On Thursday we had a great sail (as opposed to Great Sale Cay) over flat water beating into 10-20 knots of warm ESE breeze to Green Turtle Cay, always a favorite stop in this part of the Bahamas. New Plymouth [ photo ] is the only town on this two mile long island. It boasts three grocery stores, two hardware stores, two bakeries and twelve restaurants all within the four blocks by two blocks downtown area. Actually, it puts me in mind of a small English village transplanted, and repainted in pastels, to the Bahamas.

We stopped in at Sid's Grocery to see how Sid was making out. I don't believe he's changed a bit in the years I've been away. He says the Abacos are still being hurt by the recession, with many fewer boats coming over in recent years. He also sees fewer younger cruisers taking the place of those getting too old. I'm not sure about that latter point from what I've been seeing this year but there are certainly fewer boats here in December than I remember in the past.

From there we went out around Whale Cay (mandated by shoals inside) for a mile and a half long ocean passage and returned to the Sea of Abaco and stopped at the northern tip of Great Guana Cay for lunch. When I first came here, that end of Guana was owned by the Disney company as an island paradise stop for their Big Red cruise ship. They dredged a channel through Whale Cay cut, put up tiki huts, a fancy bar and entertainment pavilions, and called it Treasure Island. They soon discovered that the cut could often be too rough for a cmfortable entrance and abandoned the whole project. The ruins made for an interesting anchorage but they're now all gone and being replaced by a large gated community. The kind of development is happening more and more in the Bahamas these days.

We beat on to Marsh Harbour, the business hub of the Abaco islands. There were maybe a dozen other cruising boats in the harbor. It was the weekend so nearly everything was closed. We'll return there on Monday looking for a few things we need for the boat. Today we took a little side trip back to Guana Cay for the pig roast at Nipper's ocean side bar and grill. It was quite delicious and it does pass the time.

Cruising sailors spend a lot of time waiting - waiting for a weather window, waiting for parts to arrive, waiting for stores to open, waiting for it to stop raining. While waiting we hang out in paradise where the water are abstract patterns of stained glass, where the sands are powdery white, where coconuts fall out of the trees and where the high for the day is 79 and the low is 76. I have no complaints about waiting for anything aroud here.