willyt
06-02-2008, 06:56 PM
As promised, here’s a summary of my (along w/ my wife Jackie’s) stay in Abaco & Elbow Cay. Since this would be our first time to the Abacos, we considered this vacation a new island adventure. (I'll post some pics once I figure out my Verizon NetAccount.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We flew out of Newark on 5/17 via Continental, arrived in West Palm Beach ahead of schedule, and departed Terminal A at 11:00AM on-time for MHH.
Clearing customs at MHH was a breeze, although Jackie had to complete her own customs arrival declaration form … the Continental rep back at Terminal A told us that we only needed one. We then took a taxi over to the Albury ferry dock, and waited for our 2:00 PM trip over to Hopetown. We considered stopping in Marsh Harbor on the way for lunch/groceries ( as some of you nicely suggested) but we didn’t want to screw things up, so we just relaxed & caught up w/ some reading.
Once on board, the ferry captain radioed ahead to Seaspray Resort, advising that we would be arriving in Hopetown. But somehow we missed our shuttle pickup, so we sat around until one finally arrived for us about ½ hour later. Hey, its an island adventure!
We had reserved the 1-bedroom harborside cottage at Seaspray known as "Grape Leaf", and we were pleasantly surprised how nice it actually was. It was very clean, although Jackie took issue w/ a couple of minor things. After unpacking and meeting the manager, Junior, we explored the resort, then went down to the Garbonzo Reef Bar for Kaliks & conch fritters. The house band played that night, but we retired early due to the long day of travel.
Sunday we picked up our Albury 20 from Island Marine. I am NOT a boater, and Jackie & I were initially concerned that we’d be in way over our heads in handling the Albury. (And though at first we did have some at first unsettling … then hilarious … moments docking & tying down the boat, we eventually felt very comfortable navigating with "Mr. Maurice." Seaspray allowed us to tie-up to the dock throughout our stay.) Jeff of Island Marine was helpful with some do’s & do not’s. We then visited Tahiti Beach at very low tide, and Jackie found a couple of sand dollars, which are a prized rarity in New Jersey. Then we went into Hopetown for lunch, where Jackie pointed out a nurse shark cruising under the dock. Returning to Seaspray, we walked up to the beach north of Abaco Inn, where Jackie was delighted to find another NJ rarity … seaglass, and lots of it. (We ended bringing three plastic baggies of seaglass home with us.) We finished our day with Jackie watching the season’s end to Desperate Housewives …. and what’s with that weird ending????
Monday we took Mr. Maurice up to Guana Cay. The ride was a little bouncy on the trip up & back. Although it took us a while to find Nippers, we had a nice time on the beautiful beach there. We loved Nippers’ fish sandwiches & pineapple coleslaw. Grabbed some Kaliks at the Fig Tree grocery before we returned.
Tuesday we walked up to Sweetings Grocery for some food items, then attempted to take Mr. Maurice up to the Foul Cays for some snorkeling. For most of our vacation, the wind blew out of the southwest (supposedly, quite unusual), and on Tuesday, we took a beating heading up to Man `O War Cay. I wasn’t comfortable going up the leeside of MOW, and Jackie wasn’t having fun as we continued west. Finally, we aborted, and tried heading over to Mermaid Reef. Seas were still rough heading there, so … island adventure be damned! … we returned to Seaspray. We took the shuttle up to Hopetown, losing my prescription sunglasses in the process. We lunched at Cap’n Jacks, then swam for a bit at "Hopetown South" beach, in front of Hopetown Harbor Lodge. Keeping with the island adventure theme, Jackie talked me into walking back to Seaspray along the beach, which was fine most of the way, until we had to navigate (with Jackie in her flimsy sandals) around the jagged ironshore cliffs in front of a beautiful beachfront villa. (For a moment, I thought we’d surprise someone sunbathing au natural by the pool, but the villa was unoccupied.) We make it back safely, after we stopped for more seaglass. Tuesday was the Full Moon Party at Cracker P’s, but Jackie & I instead stayed at the resort, and watched the moon rise over the ocean … plus watched a brilliant International Space Station & several other satellites pass overhead.
Wednesday morning we refueled at Seaspray (24 gallons at $5.76 per gal!!! Yikes!), then took "Mr. Maurice" south to Little Harbour. Seas were initially rough, but calmed down once we got below Tilloo Bank. Smoke blowing from the inland forest fires almost choked Jackie. We coasted into Little Harbour, then motored back out after Jackie didn’t want to explore there, and it was too early for a burger (ahh, maybe next time.) Water was bouncy by Sandy Cay, so we didn’t stop there to snorkel (again, maybe next time.) We headed up to Hopetown, had lunch at Harbour’s Edge (great creamy conch chowder!), and took our snorkel gear over to "Hopetown South" which has some nice reefs to cruise around in. Soon, however, Jackie beckoned me back to the beach, to tell me that there was a nice-sized dorsal fin cruising about 50’ from me. (No, it wasn’t the porpoise I pointed out offshore.) Umm, I’m not THAT adventurous, so we walked over to what we referred to as "Hopetown North" beach. Very pretty, and the water was calm with the southwesterly wind. After we swam, we stored our gear in "Mr. Maurice" and walked through town for some provisions (i.e., food, Kaliks, wine for Jackie, and Vernon’s Grocery’s key lime pie …. which Jackie judged as the best she’s ever had, including her own.)
Thursday was loafing day. We docked in Hopetown (btw, the lighthouse was closed for repairs during our stay …. another "to do" item for our next visit), and walked to "Hopetown North." I inflated the plastic raft we brought with us, and Jackie spent a long time just lazily relaxing in the water. We walked up the north end of the beach, spotting some rays and large barracudas cruising a few feet away. More seaglass was collected … its almost obscene how much there is here. Sun-saturated (and we constantly lathered on the SPF30), we walked over to Cap’n Jack’s for lunch, then headed back to Seaspray to catch up on our reading. (For the most part, we didn’t meet any other Yankees during our vacation; mostly folks from the Carolinas, Georgia, and (especially) Florida. Everyone seemed to gather at Seaspray’s pool by mid-afternoon, then at the bar afterwards. And everyone was friendly and enjoyed having a conversation.)
Jackie & I did a lot of walking in the White Sound area during our stay, and on Friday morning we did some sightseeing by walking down to Tahiti Beach. There are some very beautiful houses on the southern end of Elbow Cay. We had Tahiti to ourselves, although there wasn’t much to see due to the high tide. But I did manage to find five sand dollars (in the form of a Bahamian $5 bill) while we were beachcombing. I initially thought about keeping it as a souvenir of our trip, but later decided to spend it on a Kalik. Returning to Seaspray, we shuttled to Harbour’s Edge restaurant with our laptop. Seaspray has Internet access for a fee, but we had difficulty accessing it from our cottage due to some technical issues. So while Jackie & I had lunch, we checked on our e-mail. Our timing was good, as some nasty thunderstorms blew up, providing the first rain we experienced since we arrived. Mid-afternoon, the storms abated, we shuttled back to Seaspray for some poolside reading, then take-out pizza dinner.
Saturday, the Sea of Abaco looked calmer (we often had difficulty hearing CruiserNet from our cottage, so we didn’t know what it would be like until we got out there), so we headed off to Mermaid Reef. We found the mooring balls, and tied up to one. Even though the water was calm & clear, Jackie decided to stay onboard while I snorkeled. There were plenty of fish to be found. Actually, they found me, including several large snappers and parrotfish. Guess they had learned to come begging for a handout. Once back on board, we went over to Hopetown for some gift shopping. "Hopetown North" was not as glassy as it had been earlier this week, so we spent the remainder of the day at the resort. Around 6:00PM, the skies got very dark to the north, and a line of drenching storms arrived, canceling the live music show.
Sunday, we boated down to Tilloo Bank for some recommended beachcombing, but the now-northerly winds & high tides quashed that idea. So we followed in the wake of another boat back to Seaspray, tied up, and went seaglass hunting by the resort. Its amazing how the waves, over time, cut channels into the rocks. We stayed by the pool for the afternoon, and had dinner at the bar. Junior’s band, the Islanders, played that evening, and quite a crowd gathered to listen and dance. Great music, too, and a memorable and special last night for us on Elbow.
Monday morning, we had breakfast, then took one last walk up to the beach …. but not for seaglass. A couple of surfers were riding the waves of the angriest ocean we had seen all week. We then put our luggage on "Mr. Maurice", printed out our return-flight’s boarding passes in the office, gave our good-byes to Junior, Megan, Tony, and the rest of the staff at Seaspray who had made our vacation so wonderful, and motored up to Parrot Cay, where Jeff checked our boat over. Island Marine then gave us a very bouncy ride to Calcutta Landing on Great Abaco, where we caught a taxi to the Marsh Harbor shopping district. Jackie looked for some last minute gift items, and we had lunch at Mangoes. Great cracked conch!!! Our taxi driver Althea, who kept our luggage while we shopped & lunched, picked us up and took us to MHH.
Upon arrival, MHH appeared chaotic, but only because the American Eagle flight (with many passengers) was about to depart. Our Continental/Gulfstream check-in went smoothly, our plane arrived on time, and suddenly we were flying back to West Palm Beach.
I mentioned before we left for the Abacos that I was concerned that we only had an hour to de-plane, clear customs, and board our connecting flight back to Newark. When we arrived at PBI, we were escorted to customs, which processed us quickly. We then realized that we had to go up to Continental’s ticketing to re-check our luggage (in other airports we’ve visited, our checked luggage goes right back on the plane after customs), then go through security screening (complete with the new "air sniffer" device.) But PBI was (at least on Memorial Day) as sleepy as MHH was, so we had no issues.
When we arrived at our flight’s gate, we were asked if we would be interested in surrendering our seats, for travel the next day. Of course, Jackie & I agreed, and even though our checked luggage flew off to Newark, we had carry-on items which would hold us over for the night. Continental provided us with a hotel room, vouchers for meals, and $350 in flight vouchers each. (We have a daughter living in San Diego, so the vouchers will help defray the cost of flying her to NJ for visits.) We ended up extending our vacation by one day, and had a nice evening dinner in the "City Place" section of West Palm Beach.
Tuesday morning we returned to our departure gate at PBI, to find that that flight was also overbooked. Again, we were asked to volunteer our seats ($400 flight voucher each), which we happily agreed to. We finally departed PBI in the afternoon, arriving in Newark at about 6:00PM.
Jackie & I agree that this was one of the best and most relaxing vacations we’ve ever been on … notwithstanding me losing my sunglasses, and our adventures on "Mr. Maurice." Seaspray is a great place to stay on Elbow, and we might stay there again. (BTW, power was out on Elbow for a couple of days, but Seaspray has a generator which kept the resort/marina supplied w/ electricity.) Seaspray also has reasonably-priced phone service to the U.S. ... about 30 cents/minute. Verizon cellphone service was non-existent.
Probably the one thing we would do differently is bring less clothing, and more food items.
A great vacation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We flew out of Newark on 5/17 via Continental, arrived in West Palm Beach ahead of schedule, and departed Terminal A at 11:00AM on-time for MHH.
Clearing customs at MHH was a breeze, although Jackie had to complete her own customs arrival declaration form … the Continental rep back at Terminal A told us that we only needed one. We then took a taxi over to the Albury ferry dock, and waited for our 2:00 PM trip over to Hopetown. We considered stopping in Marsh Harbor on the way for lunch/groceries ( as some of you nicely suggested) but we didn’t want to screw things up, so we just relaxed & caught up w/ some reading.
Once on board, the ferry captain radioed ahead to Seaspray Resort, advising that we would be arriving in Hopetown. But somehow we missed our shuttle pickup, so we sat around until one finally arrived for us about ½ hour later. Hey, its an island adventure!
We had reserved the 1-bedroom harborside cottage at Seaspray known as "Grape Leaf", and we were pleasantly surprised how nice it actually was. It was very clean, although Jackie took issue w/ a couple of minor things. After unpacking and meeting the manager, Junior, we explored the resort, then went down to the Garbonzo Reef Bar for Kaliks & conch fritters. The house band played that night, but we retired early due to the long day of travel.
Sunday we picked up our Albury 20 from Island Marine. I am NOT a boater, and Jackie & I were initially concerned that we’d be in way over our heads in handling the Albury. (And though at first we did have some at first unsettling … then hilarious … moments docking & tying down the boat, we eventually felt very comfortable navigating with "Mr. Maurice." Seaspray allowed us to tie-up to the dock throughout our stay.) Jeff of Island Marine was helpful with some do’s & do not’s. We then visited Tahiti Beach at very low tide, and Jackie found a couple of sand dollars, which are a prized rarity in New Jersey. Then we went into Hopetown for lunch, where Jackie pointed out a nurse shark cruising under the dock. Returning to Seaspray, we walked up to the beach north of Abaco Inn, where Jackie was delighted to find another NJ rarity … seaglass, and lots of it. (We ended bringing three plastic baggies of seaglass home with us.) We finished our day with Jackie watching the season’s end to Desperate Housewives …. and what’s with that weird ending????
Monday we took Mr. Maurice up to Guana Cay. The ride was a little bouncy on the trip up & back. Although it took us a while to find Nippers, we had a nice time on the beautiful beach there. We loved Nippers’ fish sandwiches & pineapple coleslaw. Grabbed some Kaliks at the Fig Tree grocery before we returned.
Tuesday we walked up to Sweetings Grocery for some food items, then attempted to take Mr. Maurice up to the Foul Cays for some snorkeling. For most of our vacation, the wind blew out of the southwest (supposedly, quite unusual), and on Tuesday, we took a beating heading up to Man `O War Cay. I wasn’t comfortable going up the leeside of MOW, and Jackie wasn’t having fun as we continued west. Finally, we aborted, and tried heading over to Mermaid Reef. Seas were still rough heading there, so … island adventure be damned! … we returned to Seaspray. We took the shuttle up to Hopetown, losing my prescription sunglasses in the process. We lunched at Cap’n Jacks, then swam for a bit at "Hopetown South" beach, in front of Hopetown Harbor Lodge. Keeping with the island adventure theme, Jackie talked me into walking back to Seaspray along the beach, which was fine most of the way, until we had to navigate (with Jackie in her flimsy sandals) around the jagged ironshore cliffs in front of a beautiful beachfront villa. (For a moment, I thought we’d surprise someone sunbathing au natural by the pool, but the villa was unoccupied.) We make it back safely, after we stopped for more seaglass. Tuesday was the Full Moon Party at Cracker P’s, but Jackie & I instead stayed at the resort, and watched the moon rise over the ocean … plus watched a brilliant International Space Station & several other satellites pass overhead.
Wednesday morning we refueled at Seaspray (24 gallons at $5.76 per gal!!! Yikes!), then took "Mr. Maurice" south to Little Harbour. Seas were initially rough, but calmed down once we got below Tilloo Bank. Smoke blowing from the inland forest fires almost choked Jackie. We coasted into Little Harbour, then motored back out after Jackie didn’t want to explore there, and it was too early for a burger (ahh, maybe next time.) Water was bouncy by Sandy Cay, so we didn’t stop there to snorkel (again, maybe next time.) We headed up to Hopetown, had lunch at Harbour’s Edge (great creamy conch chowder!), and took our snorkel gear over to "Hopetown South" which has some nice reefs to cruise around in. Soon, however, Jackie beckoned me back to the beach, to tell me that there was a nice-sized dorsal fin cruising about 50’ from me. (No, it wasn’t the porpoise I pointed out offshore.) Umm, I’m not THAT adventurous, so we walked over to what we referred to as "Hopetown North" beach. Very pretty, and the water was calm with the southwesterly wind. After we swam, we stored our gear in "Mr. Maurice" and walked through town for some provisions (i.e., food, Kaliks, wine for Jackie, and Vernon’s Grocery’s key lime pie …. which Jackie judged as the best she’s ever had, including her own.)
Thursday was loafing day. We docked in Hopetown (btw, the lighthouse was closed for repairs during our stay …. another "to do" item for our next visit), and walked to "Hopetown North." I inflated the plastic raft we brought with us, and Jackie spent a long time just lazily relaxing in the water. We walked up the north end of the beach, spotting some rays and large barracudas cruising a few feet away. More seaglass was collected … its almost obscene how much there is here. Sun-saturated (and we constantly lathered on the SPF30), we walked over to Cap’n Jack’s for lunch, then headed back to Seaspray to catch up on our reading. (For the most part, we didn’t meet any other Yankees during our vacation; mostly folks from the Carolinas, Georgia, and (especially) Florida. Everyone seemed to gather at Seaspray’s pool by mid-afternoon, then at the bar afterwards. And everyone was friendly and enjoyed having a conversation.)
Jackie & I did a lot of walking in the White Sound area during our stay, and on Friday morning we did some sightseeing by walking down to Tahiti Beach. There are some very beautiful houses on the southern end of Elbow Cay. We had Tahiti to ourselves, although there wasn’t much to see due to the high tide. But I did manage to find five sand dollars (in the form of a Bahamian $5 bill) while we were beachcombing. I initially thought about keeping it as a souvenir of our trip, but later decided to spend it on a Kalik. Returning to Seaspray, we shuttled to Harbour’s Edge restaurant with our laptop. Seaspray has Internet access for a fee, but we had difficulty accessing it from our cottage due to some technical issues. So while Jackie & I had lunch, we checked on our e-mail. Our timing was good, as some nasty thunderstorms blew up, providing the first rain we experienced since we arrived. Mid-afternoon, the storms abated, we shuttled back to Seaspray for some poolside reading, then take-out pizza dinner.
Saturday, the Sea of Abaco looked calmer (we often had difficulty hearing CruiserNet from our cottage, so we didn’t know what it would be like until we got out there), so we headed off to Mermaid Reef. We found the mooring balls, and tied up to one. Even though the water was calm & clear, Jackie decided to stay onboard while I snorkeled. There were plenty of fish to be found. Actually, they found me, including several large snappers and parrotfish. Guess they had learned to come begging for a handout. Once back on board, we went over to Hopetown for some gift shopping. "Hopetown North" was not as glassy as it had been earlier this week, so we spent the remainder of the day at the resort. Around 6:00PM, the skies got very dark to the north, and a line of drenching storms arrived, canceling the live music show.
Sunday, we boated down to Tilloo Bank for some recommended beachcombing, but the now-northerly winds & high tides quashed that idea. So we followed in the wake of another boat back to Seaspray, tied up, and went seaglass hunting by the resort. Its amazing how the waves, over time, cut channels into the rocks. We stayed by the pool for the afternoon, and had dinner at the bar. Junior’s band, the Islanders, played that evening, and quite a crowd gathered to listen and dance. Great music, too, and a memorable and special last night for us on Elbow.
Monday morning, we had breakfast, then took one last walk up to the beach …. but not for seaglass. A couple of surfers were riding the waves of the angriest ocean we had seen all week. We then put our luggage on "Mr. Maurice", printed out our return-flight’s boarding passes in the office, gave our good-byes to Junior, Megan, Tony, and the rest of the staff at Seaspray who had made our vacation so wonderful, and motored up to Parrot Cay, where Jeff checked our boat over. Island Marine then gave us a very bouncy ride to Calcutta Landing on Great Abaco, where we caught a taxi to the Marsh Harbor shopping district. Jackie looked for some last minute gift items, and we had lunch at Mangoes. Great cracked conch!!! Our taxi driver Althea, who kept our luggage while we shopped & lunched, picked us up and took us to MHH.
Upon arrival, MHH appeared chaotic, but only because the American Eagle flight (with many passengers) was about to depart. Our Continental/Gulfstream check-in went smoothly, our plane arrived on time, and suddenly we were flying back to West Palm Beach.
I mentioned before we left for the Abacos that I was concerned that we only had an hour to de-plane, clear customs, and board our connecting flight back to Newark. When we arrived at PBI, we were escorted to customs, which processed us quickly. We then realized that we had to go up to Continental’s ticketing to re-check our luggage (in other airports we’ve visited, our checked luggage goes right back on the plane after customs), then go through security screening (complete with the new "air sniffer" device.) But PBI was (at least on Memorial Day) as sleepy as MHH was, so we had no issues.
When we arrived at our flight’s gate, we were asked if we would be interested in surrendering our seats, for travel the next day. Of course, Jackie & I agreed, and even though our checked luggage flew off to Newark, we had carry-on items which would hold us over for the night. Continental provided us with a hotel room, vouchers for meals, and $350 in flight vouchers each. (We have a daughter living in San Diego, so the vouchers will help defray the cost of flying her to NJ for visits.) We ended up extending our vacation by one day, and had a nice evening dinner in the "City Place" section of West Palm Beach.
Tuesday morning we returned to our departure gate at PBI, to find that that flight was also overbooked. Again, we were asked to volunteer our seats ($400 flight voucher each), which we happily agreed to. We finally departed PBI in the afternoon, arriving in Newark at about 6:00PM.
Jackie & I agree that this was one of the best and most relaxing vacations we’ve ever been on … notwithstanding me losing my sunglasses, and our adventures on "Mr. Maurice." Seaspray is a great place to stay on Elbow, and we might stay there again. (BTW, power was out on Elbow for a couple of days, but Seaspray has a generator which kept the resort/marina supplied w/ electricity.) Seaspray also has reasonably-priced phone service to the U.S. ... about 30 cents/minute. Verizon cellphone service was non-existent.
Probably the one thing we would do differently is bring less clothing, and more food items.
A great vacation.