Stormy Days & Treasure

The Coco Beach Bar at Treasure Cay

Tuesday.  Today's plan was to get up early and make a break for Spanish Cay - about 40 miles north.  But, to quote Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men Gang aft agley" (translated to: Whatever you plan, something will come along to screw it up.)  First of all, I probably had just one too many cold Coronas at the Hope Town Marina Pool Bar last night - so I woke up a wee bit late at about 7am.  Second, the weather was not conducive to a 6-hour ride north, with WSW winds at 15-25 knots.  In fact, Troy at DiveGuana described the Sea of Abaco as "rough" on the morning Cruiser's Net.  So, I initiated "Plan B".

You see, I have spent a lot of time cruising the Abacos, and whenever I get a weather report of strong westerly winds, I can only think of one place that I want to be - Treasure Cay.  The beach at Treasure is phenomenal when the winds blow out of the west.  It's completely protected from that direction and becomes like a huge, turquoise swimming pool.  It took a bit of convincing (of Larry anyway - Jen was onboard with it immediately), but we finally revised our plans and set our sights on Treasure Cay, with a stopover in Man-O-War Cay.

Man-O-War.  Hmmmm.  How to put this?  The Mass's are pretty normal in most respects - except one.  They have a bit of a fixation on the incredible sail canvas bags made by the ladies at Norman Albury's Sail Shop in Man-O-War.  So, of course, we had to stop there and pick up a mooring while Larry and Jen hopped into the skiff and made their annual pilgrimage to the Sail Shop.


Crowded Harbor at Man-O-War

They were gone about an hour and a half.  In the meantime, Sarah and Anna discussed the possibility of entering them in the reality show "My Strange Obsession".  But all was great when Larry & Jen finally returned with a few new bags, a few repaired old bags, a few new ipad bags for the girls, and some delicious fresh-baked cinnamon rolls and bread.

We dropped our mooring, left the harbor and began the two-hour cruise to Treasure Cay.  When we were still about a half-hour from Treasure, the skies began to darken and we suddenly saw an ominous waterspout form about 5 miles away off our starboard bow.

Storm with waterspout

We watched it for about ten minutes as we headed as quickly as possible in to our safe dock at Treasure Cay Marina.  The skies continued to darken and lightning was striking all over the place as we approached the marina.  Then the dockmaster called on the radio, asking us to hold off from docking as there was too much "sharp lightning".  We let him know that we were committed to coming in, that I was familiar with the docks, and that we could handle tying up on our own - assuring him that he didn't have to leave the safety of his office.


Having a VERY bad hair day

We backed in to our slip on T-dock and tied up just as the bottom fell out amid sheets of rain (conveniently washing the salt off of Spoonie.)  A half hour later, as the storm ended, a brand-new, fifty-three-foot Catana catamaran was towed in and pushed to the docks.  She had been struck by lightning and none of her electronics had survived. They could not even start the engines.

The sun came out and everyone headed for the pool first - and then the beach.  There is a very nice beach volleyball court here and the girls got into a spirited game.

Eventually, Larry and I joined the girls on the volleyball court.  First, I want to make it clear that I am BY FAR the oldest person on this trip, and also have the worst knees.  In spite of this - and although we did not keep score - Sarah and I still beat the crap out of Larry and Anna.  Right Sarah?

As darkness began to fall, we all headed back to the boat looking forward to grilling some more of that amazing Cat Cay Bluefin Tuna.  As I type this, the skies are again alight with lightning and everyone is finishing up their incredible tuna steak dinner.  The plan for tomorrow is to hang around for the morning and maybe rent a Hobie Cat or kayak or two.  Then we should finally head north to Spanish Cay.  But who knows what the day will actually bring, it's been another great day aboard Spoonbill!