Man-O-War street map. Love it!

North Beach Anchorage (and star fish!)

Abaco Sea on the left, Atlantic Ocean on the right

Beach Shelter and Scripture

On Trip #2 to Man-O-War, we had inclement weather and picked up a mooring in the harbour. 

Harbour and Moorings

Man-O-War Harbour

Wooden boat

I love the textures on this wooden boat!

 There's a sweet conch shell and conch horn stand in town with a honor pay box. We picked up a horn to blow at sunset, a Bahamian tradition. 

Conch horns and shells

Residential streets were lined with cut-out picket fences, bright bougainvillea, and conch shells. Lovely!  The Mermaid Cottage looked so perfect, and it was "For Sale!" 
Each street led to the Atlantic Beach.  

Atlantic Beach

Matt and Hastings taking a shade break

Man-O-War Cay: home to the ferry system!

Do you think you could build a boat without a refreshing beverage or smoke to look forward to at the end of the day? 

 We visited Hope Town, Elbow Cay, on three separate occasions:
1. 5 days anchored "outside" in slumville.
2. Took the kids to see the lighthouse. A dark storm was gathering as we neared Elbow Cay, but we thought we could beat it! We hit a 30 knot gust front in the entrance channel and then it started absolutely pouring as we picked up a mooring.
3. A final night on a mooring as we started to make our way back to the U.S. 

Hope Town is unlike any other Bahamian town we have visited. It's so touristy! It's so cute! So green and vibrant! We really loved it. 

"Very exclusive marina" - North Elbow Cay

Mileage signs, North Elbow Cay

Hastings got lifted up and down a lot of ladders!

Hope Town Moorings - can you spot Independence?

Hope Town Harbour

Hope Town hosts a lot of moorings (all from different vendors; good luck!) and has tons of dinghy docks. It's very boater friendly and all the charter boats love it (and provide plenty of free entertainment). 

Sailing club dinghy dock

Elbow Cay beachfront

All the houses were vacation rentals and were so cute!
 There are no motorized vehicles allowed in the main part of town. It's the perfect place to wander on foot.

Narrow street

Matt especially loved the lighthouse. It is one of the few lighthouses that is still kerosene lit and hand operated. 

Hope Town Lighthouse

Lighthouse stairway

There are a number of eateries and bars in Hope Town; Munchies snack bar was the best! 

Munchies snack bar

"What ice cream?"

Beautiful Hope Town at sunset.

Hope Town harbour lights.

The ferry. It's not happy until you are soaked, your plates are smashed, and you're aground off the channel.

Do you have a favorite lighthouse? 

Slumville with a view

Will we beat the rain? (No.)

Hastings thinks all this laundry drama is getting old!

Hope Town Ritzy moorings. Can you spot Independence amoungst all the charter cats?

Fancy swimming pool! (I love the stingray cutouts in the lodge)

$30 Mooring at Treasure Cay

The next day, we sailed to Manjack Cay. Turtles bob their heads in a mangrove creek. Hastings jogs the 1 mile tree lined path to the ocean. The bayside looks like a postcard- palm trees, white sand; we love it! It's heaven!

Manjack is private, but the owners kindly allow cruisers to wander - even providing signs!

Ocean Beach!

Seaside beach, Manjack

Manjack beach and anchorage - beautiful!

Manjack Sunset

On day 3 in this idyllic paradise, west winds built; it's hell. We headed to Green Turtle Cay and picked up a mooring inside the harbour. It's protected from all wind; heaven! There's no breeze and it's buggy; hell! We walked to Gillam's Bay Beach and swam. It's one of the prettiest beaches we've ever seen. The water is perfect, calm, and soft. Heaven! 

We walked back to our beautiful sailboat, moored in a picture perfect spot in the Bahamas. Palm trees sway, the sun sets, stars sparkle.  Sure, the nightmares are constant, but we're living the dream! 

Gillam's Bay Beach, Green Turtle Cay

Black Sound moorings, Green Turtle Cay

Have you ever been to a much talked of destination and been disappointed? What ruins a trip for you?

Whatever date today is, aka, some time after we left the Bahamas, 14 miles outside Beaufort, NC.

No one is sick, yay!
Our wind instrument broke a few days ago. We've been running dead downwind and it's a joy to jibe in the pitch black, in heaving seas, in the rain, with no wind direction or strength info other than your feelings, which are preoccupied with being tired and irritable. This joy has lead us to chafe the dyneema (super strong) reef lines and bust some sail cars(hold the main sail onto the big metal lightning rod).
Because our hearts were too full, when a storm joined us at 4am last night, we just dropped the sail and started motoring. Couldn't take anymore blind jibes in storm winds. Now it's cold and raining. We haven't seen any other private boats; Matt says other people don't want to be on a small boat, in the middle of the ocean, with their loved ones.
It can't be that bad because we still have lots of snacks left, including the emergency Bombay mix my sister gave us. What larks!

June 16
12am. The sea state is beastly. It feels like a horrid washing machine. The boat surfs one way, careens another, the jib flails in the wave's trough. It's better at the helm- stars are out, watching the wake. Making 7 knots in the Gulf Stream.
8am- Matt ended up doing 10 hours of shifts overnight, I managed 2. Hastings voted for a cabin in the woods. I too would rather look at trees being green than be green myself.
The waves are coming at our beam, while the wind is off our stern.
We put 2 reefs in the main and rolled in the jib last night as a storm approached but we stayed out of most of it.
Currently 100 miles offshore of Charleston and 135 miles south of Beaufort, NC, expecting arrival tomorrow.
24 hour run: 160 miles, double yesterday's!

June 14
5pm: Napping all day today. Hastings approves of the napping and snacking schedule but is sad about the lack of walks. Currently going at 2.5 knots and it's hot, still and sunny. The M&M's we have hoarded have been opened.
8:15pm: Another sunset drama. We jibed and reefed to avoid a storm. Then we reefed again and took in the jib. We got about 30 knots in the gust front, then jibed back on course. Sadly, we snapped the lazy jacks (lines that keep the sail organized when it's dropped) in the second jibe. It's now cold and windy but great to be making proper speeds- 6 knots. How long will this last?
11pm. Very black, overcast with no moon or stars. 2 knots. Maybe we should run the engines.

June 15
3am. Start starboard engine to try and keep away from a storm. (Lightning phobia)
5am. Engine off, storm avoided. We've seen a few more tankers but not a single smaller boat.
8am. Total distance traveled- 195 miles. 86 miles over the last 24 hours. Pathetic!

June 13
Left anchorage at 815am and out Moraine Cay channel. Bored. Seems slow.
Snacks consumed: ginger nuts, more ginger nuts, Funyuns, chocolate biscuits, chocolate oat bars, cheddar chips. Lots of tea. Hot dogs for lunch, chicken less and pie less chicken pot pie for dinner. (Our freezer died and all our meat went bad.)
Overnight, we reefed the main for a squall and jibed a few times.
June 14
12am: Racing at 2.5 knots! 10 minute struggle to light stove. Starts raining. 10 minute struggle to close canvas. 10 minute struggle to get the dog to move so that I can get the cream out of the fridge. It's 12:45am by the time I have my tea ready.
4am: Jibe, then off shift.
6:45am: back on shift, listening to wx.
8:15am- 24 hr mileage: 109. Up to 4 knots speed now, still way too slow. Saw about 10 cargo ships overnight. All is well. Hastings sleeping a lot, lucky dog. Note: I can't see comments until we get to the US. It's a one way system.