After leaving Hope Town we skipped our way up the Abaco island chain. The weather started to change a little with afternoon storms everyday. When we were told of tropical storm Chantal we could only sarcastically say that we were thrilled. Despite the thought of a possible hurricane we made our way north. We stopped by Alan’s-Pensacola and planned to stay there for a few days because of the “Hurricane Hole” it has. Alan’s is a really cool island with old tracking station ruins to explore, the tree to hang your boat name from and some great fishing. After getting updated news of Chantal, we went and sounded out the hole in order to make sure we could make it in. The contolling depth at high tide was 5 feet so we would have been good. Right before pulling up anchor and heading into the hole Laurel’s mom told us that Chantal would spare us. Thank goodness!
With some worry taken off our minds we left Alan’s and stopped by a secret conch spot for our limit of conch to bring home for everyone. We decided to make Laurel’s famous conch fritters for family and friends. Laurel and I also had one of the most memorable moments of the trip with our “double mutton hook-up”. Simultaneous mutton snapper catches; both lines zinging out, fighting them out of the rocks and then debating on who’s is bigger. For the record, unofficially of course because there were no non-biased witnesses, Laurel’s was bigger by a handlebar mustache hair. After catching a few more we went back and ate like a king and queen. That same night we meet a really cool couple from Indiatlantic, JJ and Tonya. We all had a good time until flying earwigs took over the cockpit.
Next, we stayed at Double Breasted and Grand Cay. Both were great places even though the weather was still progressively getting worse every afternoon. Double Breasted had one of the trickiest anchorages because the current, wind and hairpin turn around Sandy Cay. With a little tide planning and strategery, we fared well and didn’t have any issues. Grand Cay was our final stop of the trip. The penultimate was in the harbor at Grand next to Rosie’s Place. She is famous for her conch fritters and they are only $4 for a huge container of them. Her fritters certainly rival Laurel’s. After staying there, we stayed at Wells Bay, a beautiful bay with tons of snorkeling and fishing. We were there for only a few hours when Laurel’s mom told us a good crossing window was that night and the next day. We had planned on leaving a few days from then but the weather window arrived sooner than planned. So, we pulled up anchor and booked it for memory rock to cross over. On the way we got the boat ready.
The crossing was uneventful and all downwind. When I mean uneventful I mean I didn’t catch my illusive tuna. Bummer! Although we didn’t come back empty because with less than a mile to Ft Pierce Inlet I caught a 37 in Kingfish.
