Mayaguana

We arrived at Abraham Bay after an easy motor-sail from Samana Cay, taking about 9 hours. We arrived to find only two other boats at anchor (Yay, not like Georgetown!). The path in was easy-peasy, just follow the magenta line on Explorer Charts and anchor as near to shore as your draft allows (still a good distance, as the bottom slope is so gradual). We turned in and awaited a new day!

Now and Zen traveled with us, and with their superior knowledge they took a position about a 1/4 mile further towards shore and the dinghy dock. The next morning, we headed into shore with Ralph & Leslie and connected with their friend Vanessa. Her husband Anton was just back in from a 3 day fishing trip at Booby Cay and was cleaning up 750 pounds of fish and conch that he'd free-dived to gather. Having this local contact and view of the island life is one of the benefits of buddy boating with someone that's been around before!

We got the use of Vanessa's car the headed for the airport to see the collection of wrecked planes (this is not quite the Air and Space Museum, but it'll do). We did get to climb in and out of an old DC3 and look at some other Cessnas and what-not. The DC3 had bullet holes throught the fuselage, which Ralph surmised were to get into a locked panel. I refuted that with the much better theory of an aerial dogfight.

Unfortunately, as we drove around we got bitten by a pothole and as we left the airport, it was clear that we'd not make it home. The rim was bent in several directions. So we waited an hour for a local fellow's son to show up with an air tank. That failed because the sidewall was breached in 3 different places, so we ended up gathering the tire, the compressor, 6 people and two carts of groceries into a tiny car and went back to Abraham Bay to fix the tire. Fortunately, they had a replacement which they got installed on the rim using hand tools. Of course, the rim was straightened out first with a large sledgehammer. Lunch was cracked conch (deep-fried conch), with rice, macaroni & cheese, and potato salad at the Thunderbolt bar. We collected laundry we'd brought for washing and headed back to the boats.

The next morning, we headed up to Betsy Bay, to the government dock because the mailboat Rosalinda was in port and we wanted to get fresh food. That turned into a chase, as the lady with the food to sell was already back at Pirate Well, a town on the north side. We connected at her tiny one-room store and purchased what we could - but no greens as they had gone bad on the mailboat. Mayaguana is the end of the run, and about 4-5 days from Nassau so spoiled food is common here. But oranges and cantalopes, yes! Plus a refill of ginger beer.

Mayaguana is the furthest SE "family island" of the Bahamas. Its about 25 miles x 7 miles, has three principal settlements that comprise about 270 people, an airstrip, a 16 room boutique hotel used mainly by bone fishermen, its own diesel power plant, 2 or 3 cell towers, a few bar/restaurants and a half-dozen tiny stores. The island is surrounded on 3 sides by reef, which means there are some very nice beaches on the N and S shores and there is fairly good protection from waves. Abraham Bay is about 5 miles long on one part of the S shore, with a sand bottom that gives good anchoring so we feel safe leaving our boats.

We took another day sightseeing the local attractions, starting with the Pirates Well (it does have fresh water), the view of the NW bay at Pirates Well, , then the NW point where the navigation warning light is now on the ground and a large birds nest is on the pole. This took a two mile drive on a sand track, so it was definitely off the beaten path.

We stopped at Baycaner Beach Resort, run by Mr. Shorty Brown for visiting fisherman (it looked very nice), but Shorty was out feeding his goats. Since Ralph & Leslie knew where that was, we headed off to the farm and the gas station. The farm turned out to be operational on a small scale, with pigs and chickens (no goats), and a garden with papaya, banana, peppers, etc. So we headed to Cynthia's Gas Station which wasn't manned. After some calling, Shorty was reached and as it's his station, he showed up to fill out car and dinghy tanks ($9/gal). He said that the pig farm was making a little money, and when they have a pig to slaughter they send out notices which gain attention island-wide and as far as Nassau.

The next attraction we saw was the "new" weather radar installation overlooking Abraham Bay. This was built atop an existing 3 story concrete building the US Navy erected in the 1950s for missile-tracking. The entire navy base, including a 10,000 foot runway was decommissioned in 1969 or so, and the island's population dropped from around 1700 to the current figure. Anyway, the building now has a new purpose. The weather radar was installed with a backup generator, tested, and then shut down, ca. 2021. It still lacks a power hookup, although trenches have been dug and underground connection vaults are in place. Apparently the push for new radar happened after Dorian, Irma and Joaquin (2015) struck. However, it looks like progress has stalled. Link: http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/mar/08/new-…, here: http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/aug/28/tota… and here: http://www.tribune242.com/news/2015/nov/30/plan…

We also checked out the plaque memorializing the recovery of the Thor nosecone in 1959 from Mayaguana's beach, which provided the first color photos of earth.

The four of us had a wonderful dinner cooked for us by Smokey & Vanessa, with grouper, pork chops, lobster (courtesy Now and Zen), and two types of slaw. It was delicious. After lunch we watched Neil repair a worn-down skiff and planned a few repairs for Smokeys Hobie 14 that had come ashore on Booby Cay one day.

Due to our land excursions, and then rougher weather, we did very little snorkeling. On the one day we went out, it began as a search for flamingoes, but that was a bust, so we went to the reef and snorkeled just inside it. While the fish were small, I did find one large conch. We also found that if we were willing to have longer dinghy rides to the dock, anchoring near the reef would be actually less rolly than where we were!

On Friday, our last night at Mayaguana, the locals had their fish fry, with fish, of course, conch fritters, pork chops, fried chicken and sides. Smokey made a small business selling beers and a game of dominoes provided background noises as tiles were slammed down. We watched 4 new catamarans arrive through the E cut and anchor near us, creating "cat row".

Tomorrow, we'll head to Turks and Caicos.Read more