Required Trip Report
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Posted by Jeanette on May 01, 2000 at 18:03:39:
After lurking on this board for months, I am heeding my responsibility and submitting my (probably way too long) trip report from our 6th trip to the Abacos. Got to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, April 23 and our Continental flight to Marsh Harbour was delayed a few hours. When we boarded they announced that the plane was overloaded so they were removing “some” luggage. If you wanted to get off you could (yeah, right, gonna miss a moment in Paradise). Smooth flight to Marsh Harbour and half our luggage arrived. Airport personnel assured us that they would deliver the delayed bags the next day. Off to Iggy Biggy (new name for Barefoot Gifts) for T-shirts, sandals, etc. to get through the day. Then to Laysue to pick up our boat (Gary was there and the boat was good to go). Next stop Golden Harvest to pick up food staples and a bunch of toiletries (somethings you just can’t go a day without—well you could, but..). Checked out some of the local establishments on the way back. Mangoes has enlarged their deck, but not opened yet. Tiki Hut about half under water—very sad to see. Returned all the bags to Abaco Towns condo which were not in great shape but were in absolutely terrific shape considering what they had gone through. Just glad that they were able to open a few condos this early. And FINALLY off to Sapodillys for a much needed goombay smash, and another, and another, great conch bits, grouper bits, conch chowder, another goombay, and a goombay to go… Back to Abaco Towns to rest from this wonderful first day. No clothes, but life is very good. Checked about luggage on Sunday before heading to Nippers for the Easter Pig Roast. I didn’t face the waves to collect any eggs, but the adults and children who were snorkeling for eggs were fun to watch and they really seemed to be loving it. Met the lovely AbacoPat and the charming Maggie while on a trip to the bar for a goombay (sensing a pattern here?) Food was great and plentiful. Drinks were wet, cold, and delicious. Sun was shining. People were smiling. Music was jammin. Great day. Headed back to MH around 2:30. Stopped at Conch Inn for drinks in the evening. Nobody was hungry after our meal at Nippers. Checked on luggage—no luggage. Monday morning awoke to the pig that had decided to spend time at the Abaco Towns. Glad we got to see him, by weeks end he was being penned up which is best, but he was cute and it was fun watching him drink out of the swimming pool (he just knelt down—had learned his lesson after falling in the day before.) Listened to the Cruiser Net then went to call Continental about wayward luggage. Very nice woman in the Continental office told me that they had no record of our luggage but that it was delayed not lost. Told her that since she had no record of it and I had no luggage I was gonna refer to it as lost until further notice. She could understand that. Still wearing the same clothes (feeling like real boat people) we took our boat over to Hope Town and walked down the road to see how the island had fared. Everything is coming back. Absolutely delicious grouper burgers, mac and cheese, and spicy fries for lunch at Harbor Edge. Stopped to snorkel at Mermaid Reef. Water was beautiful and fish were plentiful. Back to MH and our luggage had arrived. Changed clothes and headed to Boat Harbor for celebratory drinks. Tuesday, the four day holiday weekend had ended so there was a beehive of activity repairing Abaco Towns, Mangoes, etc. Okay, it was a Bahamian beehive, but there was definitely work going on. Found out on Cruiser Net that seas were gonna be a bit rough but that Coco Paradise was gonna close its kitchen for Wednesday and Thursday. Decided we better visit Coco Paradise. While walking to our boat saw a tug towing the Tiki Hut away. Went to the market in the Flippers shopping center (don’t know the name) and bought a disposable camera to get a picture of the Tiki Hut going to its final resting place—if I can scan the picture I’ll post it. Seas were choppy, but our boat did very well. Hardest part was tying up at the dock at Guana. Had a Coco Banana (see, I can be flexible) and lunch at Coco Paradise. Talked to Tommy Roberts and learned that his kids live in our town. Small world. Walked down to Nippers for goombays (flexible, but loyal). Met fellow board lurker, Flo. This board has a life of its own. Watched 2 of the Jack Russels fetch a wood block on the sand dunes. Think they would have run forever if somebody would just keep throwing. When they got the block they would run down to the water to cool off, then back up the dune to got another person to throw. Not everyone was relaxing. There were men moving lots of sand to rebuild the dune that Floyd had taken. Road the golf cart back to our boat. Seas had really calmed down so the ride home was almost smooth. Stopped at Sapodillys on the way back to the condo and returned there in the evening for dinner.
Wednesday decided to rent a golf cart on Elbow Cay to better look at the hurricane damage there. Found out that all carts were reserved for a big wedding, nothing available until Tuesday. Went to Harbor Edge and drowned our sorrows. Headed to Lubbers for lunch at Yahoes. Grouper burgers were great. Resigned the book and checked to see what we had written last year (something about great grouper burgers and goombays—a very consistent group). Boated over to Sea Spray and were amazed to be standing on sand dunes where houses had stood. Snorkeled at the spot with the sunken cars and boats. Lots of rays and a nurse shark. At night the sky was red and we watched an amazing fire at Witch’s Point. We were about 4 miles away and you could see the flames. Reminded us of the burning of Atlanta scene in Gone With the Wind. Although this area had no structures and was allowed to burn, the firefighters really had been working hard with lots of blazes on the island. Thursday had breakfast at Flippers then boated to Treasure Cay. We could see smoke from lots of fires as we went north. We were told that discarded bottles were a major cause of the fires becuz they draw the sun. The new bar on the Treasure Cay beach is really beautiful and serves great goombays. What used to be Little Switzerland is not opened, but inside you can see lots of broken “treasurers.” Went to see the models for the new condos, Bahama Beach Club. John Cash is the sales agent and they are very nice. After walking along the beautiful beach, back in the boat to dinner at Nippers. Talked to Johnnie and he said they fed 650 on Sunday. Also said that they were planting plants to maintain the dune next week.
Friday (how could one week go so fast?) over to Lubbers to check out Cracker Ps. Arrived at 11:30 and they were just opening. Within 10 minutes four boats had arrived. Had goombays and cheesy garlic bread (very good) then went back to Hope Town for lunch at the Harbor’s Edge. Just wanted the great mac and cheese one more time. Stopped to snorkel at Mermaid on the way home. Had dinner at Anglers (great goat cheese and tomato salad and absolutely delicious pumpkin and lobster bisque).
Flight home was fairly easy, except our connection was impossible to make (what was I thinking?) and had to stand by for the next plane. Back to work today. Don’t even wanna think how many days it’ll be until we return next year.
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