4/9/16
Little Harbour, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: 26 19.613N, 076 59.894W
Posted by Bill

The last day in Spanish Wells, we rented a golf cart for a day and drove around the island. One of the places we stopped was a grocery store that was further up the island, one which we hadn’t gone to since it was so far on foot. This store was the size of a small grocery store in the US and was stocked really well by Bahamas standards. Having wheels, we loaded up with heavy stuff and some fresh produce (very hard to get in the Bahamas). Afterwards, we rode across a small one lane bridge to the adjacent island, Russell Island. There was a restaurant called Sandbar that was right on the water that we checked out. It was really nice, but expensive. We had lunch there and found out that they had a happy hour later, so we came back for happy hour.

They had a specialty drink called a Mexican Hipster that we all really liked, that had jalapeño infused tequila, simple syrup, lime juice and muddled cucumbers. As Borat would say…”Great success!”. On the way back to the dinghys we stopped at Budda’s for dinner. We sat at the bar next to some locals, one which had what I diagnosed as a version of Turret’s Syndrome. He let out a signature “woooo” at the top of his lungs at random, and was one of those people that latch on to you in conversation, and makes it impossible to politely exit. On top of that he was drunk. From our boats, every day we would hear someone on shore yelling “wooooo”, and we couldn’t quite figure it out. Now, we know.

By the forecast, we had a 1 ½ day window on the 8th and 9th to make it to the Abacos, so we left Spanish Wells on the 7th and staged in an anchorage called Royal Island Harbour on nearby Royal Island. Staying here would cut an hour off of our trip to Abaco, giving us a padding of day light in case we had to go slower than planned. The harbor is protected from weather from all directions and was totally quiet. There are a couple of homes on the far west end of the island and an abandoned, under construction, resort, and nothing else. It was calm and quiet, and a beautiful day, and we enjoyed just chilling and looking at the view.

The next morning we got up and took off about 6:45 AM. Sunrise over the harbor entrance:

When we traveled outside of the protection of the reefs, the seas were rolling about 3-5 feet with a dominant wave period of 9 seconds…typical ocean swells. The further north we traveled, the larger the swells were, and the last 2/3rds of the trip was in 5-7 foot swells hitting us on the beam. Without any wind, they rolled the boat from side to side, and made for an uncomfortable ride. We ended up getting some wind and picked up the prevailing currents (in our favor) about 3/4ths of the way there, and made good time overall, making landfall at about 4:30 PM. We wanted to get into Little Harbour (360 degree protection) and grab a mooring ball, in anticipation of the next weather front moving in on the 10th, but we needed at least a foot of tide to get through the harbor entrance, which wasn’t going to be there until around 7 PM. So, we anchored off Lynyard Cay and waited. At 6:30 we upped anchor, slipped through the entrance and grabbed a mooring. If you read the blog last year, you may remember that Little Harbour was one of our favorite places in the Bahamas. It is quiet, picturesque, and the home of Pete’s Pub. Pete’s is the quintessential beach bar; no floor – just sand; picnic tables; old, signed T-shirts that people have left, are hanging everywhere. The view is great, food is great, and they have a killer rum punch!

The caves in the background are ones that the family lived in when they first came to the harbor. They eventually built houses, the bar, and an art gallery.
Pete’s Pub:

We have seen lots of turtles, lots of dolphins (rare in the Bahamas) and this manatee in the harbor:

The beach behind Pete’s is beautiful, but unfortunately, like most beaches that face the Atlantic Ocean, trash (mostly shoes and plastic) litters the high tide line…sad, sad, sad, what we are doing to our environment:

We will wait out the next weather front here at Little Harbour and then start moving up the Abacos. The week after the front is showing settled weather for the forecast period…finally!!!