Lake Effect on Great Loop: 11miles, 12miles,and 9miles

When we left Treasure Cay, we travelled eleven miles to Great Ghana Cay, followed by another twelve miles to Hope Town and later nine miles to Marsh Harbour.

Hope Town Lighthouse Entry

It was hard to leave the beautiful beach in Treasure Cay, but we still had more to see. The short eleven miles to Great Ghana Cay was beautiful and easy. It was nice to leave later then usual and still arrive in time for lunch. This island is only five miles long. At the tip, there is a private marina and development. Apparently Disney started developing a complex there, but it was abandoned. We did not visit that area as it is restricted even by water. We stayed in the south of the island and walked around. We only saw one vehicle there. It's mostly golf carts and dirt roads. This island is famous for Nippers. It has a Sunday pig roast. The nearby tourists and locals swarm the island for this party. It was a fun place for a couple of days. We met a nice couple at Nippers who happened to be going to Fort Myers. Yvon sang the praise of our Old Bridge Village mobile park. They went to see it and bought a home.

Color coordinated with the building.. How Cool!

We left the morning after the party for Hope Town. They say, Hope Town is the prettiest town in the Bahamas. The population is 1500 and another 1500 illegal immigrants. The streets are very narrow and similar to European villages. Some streets are reserved to pedestrian traffic. This area was developed by Loyalist. They have a nice museum, explaining the history of the island. There is no water on this island. They collect rain water in cisterns for their needs.

We have watched the island life here, like no other way. There are many water taxis. Children take them to school, even the little ones. People commute to work by water taxis or in their own boat.
At the Lighthouse marina we are by the last man manned kerosene lighthouse. We climbed the 101 steps for the spectacular view of the town, the Sea of Abacos and the Atlantic Ocean. At night, we could smell the Kerosene oil. There are two manatees that live under the dock. They were lovely to look at. Especially when they find some freshwater.

Another nice thing here is the proximity to other islands. We visited Tahiti beach and you would think you were in a different world. Breathless! You can walk at low tide and feel like you are walking on water. We also visited part of Tillico Cay by dinghy.

We met up with old Looper friends from Canada and we have met other loopers. Everyone has a different story, different boat and their experiences varies.

Much more exploring to do, so we are off to Marsh Harbor. It is the third largest city in the Bahamas. The harbor is slightly congested with mooring balls and there are several marinas here. Our reservations at Harborview Marina where non existent. We had called five times to reserve, so that was disappointing. Oh well another hickup. We are glad they made room for us because they were calling for gale force winds in a couple of days.
Well on first inspection, this isn't as nice as we have seen so far. More a big town but not too big. There aren't many cars here and those we see are not new except for a nice black cadillac. The water isn't the beautiful clear aqua blue but it's still warm and blue. We are in a safe harbour and we are staying here as the winter storms keep coming. Even the mega yachts are coming in.
These yachts are beautiful and the captain's are friendly. They won't say who their owners are. We met an owner, he was moored beside us for a weekend. He doesn't drive his 65 Endeavor. Yvon said he would drive it, if we owned it. It is two years old and very beautiful. Unfortunately, it's not in our budget. But since we are among the rich and famous, why not dress up and go to the best restaurant in Town? This is us at Wally, famous for their bread pudding. And Lil Hide Away safely moored with these giants.

Marsh Harbour has a population of 6000. It is smaller then our home town. It has one traffic light. We are enjoying visiting this area by foot and by dinghy. Some of our friends will visit us for a few days and we will explore the Abaco island by car then.

When the winds died down, we did a dinghy ride to Man of War Cay . It's a seven mile boat ride. Yvon had a surprise when we went to the restaurant.