Tuesday, April 2

Andi and I woke up around 6:00am. He made coffee while I did yoga on the top deck. Even though we were anchored, it was a challenge to balance while the boat gently rocked in the wind! The sunrise was a beautiful yellow color as it rose above the island — a great start to the day.

Today, we planned to sail to Tahiti Beach on the nearby island of Elbow Cay. We could actually see the beach from where we were anchored, but the shallow water in between meant we’d have to sail the long way around to get there. Which was totally OK — we came to sail, so that’s half the fun.

After breakfast, we set off — Andi, Aden and Shaun were at the helm while Tory and I did some school and Laura kept watch in her favorite spot on the foredeck. It was a beautiful day on the water. We hoped to catch a fish as we sailed over some of the deeper parts of the ocean, but we had no luck that morning.

Tahiti Beach was absolutely gorgeous! It’s a small beach on the southern tip of Elbow Cay accessible only by boat. There were quite a few fishing boats and daily charters anchored in the water, as well as a few other catamarans. We planned to spend the afternoon collecting shells on the beach and lounging in the sun, and then anchor here for the night.

Laura and Shaun walked down the beach to search for shells while Andi and I stayed back and laid on the beach blanket. It was the first time we’d been alone together in 7 weeks! (As it was, I wouldn’t exactly say we were alone on a beach full of people). Finding time to be a couple has been a challenging aspect of family travel, and I’m not sure we’ve solved for it yet. That’s not to say we’re not enjoying traveling with our kids, but it is mentally draining to parent 24/7 without any relief in sight. We can give each other short parenting breaks, but there’s not much opportunity for us to spend time alone together.

Andi happened to check the weather forecast while we laid there and noticed the wind was shifting directions at 5:00am. This was a new development since we’d checked the forecast earlier this morning. Now it meant that if we stayed anchored in this spot, we’d end up on Tahiti Beach tonight. Yikes! Andi phones the charter boat company to see if they had any recommendations for alternative anchorages close to Elbow Cay. It was already 4:00pm and none of us wanted to anchor after sunset. The owner of Cruise Abaco answered Andi’s call and agreed that it’d be a good idea to move anchorages. He invited us to tie our boat to his private mooring ball which was located in front of his house near Tahiti Beach. That way, we wouldn’t have far to go and we’d be in a safe spot when the wind switched directions overnight.

Shortly afterwards, we packed up our things, said good-bye to Tahiti Beach and motored across the water to settle in for the night. When we arrived and grabbed onto the mooring ball, we quickly realized it was a different bridle set-up than Andi and I had seen before. Working together, the four of us figured out a way to tie the boat to it securely. Phew! Finally, we could relax and enjoy the sunset with a well-earned cocktail.

Laura and Shaun brought steaks with them in their cooler, so we decided to grill those for dinner along with a side of broccoli and carrots. Shaun was quickly becoming our sailboat grilling extraordinaire! We enjoyed a wonderful dinner together, just the six of us, alone on the open water. After dinner, we laid on the trampoline again counting thousands of stars overhead.

Wednesday, April 3

The shift in wind direction overnight brought in a cold front. We woke up Wednesday morning to cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. Andi didn’t sleep well last night. Maybe it was the pile of steak he ate for dinner (we haven’t eaten much red meat the past two months) that didn't agree with his stomach. The boat rocks and sways at night during the anchorage, but none of us have really noticed it so that’s wasn’t the cause.

Laura and Shaun woke up soon after Andi and I, thanks to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Tory and Aden both slept in that morning. I think the cloudy skies helped keep their births darker.

Around 10:00am, we set off for Hope Town which is the small village on Elbow Cay. The locals like to call this settlement “Hollywood” because it’s the biggest group of shops and restaurants in the Abaco. We were a little nervous pulling into the harbor because it was full of boats. It’s like a game of hide and seek to find an available mooring ball between all the sailboats.

We slowly putzed around the harbor using the binoculars to search for an open mooring when we heard someone call “Lucky Cat, Lucky Cat” on the CB radio. Another sailor saw us pull into the harbor and wanted to let us know the morning ball owned by our charter company was open at the back of the harbor. What a nice gesture! Now, to find that open mooring ball amongst all the boats. We eventually found a ball and tied our boat to it. Phew! Welcome to Hope Town. Time to eat!

Andi and I lowered the dingy into the water, then the six of us hopped in and motored to shore. First, we stopped by Hope Town Harbor & Marina to pay for our mooring ball, and we tied up at the Hope Town dingy dock and walked to Harbour’s Edge for lunch. I think we were all starving by this point! We ordered a round of Bahamian Kalik beers, conch fritters for an appetizer, and fish all around for our meals.

After lunch, we walked around the cute little town. There are very few cars on the island; most people get around by bicycle, golf cart, or walking. On our walk, we stopped into the Hope Town grocery store to see if there were any fruits or vegetables we couldn’t live without — there weren’t. Then, Laura and Shaun split off to do some more walking while Andi and I took Tory and Aden to the local playground. They quickly made friends with a 10-year-old boy from South Carolina who was also playing there.

While the kids played, Andi and I talked with the South Carolina boy’s mom about their time sailing in the Abaco. She shared recommendations of places they’ve been and we did the same. All of a sudden I asked Andi, “Where’s Aden?” The kids were running around playing hide & seek. I saw Tory but I didn’t see Aden in the mix of kids. The SC mom, Andi, and I started looking around the playground. No Aden. We broadened our search, moving to the small street near the playground - no Aden. A dad who was also at the playground join in the search. We couldn’t find Aden anywhere! Andi and I were in full panic mode. He was just there a second ago. Andi ran down the road one way while I ran the other. I called Laura and Shaun on Andi’s cell phone and asked them to come to the playground and help look for him. About 10 minutes later, I heard Andi yell to say he found him. Apparently, Aden followed Tory while they were playing hide and seek… only she returned to the playground with the other kids and Aden didn’t realize that. He told us he’d been out searching for her.

When our hearts and our minds calmed down, and Andi and I were finally done lecturing Aden about wandering off, the four of us walked to Munchies down the street for ice cream. It was quite possibly the worst ice cream we’d had during our eight solid weeks of travel. Plain as plain can be. Personally, I couldn’t think about, much less enjoy eating anything, after the scare we’d just had with Aden. He, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be phased in the slightest.

Hope Town has the potential to be the most darling town, but unfortunately lacked quality and value. We stopped by the grocery store and the liquor store on our way back to the dingy, but neglected to buy anything because the prices were so high. Perhaps it’s the cost of importing everything to the island that causes it to be that way.

We’d planned to hike to the Hope Town lighthouse this afternoon, but after the scare with Aden I was honestly exhausted. We decided to go back to the boat instead and hang out for the rest of the evening. Was it Happy Hour yet? Andi and I were definitely in need of some chill adult time. Back at the boat, we set the kids up with their iPads and then sat at the table in the cockpit with Laura and Shaun to watch the sunset fall on Hope Town Harbor.

For dinner, I re-heated Egg Roll in a Bowl I’d made earlier in the day. As we ate, we watched the last few boats pull into the harbor for the night. No star show in the night’s sky tonight — it was too cloudy. We called it an early night.

Tomorrow, we’re planning to head south to Little Harbor.