From Christmas at Green Turtle Cay, New Years at Treasure Cay and a visit to pretty Hope Town Harbour

Christmas at Green Turtle Cay was absolutely wonderful. There is a large cruiser community that comes here every year, some for the whole season, some just for Christmas and New Year. The first event we attend is a local fundraiser for the school, followed by the "Decorated Golf Cart" parade. It never ceases to amaze me, how these things all just somehow come together. Earlier in the day, Warren went to town to get some details, asking numerous local people about what, where and when, and he came back with no more info than he went out to get. So we went together with other cruisers who had been there in years past, and voila, it all just happened. The fundraiser was great, the food eventually appeared and was very tasty, someone collected the money, the school kids sang for the visitors, and after all of that, even Santa showed up. Once it was dark and everyone had their dinner, they proceeded with the parade. The parade consisted of about 6-8 golf carts!!!

We went to two more cruiser specific events on Christmas, and then we set our eyes on the next big step: The oh so feared "Whale Cay Passage". We wanted to get to the southern Abacos for New Years, but to get there, you have to go through the Whale, no way out of that one. On December 27, the weather was calm, and after checking all available resources, we went for it. It's really only a very short passage, but if you go when the "Whale" is in a "Rage", well, not so good.

We planed on spending New Years at Treasure Cay, and because we know there is another really strong storm coming, we go on a mooring ball. Good thing we did, because the winds were from all directions and very strong. By now you must be thinking, all we ever do is hide from storms. Well, pretty much. But we have usually plenty of nice days in between. And as I am writing this, we have been in Hope Town, and again, we are on a mooring ball. Why? Bloody Storm again, just as bad as the earlier ones we had.
Another thing that happened here in Hope Town, and we use this not to scare ourselves, but to remind us to be ever so vigilant in planning our passages: two nights ago, a sailboat washed up on the beach here in Hope Town. Two men with two dogs left Puerto Rico (to sail to Florida) on December 26th, got into those horrible storms after New Years, their boat got disabled, and they ended up here. They are extremely lucky to be alive. They encountered 35' waves, and winds of 50-60 knots. The boat is toast, they lost everything except their lives.
Our next big step is the passage from the Abacos down to Eleuthera. Chris Parker the weather guru seems to think there is a window this Saturday, so we are preparing. Tomorrow we make our way a bit further south, to stage ourselves near the North Bar cut. From there, if all looks good, we will head down to Royal Island on Eleuthera.

Fundraiser, Bahamas style! A long line of hungry Cruisers and Bahamians alike, but waiting in line gives everyone ample time to chat and meet new people. The food was tasty, and everyone had a good time.

The school children were singing Christmas Songs for us, I love how the teacher led them in their singing.

After they finished their concert, Santa showed up!!! He brought sweets for the kids, and they all got their turns saying hello. Like all children around the world, they were excited to see Santa.

These were the winners of the Golf Cart Parade!

Christmas morning in the cockpit. Where better to open presents and eat Christmas cookies!

We even had cruiser "Santa" come by our boat, delivering treats and wishing a Happy Christmas. This is Cam and Jan from Nova Scotia, they have been coming to Green Turtle Cay for over 20 years, and they are the ones organizing all the social events around Christmas. Thank you, you made our Christmas special!!!

We moved on to Treasure Cay, after all the hubbub, we needed some down time on the beach, LOL.

Because it was the calm before the storm, we went fishing in the dinghy, and look what I caught: a really large, and turns out, really tasty, Mutton Snapper. We are in the mooring field at Treasure Cay, a very protected anchorage.

This is beautiful Hope Town. We are on a mooring on the right side of the picture. The dark blue water behind the land is the Atlantic.

Hope Town is famous for its light house. This is the last existing, Kerosine lit and hand wound operated light house left in the world. It was built in 1864.