April 28, 2009: Hope Town to Treasure Bay, Abaco, Bahamas

This morning we were lucky to find the Wynonna Malone museum in Hope Town open and we spent a few minutes delving into the history of the local islands. The museum provided information about ship building in the area including a model of a three masted sailing ship built in the 1800s without any power tools. We had seen a memorial to the Loyalist, British sympathizers during the American Revolution, who migrated here in 1785 from Massachusetts bringing ship building skills with them.

There was a video message that gave additional insights into the construction of the lighthouse including the fierce objection of the local wreckers who saw it as an end to their profession on the island. Apparently the building of the lighthouse was one of the stimuli for migration to Key West.

We continued our tour around town and walked out on an ocean access path to watch the ocean. The St James Methodist Church was high above the water there, but had bright yellow shutters to close against bad weather. Several shops were marked “closed for the season”, so we assume the season is the winter. There was a charming playground fenced in by the water front. The focal point was a huge Madera tree gnarled and growing near the ground molded by the wind. It was the climbing tower and high point for a little yellow slide for the children.

We passed the fire department with a big red, modern fire truck. Tom priced a quaint yellow water front two story cottage, Sweet Landings, with flowers growing by the porch. The realty listing was for $1.3M.

We had lunch of grilled grouper and shrimp at Captain Jack’s. It is a little restaurant with a porch overlooking the harbor and was pretty filled at lunch time. Yachties, coming in from the boats in the harbor and docking there, were most of the crowd.

After lunch, we headed out from Hope Town northward to Treasure Bay on the Great Abaco Island. We traveled with the wind which gave us a pretty smooth ride. We anchored out in the harbor here and amongst a handful of sailboats, and took our dinghy to shore. The Treasure Cay Hotel Marina has a great pool and it is a short walk to a beautiful beach. Walking in the deep very soft sand was a workout in and of itself. We saw some kids wind surfing in the late afternoon hours there.

And we have now stumbled onto an exciting event. The Marina here is sponsoring the Bahamas Bill Fish Central Abaco Championship. It is a tournament that will run for the next several days and the docks are all filled with large fishing boats from as far away as Texas and Florida. We saw people interviewing captains on the dock for video cameras and matching tee shirts for competitive teams. The tournament starts tomorrow at dawn... hope the fishermen slip out of the harbor quietly!