Hope Town, Elbow Cay

We ran the boat an hour across the Sea of Abacos to visit the charming little town of Hopetown, on Elbow Cay.  And charming it was!  Like all the little towns in the area, the main harbour is filled with mooring balls that are available to rent but are all full, so we dropped the hook outside the harbour, right under the famous Hopetown lighthouse and dinghied in from there.

Boats tied to mooring balls in the crowded harbour

Two beers and an order of fries: 
$25.00usd!!

Hopetown has a reputation for being "artsy", which is right up my alley.  And sure enough, as we got off the dinghy, there were two women right there, working on watercolour paintings of the lighthouse.  We wandered the town, admiring the quaint little cottages all painted up in bright colours, and poked around in some of the little shops and galleries.

Narrow streets sized right for golf carts.

After lunch, we dinghied over to the historic lighthouse.  It is a pretty interesting structure.  It was originally build in 1864 but updated significantly in 1936.  Now managed by volunteers, it operates with a pressurised kerosene pump, reminiscent of old camping lanterns. It flashes a direct beam of groups of five flashes every fifteen seconds, keeping mariners off the reefs... and it makes a great backdrop to an anchorage!  We climbed right to the top and went outside.  The view was spectacular!

The lighthouse.  There are several of these round houses, which are marked as "private" on the door.
We heard that this is where the volunteers who run the place live.

We climbed right to the top

East:  looking out over the harbour and the Atlantic beyond.

West:  Looking out over the Sea of Abacos.
Gran Vida is anchored out there. The only boat that is not a sailboat.

And then, speaking of spectacular, we discovered the beach!  WOW!  

Hopetown Beach

Waves hitting exposed coral reef

The photographer at work

Just GLORIOUS!

We found quite a bit of seaglass.

 

We spent the rest of the day and most of the next on the beach.  We walked, chatted to a few snorkelers who were checking out the reefs just a short distance out, and searched for sea glass.  We saw three different sharks swim by, about five feet long, not twenty feet from shore where we were standing in knee deep water.  The snorkelers were a little apprehensive but, figuring they were probably nurse sharks, continued to snorkel the reefs.  We took a pass!

The evenings were spent at anchor, cooling off with a swim, barbecuing dinner and watching the sun dip below the horizon and the stars coming out one by one.

Jeff set the alarm and got up early to take this pic of the
sun rising behind the lighthouse. 
It was very peaceful... I hear.