Hope Town

Monday 3/31
26 32.217 N
76 57.499 W

Hope Town Harbour: Can you see Tide Hiker?

Weather looked decent at last. We were both a bit sick of the dock. As I have said may times, getting underway after a spell at the dock involves a fair amount of effort. We left some lines on the outside pilings so they would be handy when we returned. We were underway by 9:30 AM and it felt good.

It was only a couple of hours run to Hope Town. We hoped that a few of our friends would follow us over there now that the weather had broken.

Apparently March/April is when the winter visitors start heading back to Canada and parts North. Today was the first decent weather opportunity for some time and as we headed around XXX XXX there was a steady stream of sailing boats heading North. The Hope Town harbor is too small for anchoring so we were hoping to nab a mooring. Ended up that we had the choice of several. We radioed the good news back to friends.

My flower girl

Hope Town is one of the original “Patriot” settlements. The harbor is maybe a ½ mile in diameter, very well protected with a narrow but deep entrance. First impressions was very good – buildings looked better built and cared for. “Independence” (Ricky and Dawn) followed us in and also grabbed a mooring. We both launched our dinghys and headed ashore. The next couple of hours we wandered around town. I was a bit concerned about Deidre's various injuries but she held up OK. We bought a sandwich and a beer at a cute little place and ate it in the sun.

Swede Dreams arrived later in the afternoon. We invited Independence and Swede Dreams for drinks on the boat deck followed by Deidre's "Sweet and Sour" chicken dinner.Good day.

Tuesday

Swede Dreams was heading to Little Harbor for lunch and invited both other boats. That night Dawn received news that her mother had fallen and broken her hip and was in a coma. So they were headed back to Florida.  

Back beach Hope Town

We transferred to Swede Dreams and tied our dink to their ball. It was fun to be a passenger on another boat with no responsibilities. The run to Little Harbor was uneventful and lunch under the palms at Pete's Pub was fun. Deidre’s foot is still tender but she did OK getting on and off the dinghy. In Little Harbour we saw quite a few sea turtles and some very large black sting rays. 

On the return trip we stopped and Sand Cay reef and snorkeled. It was an impressive reef, “quite” mountainous” and quite healthy looking. We were not back on Tide Hiker till about 8 PM.

Fishing on the way from Little Harbour

The solar panels have not been the “great solution” I had hoped but still a “good contributor”. I still have to run a generator in the morning and before we go to bed, but not during the day at all and for less time in the evening. We were away from Tide Hiker for almost 11 hours today and the batteries were still at about 80% when we returned.

Wednesday

The weather has really been delightful. Temps are in the hi 70s and low 80s with little humidity. In the morning we dinghyed over to the "new marina" to check it out for dinner. Looked expensive. Then landed at the base of the old lighthouse and had a look I climbed up the inside and had a look at "the works". It still operates, but the light and mechanism is 100 plus years old.The view from the top was good.

Starfish at Tahiti Beach

This afternoon we took the dink about 5 miles to Tahiti Beach with Swede Dreams. That is a long run in the dink but the new motor will plane us at about 80% throttle. We moored the dinghies in shallow water and spend the afternoon on the beach. 

Stopped at "Cracker P's" bar on the way back. These waterside bars seem a characteristic of the area. They are rather "rough and tumble" and would not pass the Health Department requirement in the US, but definitely have character.



Thursday Morning

Cute house Hope Town

By now I was aware that emails I had been sending from Marsh Harbour had not been arriving, even though they had been shown as "SENT" on my computer. Up until today I was assuming that people were just not responding, but we started getting  "Where are you?" emails. So we went ashore with the ever reliable iPad and found a place with wifi and I spent an hour or so re-establishing contact.