Our trip is done, the adventure is finished.  We fly out today via Cherokee Aviation, with Ziggy in a kennel riding with us in the passenger cabin.

We had the boat hauled out at the Marsh Harbor Boatyard in the Abacos this morning.

She is getting pressure washed and bottom painted.  We will keep her there with hurricane straps on the hard until we come back.

Maybe in the summer?  Maybe not until winter.

Leaving the boat here and flying over is quicker and also cheaper than storing it in the States.

We both are somewhat sad about leaving our boat home for the last four and a half months.  She has gotten us everywhere we wanted to go.  She has weathered bumps, squalls and rough seas.

She got us all the way to the bottom of the Bahamas, Georgetown, and all the way back up to Marsh Harbor in the Abacos.  She’s sailed the Atlantic, the Bahamas Bank, the Exuma Sound and the Sea of Abaco.

She gave us the most stunning coral and azure sea views as we traversed these waters, sights only seen from a boat.

Her shallow draft got us into 3 foot waters; her anchor never slipped.

The gremlins we encountered early on settled down once we got to the Bahamas, and the engines, batteries and navigation worked in concert to carry us along.

We will miss the boat and the people we have met.  Ziggy will miss all the attention she gets.

Toucan will sit in her cradle on Cat Alley with sister catamarans in the boatyard, with a view of the Sea of Abaco.

She will wait for us to come back. And go back in the water, where a sailboat belongs.

 

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Over the months we have heard many boaters on the radio and exchanged cards with many others.  Boat names often offer interesting insights into the owners’ outlook on life and cruising in particular.

One thing we’ve learned is the shorter and easier to spell, the better.  That’s because you have to hail the bridge tenders and marinas with your boat name.  We’ve heard others have to spell their name several times.

So I’m glad we’re Toucan, a simple name and I like birds.   In hailing the marinas we always say “Toucan, like the bird.”   Not to be confused with Two Can.

Here are some of the boats we’ve come across.

• Renegade
• Kooky dance 
• Tango
• Soleil
• Harmonium
• Serena
• Mekhaya
• Onward 
• Noel’s delight (parrot on board)
• Cookie Monster
• Caper (Phyllis is from Wilmington)
• Suncast
• Windward
• No agenda
• Wireless ( he invented the transponder for airplanes)
• Buoys tuition
• Kindred spirit
• Providence
• Bee Haven
• Dragonfly (cat made from a kit)
• Salty Turtle
• Mighty Fine
• Feral cat (a fellow pdq)
• No Rehearsal (big Catana from New Zealand)
• Morningstar ( big diving sailboat)

Some friends we’ve made along the way who we hope to meet up with again:

Outsider- Paul and Brenda sailed with us from Bimini to Chub Cay

Deja Vu – Dan and his Cuban wife, who he smuggled in illegally 20 years ago. Then paid off the gatekeeper at Sandals to get in.  A shifty character!

Wisp ‘o Wind – joy and Ivan in Georgetown.  He fixed our dinghy motor, she organized outings and volleyball.

Tumbleweed – Matt and his girlfriend on the trimaran in Georgetown.  We saw them again in Highbourne Cay.  They had gotten engaged and were selling their boat to buy a 42′ cat in Tahiti.

Boat name?  Hannah and Roger, the young couple with no particular schedule in mind, who dinghied ashore via a 16′ sailboat with their dog.

Bucket List – Joe from Arkansas talked us into staying at the marina in Staniel with a northwest wind.

In Concert – Dave and Lisa from Washington NC.  He plays the flute and guitar, and entertained us at Compass Cay.

Sweet Freedom – Bill and Maureen from Vermont.  We saw them at Black Point, Georgetown and Marsh Harbor, great fun people.

Wings – Kathleen we met at Black Point.  She wasn’t in her boat but was renting a cottage for a month.  A friend of Bill and Maureen’s from Vermont.

Meander – Stu and Julie from New Jersey. He saved Ziggy when she fell off the dock at Staniel Cay, coaxing her onto his swim platform.  Then we saw them at Marsh Harbor a month later.

Slainte – Melanie and John from Georgia, our neighbors in Marsh Harbor. She’s the social director for our dock, organizing water aerobics, dominoes, bocce tournaments and daily 5:00 happy hours.

Pegasus – Charlie and Marty, lawyers from DC.  At Marsh Harbor he is the undisputed king of conch blowing at sunset. 

Cruisers are all a pretty happy, laid back bunch of folks.  What’s not to love about boating around in these islands?

I will miss the life.









It’s the cay we landed on three years ago when we helped Hal bring his boat to the Abacos.  The destination was supposed to be Marsh Harbor but alas the boat gremlins intervened and broke the drive shaft.

With no motor, Ed and Hal sailed 10 hours to the nearest boatyard at Green Turtle Cay.   Then the ferry there towed us in.

We spent about 10 days there and came to regard GTC as our home in the Abacos.

So we rented a car and made our way back there yesterday to check on our cay.  It was about a 30 mile trip, mostly  desolate roadway north.

We walked around and revisited places we remembered from the past.

Macintosh was the breakfast place. The Wrecking Tree was our lunch spot.  It was the same tree where centuries ago they brought the salvage from wrecked boats to sell.

We visited the Albert Lowe Museum and the Memorial Gardens, both commemorating the history of the Abacos and the Loyalist settlers who came here in the late 1700’s.

They left after the Revolutionary War, many of them persecuted by the Patriots, leaving behind their farms and businesses to try to build a new life in the islands.

It was not a hospitable agricultural environment; cotton wouldn’t grow well here.  So they developed shipbuilding and wrecking enterprises.  

Many had brought slaves with them but over time with the lack of agricultural work, the need for slaves diminished.  They were allowed to develop other skills and eventually buy their freedom.

Emancipated before the slaves in the United States, the Bahamians built their trade with the new country.  Wrecking, turtling and exporting pineapples and salt were among the most lucrative endeavors.

The ties with the British remain visible today.  They speak somewhat formal English to others but an almost unrecognizable version (at least to our ears) to each other.

They drive on the left side of the road which can be a challenge when the steering wheel is on the right.

Fish, lobster and conch are staples.  And sides of macaroni and cheese, peas and rice, coleslaw.

They call the native white Bahamians “conchy Joe.”  We have met a few along the way.

We enjoyed our visit back to Green Turtle, brought back good memories.  Since then we have seen much more of the Bahamas, but GTC will always have a special place in our hearts.





We walked to the Jib Room across the harbor from our marina for the Wednesday night rib buffet.

It was about a 20 minute walk around as dusk settled in.  The Sea of Abaco looked fairly calm, the palms swayed in the breeze.

As we approached the restaurant the dark night got lit up.  Crowds were hanging out at the outdoor picnic tables, drinking and waiting for the buffet to start.

We met up with Charlie and Marty, friends from the marina.  Then the buffet began.

OMG ribs to die for, potato salad, slaw, baked beans and a roll.  Ed and I shared ribs and it was plenty.  Zigster got her fill of rib bones too.

Then the party began!  One guy playing the saw and Mr Limbo doing his thing.  

Not only did he clear 2 feet, he did it again with the pole on fire!  It was blazin awesome.

We bummed a dinghy ride with Charlie back to the boat.  What was ac20 minute walk took just 5 minutes by boat.

A great Bahamian evening!















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We got a crate for Ziggy at the ferry office and caught a ride to Hopetown on Monday.  She was a little freaked by the ferry sounds but she made out okay.

Hopetown has the famous candy stripe lighthouse and a village of pastel colored houses on narrow alleys.  The bougainvillea were red, yellow and purple ablaze.

We caught a golf cart ride for the two miles to Firefly’s resort and restaurant.  Lunch there was really nice, with amazing views of the Sea of Abaco.

Next day we hung out with Jenny and Richard at their Abaco Beach Resort.  Beautiful white beaches, nice bar and restaurant.  

We all went paddle boarding!  Ziggy swam out and got on the paddle board with me.  Jenny and Richard did well their first time out, though Jenny’s autopilot kept taking her toward the rocks.

We enjoyed an evening of grilling and trivia games with our dock mates.  The entry fee was one (unopened) beer per person.  So the winning team would get 20+ beers.  

Some  of the questions were a bit obtuse.  Did you know there are 1.3 million people in the US armed services today?

Our team won second place but we were only given 2 beers as our prize. I think the losing team got more.  What’s up with that?

Oh and Ziggy now has a chain leash.  I don’t think she can chew through that one.











Ed’s sister and brother in law arrived Friday afternoon.  We picked them up in our rental car, the last one available on the island, what had to be a 1980s era Buick Lacrosse.  The B and the U were missing on the nameplate outside so I guess we were really driving an Ick.

We’re stylin’.

Saturday we took the hot rod down to Pete’s Pub and Gallery at Little Harbor.

It’s a small anchorage we had passed on our way up to Marsh Harbor with a working foundry and beachside restaurant.  

Randolph Johnston, a noted sculptor from New England, sailed into the harbor with his family in the ’50s and set up shop here.  His son Pete continued the work and founded Pete’s Pub.

Now grandson Greg continues the tradition. 

We enjoyed burgers and the infamous Liquid Blasters (why walk when you can crawl?) at the pub.  A local drunk with a few missing teeth entertained us cracking conch and falling backwards in his boat.

The foundry was closed.  This was bad news for Jenny, who had her heart set on seeing the artist’s studio.  

But Jenny was not to be deterred.  We watched Jenny sweet talk the grandson Greg for at least 10 minutes, asking for a foundry tour.  Richard remarked, with a knowing smile, “Jenny gets what she wants.  He will let her in.”

We saw Greg shake his head no three times.  Then the tide turned.

He would let her in.

It was a little wait but Jenny got in and we were all happy she got the tour.

Back at the dock we enjoyed drinks with the happy hour crowd.  And heard Charlie and Melanie blow the conchs at sunset.

On Sunday we planned to take the ferry over to Nippers at Guana Cay.

As we boarded, the ferry captain said the dog can’t go, she’s not in a crate.

What?  We had no idea.

So I jumped off the boat with Ziggy and jogged back to the dock in hopes of finding someone to watch the dog for a few hours.

Charlie!  Our neighbor on the dock who always petted Ziggy was at the pool.

Poor guy.  He was my target.

He rather reluctantly agreed to keep her for me.  And take her to the Bocce tournament they planned for the afternoon.

So we got to Nippers after all and enjoyed the pig roast and bikini girls dirty dancing to Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus.

Nippers rum drinks galore.

A quick visit to Grappas for our final hurrah and back on the ferry for the ride home.

We got back to the dock and found our puppy at Snappas, hanging out with her babysitters from the dock.

Apparently she had chewed through her line once again.  It turns out Charlie had passed her around, like a drunk coed, to other neighbors on the dock.  So they had all taken turns watching the dawg.

Now I owe at least 4 people a fifth of gin. Expensive sitters.