Off The Rock

We ventured "off the rock" for an excursion north to Great Guana Cay yesterday. The sailing club had an overnight get-together up there, but we decided to go for the day. As it turned out, we ended up not even going to the restaurant where everyone was having lunch. We loaded up Walkabout with the kayaks and a picnic lunch and off we went.

After anchoring in Fisher's Bay, we launched the kayaks and toured the harbor, going by Grabbers and their beautiful new dock. Rumor has it that drinks are $12 a piece and beers are $10, but I guess someone has to pay for the dock. 😉

We kept paddling over to Settlement Harbour and into the shallows underneath all the docks.

These underwater diving scooters were here 2 years ago when we last visited. I have to wonder if the dive company actually uses them.

Things were quiet at Orchid Bay Marina, and actually it was pretty quiet everywhere. The island really livens up when the Barefoot Man Concert comes to town.

I paddled close to the riprap boulders that protect the marina from west winds and waves. The marina and whole settlement is exposed to the Sea of Abaco. It works well at low tide....

Perhaps not working so well at high tide when you can see between the holes in the boulders and the surge must come through too. It might be made this way though so that the pressure of the water gets eased by going through the holes and doesn't put as much pressure on the rocks themselves and they theoretically stay in place.

I took this photo of the houseboat, because there is a cormorant on the skiff. It looked like a regular resident there...both the boat and the bird, that is.

We got to see an island freighter and a tug and barge come by on their way south after transiting the famous Whale Cay Cut. The freighter was the sistership of the one we took from Palm Beach to Green Turtle Cay quite a few years ago.

After lunch, it was time for Dave to get in the water and clean the growth off of Walkabout's bottom. This project was sorely needed, but the water was really cold. It took Dave awhile to contemplate the project or perhaps catch a few warm rays of sun before diving in.

Meanwhile the boat's stereo was hooked up to our phone and I played tunes. The speakers are awesome and we sounded like so many of the boats blasting music as they come into Hope Town Harbor. Unfortunately most of the time they play rap, but we had Pink Floyd. Now that's the way to travel!