We left Manjack with Trawler Life and Have Another Day heading for Great Sale Cay. Heading north all was well but when we hung a left to the East the seas kicked up and gave us a bumpy ride.  The anchorage is relatively protected, however, there wasn’t enough land to knock down the winds and even the anchorage was rocky.  There were approximately 20 boat there.  Most were staging to head to West End or right to the US.  We went to West End (Old Bahama Bay) of Grand Bahama Island. We would seek refuge there until we had decent weather to cross the Atlantic back to the US.

Scott and I took bikes from the Marina and rode into the little town.  How sad it was to see the devastation of Hurricane Matthew.  It looked like a war torn city.  The locals all said it looked great compared to what it was.  Oh my.  They took a direct hit.  The photos speak for them selves.  We  were at the Tiki Bar by the pool and the bartender lived through the Hurricane.  She said she went to Nassau where there was more land mass to absorb the storm.  Matthew hit during the night.  She said 16 people were all at her cousin’s house. When it first hit, it ripped the roof right off part of the house.  They sought refuge in a different part of the house.  It raged for about 3 hours.  Then the eye of the storm came over.  It was completely quiet, no wind, no rain and you could see every single star in the sky.  She said it was beautiful, but they know what was coming.  Sure enough the second half of the storm hit and raged for 3 more hours.  More roof was torn off and it pour and the wind howled.  Then it was over and everyone just stood there not knowing what to do next.  She was able to drive her car back to her house expecting it to be destroyed and there wasn’t any damage at all.  She was surprised because she lived where there was little land mass. Many people lost every thing.  I wish we had known that things were still in such disrepair and that there were so many families in need.  We would have brought things and helped out, but we didn’t know the extent of it because the resort was in beautiful shape, the docks looked OK but there was still no power on the docks.

On our way back from our reality check, we stopped at the Sea Glass Beach.  The beach is covered with Sea Glass.  We took some time and picked out different colors and shapes.  Our conclusion of why it is there: They burn garbage on the islands. They then take the broken and melted glass out to sea and dump it. The area off shore is all rocky but shallow, so it gets tumbled by the waves and the edges are all rounded and naturally frosted.  I hope to make some jewelry out of it.  Seeing trash is an issue on the islands, this is pretty genius. It has become somewhat of a tourist attraction and they get tourist like us to pick up glass and take it home with us.

After the Sea Glass Beach, we went to the resort pool, tiki bar recreation area.  They had kayaks, stand up paddle boards(SUP, fishing poles and lounge chairs on the beach and a tiki bar between the pool and the beach.  I kayaked a bit.  I wanted to try the SUP but they were all out.  While I was listening to the hurricane story being told by the bartender, a man came up to me and asked if I wanted to buy lobster tails, or fresh fish, he just caught them and they were in his boat right there on the beach. I made a deal with him and went back to get money.  I got 10 lobster tails.  I already had a freezer full of Mahi Mahi, so I didn’t buy any fish.  I was kidding around with them and they were giving it back to me.  The older guys said ” she fun, give her an extra lobster tail”  of course it was tiny, but what did I care.  We joked around a bit and then the other guy showed me a shell.  He told me it was a special shell.  The older guy said to give it to me.   We bantered back and forth and he said where ever that shell goes, I go.  My response was “Welcome to America, We leave in the morning.”  I was just kidding but as I walked away he gave me the shell.  It is a  Triton’s Trumpet.  It needed major cleaning of all the calcified gunk on it.  I worked hard at it and it is beautiful.

Here are a few of my other shells from the Bahamas

The next day we left the dock at 06:30. Off to the US.  We had an uneventful and relatively calm trip. It was a little bumpy in the beginning but flattened out as we went and we arrived in the US on FAC (flat ass calm) seas.

Thanks for following our journey.  It is a great one.  Drop us a line, we would love to hear from you.

Karen and Scott

 

Unique Random Photo Of The Day:

What is this contraption on the back of the boat?