{"id":3722,"date":"2022-05-27T17:22:33","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T21:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/?p=3722"},"modified":"2022-05-27T19:32:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T23:32:54","slug":"the-northern-abacos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/?p=3722","title":{"rendered":"The Northern Abacos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here, finally, are the unspoiled Out Islands of my, largely inaccurately, “imagined Bahamas”. This string of cays also marks our path to West End, Grand Bahama Island, the end of our Bahamas adventure. We already miss the sunsets over the water…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasure Cay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Probably not accurate to call Treasure Cay an Out Island, as it is connected to Grand Abaco Island; the anchorage reminded us of Marco Island, FL. The magnificent beach was deserted though and we only saw a few others for the two days we were there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Green Turtle Cay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As the crow flies, the distance between Treasure Cay and Green Turtle is about 6nm. There is, however, a sand bar between the two where depths are less than 2ft. To get from one cay to the other requires a trip outside of the Bank, around Whale Cay, which adds 14nm and required us to wait for the winds from the East to calm. Damage from Hurricane Dorian was still more visible here than in Hope Town, but less than in Marsh Harbor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manjack Cay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We took the dinghy in search of snorkeling opportunities and wound up circumnavigating a small island called Crab Cay. We tried<\/em> to watch the lunar eclipse from here but only got glimpses of it through the many clouds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Powell Cay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Powell Cay is our favorite of the Abacos. There are two great hikes on the cay, one to the bluff overlooking the anchorage and the other to the Atlantic side of the island. The beach here is spectacular and we spent a couple of hours enjoying it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Allans-Pensacola Cay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A close second as the best of the Abacos… the hike here was to what is known as the Naming Tree, where cruisers leave their mark with all sorts of flotsam and driftwood. I was sort of dismayed at the intrusion of civilization, thinking that visitors were supplying the medium, until I learned that this is beach trash, much of it floating from Haiti after storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The path to the Naming Tree is well marked…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So… this probably did NOT float over from Haiti. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Naming Tree also guards another beautiful beach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Double-Breasted Cay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This cay turned out to be much more exposed to the prevailing wind so we were not able to go ashore. After carrying the drone through the Bahamas, it earned its keep this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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West End, Grand Bahama Island<\/h4>\n\n\n
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Remember this picture… Our trip to West End was the longest sailing day since the end of April; it felt like it, too. There was NO wind for most of the journey…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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… until this waterspout chased us off the Bahama Bank.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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West End Tarpons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Junkanoo parade to celebrate a wedding at West End.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It is impossible to accurately capture rough water when underway so you will need to surmise from the angle of the bow to the horizon that it was rough, indeed. And, unfortunately, this picture was taken during our 242nm<\/strong><\/em> journey from West End to St Augustine, Florida… we were wishing we were back on the well protected Abaco Bank for much of this trip.\ud83d\ude35\u200d\ud83d\udcab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here, finally, are the unspoiled Out Islands of my, largely inaccurately, “imagined Bahamas”. This string of cays also marks our path to West End, Grand Bahama Island, the end of our Bahamas adventure. We already miss the sunsets over the water… Treasure Cay Probably not accurate to call Treasure Cay an Out Island, as it… Continue reading The Northern Abacos<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-bahamas","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3769,"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions\/3769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svaurora.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}