave enough to put the bait on the hook, but still needed help taking the fish off.

Besides snapper of all sizes, Roy also caught a Bonefish which is a sportsman’s dream.  Sorry, no picture, it got off the hook right at Roy’s feet.

Roy also caught a puffer fish that puffed itself up while he was getting the hook out, and a few houndfish.

We could have spent the day there seeing what Roy would catch next, but the biting flies were getting bold and we had a long sail ahead of us.  This evening we’re at Double Breasted Cay.  This is our last night in the Bahamas, tomorrow, Saturday, evening we’ll set out for St. Augustine, Fl. The conditions look to be comfortable and we should arrive on Monday morning to rent a car and check back into the U.S. with immigration. Follow us under the ‘Where’s Makai’ link.