Bahamas – Abacos: Treasure Cay

Day 288

April 24, 2016

NM Today: 18

NM Total: 4425

Today was Sunday and yet again we found ourselves in port with everything closed for the day. Fortunately we had seen everything yesterday that held our interest, so I took advantage of the free time and shore power to do some baking. Clark ate the last of his blueberry cake I made him last night, so he had nothing for his midnight snack tonight. 

I made him his all-time favorite applesauce cake. Using the toaster oven and small-sized loaf tins that fit inside, I make two for him and freeze one. Since they have to be cooked in series, it takes about two hours. While the 'oven' was going, I finished reading my latest novel. While I kept busy with the baking and my book, Clark talked to Rocky on Carina about short-wave radios and then listened to the cruiser's network on the VHF radio.

As soon as the second cake came out of the oven, we left Man-O-War, just minutes before 11:00, on our way to Treasure Cay on Great Abaco Island.

Farewell to Man-O-War Marina
(S/V Carina at fuel dock)

We ate lunch on the boat on the way to Treasure Cay. Clark said that if we ate as we went along, we'd have more time to 'play' when we got there! As we motored along Clark spoke to some of our boater friends on the VHF radio (Sum Escape and Carina) and heard others calling each other (Sum Escape to Job Site). Early this morning, we heard Putzin' Around on the Cruiser's Net.

When Clark talked to Rocky on Carina about plans for crossing from the Bahamas to Florida soon, Rocky had a very interesting answer that I liked and will quote here.

   "Our plans were written in the sand at low tide."

That about sums up the plans that Clark and I have made all along the Great Loop and in the Bahamas. By the time high tide has come in (six hours later - give or take) the plans are gone and new ones need to be made.

Entrance to Treasure Cay to Marina

The sign says keep left (towards Green) for deeper water.

The tan area is sand.
Talk about shalllow waters on the red (right) side!

Treasure Cay Marina & Mooring Field

As soon as we got ourselves hooked up to the mooring ball, we headed over to the marina to check in and check out the facilities. The mooring ball cost $30 for one night allowed us access to all marina amenities including WiFi! Yay!

Clark checking out the hammock

My turn
I found it quite comfortable where Clark did not.

View from the Hammock

Good-sized Pool

Besides the pool, bar & grill, and showers, we were told that we could visit the beach directly across the street from the marina as well as the bakery which opened at 3:00 on Sundays. Since we wanted to see everything we could, we headed over to the beach before taking advantage of the pool or showers. 

As we walked towards the beach, we noted this vehicle
in the parking lot ... some sort of all-terrain golf cart pickup truck.
Way too cool!

Sea of Abaco
Turn Right --> Populated Beach Area

Sea of Abaco
Turn left --> deserted beach area

We headed for the empty beach area!

The sand was so fine it was softer than refined sugar. It reminded me of the sand used in craft projects. Truly amazing! As we walked we wondered where that bakery was located that we had been told existed. Clark asked someone on the beach and got directions. We walked along the water's edge for a ways until we found a path off the beach and back up to the streets where we found full-sized streets and even a traffic circle / roundabout. 

Metal Sailboat Sculpture in Middle of Traffic Circle / Roundabout

The town is smaller than small. Blink and you will miss it in its entirety! We could tell that we would not find a bakery where we came off the beach, so we headed back along the road to the area of the marina. We found the police station, the BTC telephone company (open once a week), a food market that actually stayed open on Sunday until 1:00 (it was 3:00), and a bank all co-located in a strip mall. I thought the bakery might be located with that bunch but no success. 

Clark did spy another store and went over and stuck his head in to ask about the bakery. Ah-ha, he found the bakery's back door. They directed us around front where we found a closed hardware store and a closed laundry facility. I did not expect to find anything of interest in the bakery, but I do like to look. 

We ended up buying ice cream as they had three whole flavors and cones to go with it. The smell of cinnamon was pretty powerful for the taste buds, and so we ended up buying a loaf of cinnamon raisin home-baked bread. Yum!

Having walked along the beach and through town and had our before-dinner dessert, we were ready for the pool. We had to collect the dinghy, drive it back to the boat to get our swimsuits and towels, and then bring the dinghy back to the dock so we could swim. 

Climbing up the ladder from the dinghy to the dock was more than a little unnerving. Clark said it was because the ladder sloped in at the bottom. Regardless of why it sloped or felt weird to climb, it made me very happy to step up onto the dock!

We enjoyed a late afternoon swim in very cool water and then took showers before returning to the boat for dinner and a sunset. Although I listened carefully around sunset time, I did not hear any conch-shell horns tonight.  In several places we have stayed here in the Bahamas, conch shells were blown like horns to announce sunset.

Clark took a number of excellent sunset pictures tonight. It was hard to decide among them for the blog.