Abaco Adventure: Trip Report
Jul 3rd, 2004, 08:01 AM
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Abaco Adventure: Trip Report
The Great Abaco Adventure!
Two couples, drove from Tampa to Ft Lauderdale early in the AM to catch a noon flight on Continental to Marsh Harbour. This saved us $100 pp in airfare, and probably only added about one hour to our trip. Parking at FLL was ridiculous. We chose long-term parking, which means you drive through each terminal in the airport (which is under construction) then finally waaay out beyond to the $6/day lot, which was full. So we parked on the grass in the overflow lot and hauled our luggage to the tram spot. Glad we built extra time into our schedule. Flight to MHH was on a tiny 16 seater, but was great scenery.
Arrived in MHH, two pieces of luggage missing. Had to battle the folks checking into the tiny airport in order to give our info to Continental. Continental said our bags would be delivered to our rental villa in Elbow Cay later that day! This was a ferry and a taxi/golfcart ride away, so we were leery. Caught a taxi to Seahore Boat Rental (taxi driver said bags would be 2-3 days - boohoo there was our snorkel gear in these bags). Stopped at grocery store and liquor store to load up first (quickly as the taxi was charging $20/hour wait time). We knew prices would be outrageous, but $40 for a case of local brewed Kalik felt like gouging to me. On Elbow a case of Kalik was $48, and Bacardi rum, also made in the Bahamas, was more than the US.
Arrived at Seahorse and signed for our 20' Albury outboard, chose to add zero deductible insurance. With the price of gas $4/gallon and oil $20/gallon, the rental boat cost about $1000 for the week - wow. The guys loved this boat on first sight. Turned out to be very sturdy and dependable, yet small enough draft to go just about anywhere. Seahorse radioed our cottage caretaker, we knew we were at the south end of the island, and it took about 20 mins to cross over to the lighthouse, then head south to our cottage dock. Sure enough, the caretaker (another Albury! Everybody's named Albury here!) Was waving to us from the dock as we approached.
The house, called Bali Hai Cottage, 2BR 2BA with dock $2200/week, was perfect. Big decks all around, great furnishings, CD player, video library, central air. There were thousands upon thousands of ants in the master bedroom, which died quickly with a little spray, but the more squeamish among us were not happy about this. What can you do? You?re in the tropics - this is the price of paradise! We called our golfcart rental when we arrived, and it was delivered to us within an hour also! We were in heaven!
After settling in and taking the boat out for cocktail hour, we decided to drive our golfcart into Hopetown at about 8:30 for dinner at a casual place. Well it was SATURDAY NIGHT and everything was closed (except for one bar - but we wanted food!) by 9 pm. Returned to our cottage and cooked some of our own food. We had brought shrimp and steaks with us, also Pina Colada mix, and some other goodies, in addition to what we purchased in town.
Days were spent making leisurely breakfast on our deck, then heading out in the boat for morning snorkel, followed by stops at some island or another for lunch, fishing, afternoon naps, then cocktails and head out on the golfcart for dinner (no boating allowed at night). We ate at Nippers (Sunday pig roast is a must-do!), Blue Water Grill on Guana (best food we had all week), Cracker P's, and all the usual places in Hopetown. Very expensive but we knew that going in. They call warm-water lobster "crawfish" on the menu here - that amused me, since we own a seafood restaurant in Florida, and northerners are always mocking our lobster here - seems Bahamians have no qualms about calling a spade a spade
. It was delicious (even though it was out of season so frozen).
We had a great time in Abaco - it was so much fun using our boat as our transportation - we were a little nervous at first, but you can go almost anywhere without worrying about the depth - you only need a foot or so with these boats, and it was 3-5 feet deep almost everywhere. Snorkeling at Sandy Cay was the best I've seen in a long time. Absolutely invaluable is a Dodge's Abaco Cruising Guide. We paid our booking agent, Abaco Vacation Rentals, $25 to book house, boat, golfcart, and this included the guide. Definitely worth it not having to make individual arrangements.
By the way, our luggage arrived the next day - intact. We found it waiting for us on our deck - it had been delivered right to our doorstep, even though we?d been told it would only be brought to the Albury ferry dock in Hopetown. Cool!
Any questions, bring 'em on!
P.S. I'd never rent a gas powered golfcart again - noisy, smelly, and they go no faster than an electric one!
P.P.S. Thanks to Robert and Abaco Peach, and other Fodorites who helped make this a dream trip! Oh, and sorry about the question marks, I tried to edit them out!
Two couples, drove from Tampa to Ft Lauderdale early in the AM to catch a noon flight on Continental to Marsh Harbour. This saved us $100 pp in airfare, and probably only added about one hour to our trip. Parking at FLL was ridiculous. We chose long-term parking, which means you drive through each terminal in the airport (which is under construction) then finally waaay out beyond to the $6/day lot, which was full. So we parked on the grass in the overflow lot and hauled our luggage to the tram spot. Glad we built extra time into our schedule. Flight to MHH was on a tiny 16 seater, but was great scenery.
Arrived in MHH, two pieces of luggage missing. Had to battle the folks checking into the tiny airport in order to give our info to Continental. Continental said our bags would be delivered to our rental villa in Elbow Cay later that day! This was a ferry and a taxi/golfcart ride away, so we were leery. Caught a taxi to Seahore Boat Rental (taxi driver said bags would be 2-3 days - boohoo there was our snorkel gear in these bags). Stopped at grocery store and liquor store to load up first (quickly as the taxi was charging $20/hour wait time). We knew prices would be outrageous, but $40 for a case of local brewed Kalik felt like gouging to me. On Elbow a case of Kalik was $48, and Bacardi rum, also made in the Bahamas, was more than the US.
Arrived at Seahorse and signed for our 20' Albury outboard, chose to add zero deductible insurance. With the price of gas $4/gallon and oil $20/gallon, the rental boat cost about $1000 for the week - wow. The guys loved this boat on first sight. Turned out to be very sturdy and dependable, yet small enough draft to go just about anywhere. Seahorse radioed our cottage caretaker, we knew we were at the south end of the island, and it took about 20 mins to cross over to the lighthouse, then head south to our cottage dock. Sure enough, the caretaker (another Albury! Everybody's named Albury here!) Was waving to us from the dock as we approached.
The house, called Bali Hai Cottage, 2BR 2BA with dock $2200/week, was perfect. Big decks all around, great furnishings, CD player, video library, central air. There were thousands upon thousands of ants in the master bedroom, which died quickly with a little spray, but the more squeamish among us were not happy about this. What can you do? You?re in the tropics - this is the price of paradise! We called our golfcart rental when we arrived, and it was delivered to us within an hour also! We were in heaven!
After settling in and taking the boat out for cocktail hour, we decided to drive our golfcart into Hopetown at about 8:30 for dinner at a casual place. Well it was SATURDAY NIGHT and everything was closed (except for one bar - but we wanted food!) by 9 pm. Returned to our cottage and cooked some of our own food. We had brought shrimp and steaks with us, also Pina Colada mix, and some other goodies, in addition to what we purchased in town.
Days were spent making leisurely breakfast on our deck, then heading out in the boat for morning snorkel, followed by stops at some island or another for lunch, fishing, afternoon naps, then cocktails and head out on the golfcart for dinner (no boating allowed at night). We ate at Nippers (Sunday pig roast is a must-do!), Blue Water Grill on Guana (best food we had all week), Cracker P's, and all the usual places in Hopetown. Very expensive but we knew that going in. They call warm-water lobster "crawfish" on the menu here - that amused me, since we own a seafood restaurant in Florida, and northerners are always mocking our lobster here - seems Bahamians have no qualms about calling a spade a spade
. It was delicious (even though it was out of season so frozen).We had a great time in Abaco - it was so much fun using our boat as our transportation - we were a little nervous at first, but you can go almost anywhere without worrying about the depth - you only need a foot or so with these boats, and it was 3-5 feet deep almost everywhere. Snorkeling at Sandy Cay was the best I've seen in a long time. Absolutely invaluable is a Dodge's Abaco Cruising Guide. We paid our booking agent, Abaco Vacation Rentals, $25 to book house, boat, golfcart, and this included the guide. Definitely worth it not having to make individual arrangements.
By the way, our luggage arrived the next day - intact. We found it waiting for us on our deck - it had been delivered right to our doorstep, even though we?d been told it would only be brought to the Albury ferry dock in Hopetown. Cool!
Any questions, bring 'em on!
P.S. I'd never rent a gas powered golfcart again - noisy, smelly, and they go no faster than an electric one!
P.P.S. Thanks to Robert and Abaco Peach, and other Fodorites who helped make this a dream trip! Oh, and sorry about the question marks, I tried to edit them out!
Jul 4th, 2004, 03:42 AM
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Thanks for the trip report Joan. For some reason there have been very few reports posted on the Abaco Forum ( Coconut Telegraph ). We also rented our boat from Seahorse and thought they were very professional to deal with. Sounds like Bali Hai worked out also. I remember when you were sending out inquiries on it.
I have seen missing luggage take three days to arrive. Continental did a good job getting that to you. You have to wonder about the logistics of getting it to the airport, over to Elbow, and then to your house.
The Bahama Out Islands are a true treasure.
I have seen missing luggage take three days to arrive. Continental did a good job getting that to you. You have to wonder about the logistics of getting it to the airport, over to Elbow, and then to your house.
The Bahama Out Islands are a true treasure.
Jul 6th, 2004, 06:26 AM
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Thanks to the Rob's!
Let's see, some of the critters we were able to identify: barracuda, queen trigger, grey trigger, blue tangs, wrasses, mangrove, yellowtail, and other snappers, boxfish, jacks, sargeant major, big elkorn coral all at Sandy Cay. Elsewhere we saw turtles, nurse shark, sea urchins, sea biscuits, starfish. The nurse shark we saw one morning underneath our dock in a foot of water. Usually we saw a small barracuda there every day (our Boston friend named him Mista Spot ) so were thrilled to see a shark.
A funny thought: a couple times the guys went fishing, and I donned a mask and snorkel and hung out nearby, watching the activity from a new perspective. It was amazing how they SCARED away the fish by jerking the line. A tiny tug abovewater looked like a giant yank when viewed from below. Of course, you can't tell a guy too much, so I didn't comment. (Can you tell I'm happily married over 25 yrs?) But I have new respect for staying silent and nonmoving while fishing! Oh, and to give credit where it's due: they did catch some delicious snappers which we enjoyed!
Let's see, some of the critters we were able to identify: barracuda, queen trigger, grey trigger, blue tangs, wrasses, mangrove, yellowtail, and other snappers, boxfish, jacks, sargeant major, big elkorn coral all at Sandy Cay. Elsewhere we saw turtles, nurse shark, sea urchins, sea biscuits, starfish. The nurse shark we saw one morning underneath our dock in a foot of water. Usually we saw a small barracuda there every day (our Boston friend named him Mista Spot
) so were thrilled to see a shark. A funny thought: a couple times the guys went fishing, and I donned a mask and snorkel and hung out nearby, watching the activity from a new perspective. It was amazing how they SCARED away the fish by jerking the line. A tiny tug abovewater looked like a giant yank when viewed from below. Of course, you can't tell a guy too much, so I didn't comment. (Can you tell I'm happily married over 25 yrs?) But I have new respect for staying silent and nonmoving while fishing! Oh, and to give credit where it's due: they did catch some delicious snappers which we enjoyed!
Jul 8th, 2004, 01:45 PM
#5
Hi Joan--great report. It sounds as if the trip was a success. I'd love to see your pictures one day--there are some neat places on line to share if you use a digital camera. I used worldisround.com for some of our 4th of July in Boca Ciega Bay http://www.worldisround.com/articles/57488/index.html It's a snap to use if you have digital. Otherwise...we'll meet at Woody's. 
It sounds like a dream vacation...with the exception of the 16 seater perhaps. I'd just as soon swim! Was the house wonderful? You do have some good times in the Caribbean!
It sounds like a dream vacation...with the exception of the 16 seater perhaps. I'd just as soon swim! Was the house wonderful? You do have some good times in the Caribbean!
Jul 8th, 2004, 03:16 PM
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Joan; Thanks for the coral reef survey! The best reef surveys I've ever done were not with scuba gear, but with mask, fin and snorkel over the patch reefs around Abaco and Exuma, between the main island and the outer cays, like in Elizabeth Harbor and the Sea of Abaco. Robert
Jul 8th, 2004, 03:21 PM
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Joan; I heard Sandy Cay was private and that one couldn't trespass. If I rented a boat and did reef surveys off of Sandy, could I pull the boat up to the beach on Sandy Cay and relax? Could you tell me a little more about Sandy Cay's snorkeling? How deep is it there? Is there a particular spot that has the best reef? Please advise and thanks! Robert
Jul 9th, 2004, 03:37 AM
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Thanks OO & Robert!
Robert, Sandy Cay was marked on the Dodge's guide as being part of a sea park. There were buoys surrounding the east side of the island where you could moor. More buoys were on the northeast side, for boats requiring bigger drafts (there were some sailboats/dingys there so I imagine the snorkeling is good on that corner also). "Absolutely no fishing allowed" according to Dodge. Don't know if the island itself is landable...you couldn't get to it from where we moored, because the reefs were in the way. The reefs came right up to the surface, just offshore of the island itself. Outside the reefs it looked quite deep - maybe 50 feet?
Robert, Sandy Cay was marked on the Dodge's guide as being part of a sea park. There were buoys surrounding the east side of the island where you could moor. More buoys were on the northeast side, for boats requiring bigger drafts (there were some sailboats/dingys there so I imagine the snorkeling is good on that corner also). "Absolutely no fishing allowed" according to Dodge. Don't know if the island itself is landable...you couldn't get to it from where we moored, because the reefs were in the way. The reefs came right up to the surface, just offshore of the island itself. Outside the reefs it looked quite deep - maybe 50 feet?
Jul 9th, 2004, 03:44 AM
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Oops! Didn't mean to post yet.
OO the house was really nice, rather old, no dishwasher
and I love to cook, so the guys busted some major suds. It was a little weird having a house facing the bay - I missed that ocean view. But the dock convenience outweighed the missing ocean roar. Photos...hmmm. My friend took 160 pics with his digital, but has yet to upload them, so I haven't seen them. Husband Don took a couple rolls, yes we'll meet at Woody's to share!
Loved your pics of the 4th! Great relaxing vantage point. And Boca bay is cleaner for swimming than Vinoy basin (yucky filthy I'm ashamed of my city bad!).
OO the house was really nice, rather old, no dishwasher
and I love to cook, so the guys busted some major suds. It was a little weird having a house facing the bay - I missed that ocean view. But the dock convenience outweighed the missing ocean roar. Photos...hmmm. My friend took 160 pics with his digital, but has yet to upload them, so I haven't seen them. Husband Don took a couple rolls, yes we'll meet at Woody's to share!Loved your pics of the 4th! Great relaxing vantage point. And Boca bay is cleaner for swimming than Vinoy basin (yucky filthy I'm ashamed of my city bad!).
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