Sailing Abaco, Bahamas - Foul Cay National Park
Saturday, April 6
We woke up to a beautiful day in the Abaco. The sun was finally shining and the temperature was heating up. It was the last day of our week-long charter, so we found ourselves getting creative with the menu. Laura whipped up some delicious egg and sausage sandwiches for breakfast, then we motored over to Foul Cay National Park for a morning of snorkeling.
Foul Cay National Park is a small area protecting the coral reef between Scotland Cay and Man-O-War Cay. We found a spot to anchor our sailboat, then grabbed our snorkel gear and dingyed over to a mooring ball set near the reef. Unfortunately, we didn’t see many fish under the water on the morning we were there, but it was still neat to swim around in the ocean and see the coral reef up close. Aden, in particular, really enjoyed snorkeling! He’s become quite the swimmer the past few months.
The water clarity was just incredible! It honestly felt like we were snorkeling in a pool the water was so clear and so blue. After about an hour of snorkeling, we motored over to the small beach on Foul Cay. Once again, we had the entire stretch of sand to ourselves. It was neat to stand on the shore and see the Sea of Abaco on one side of land and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.
It was neat to see Tory and Aden bond with Shaun and Laura this week. Laura is Andi’s older cousin, and someone he really admires. Both Laura and Shaun were an influential part of Andi’s childhood and having this opportunity to spend an entire week with them both was really special.
While we were sitting on the beach, Andi spotted an eagle ray in the water. He grabbed his snorkel and swam after it. The ray was amazingly fast in the water! As soon as Andi would come close to it, it would dart off in another direction. When we left the beach in the dingy, we saw the same eagle ray swimming near the sailboat. We followed it in the dingy to get a closer look. The ray stopped swimming and allowed us to get a closer look. Shaun and Laura said it reminded them of their (Andi and Laura’s) grandpa Jerry. Laura said it was Grandpa Jerry looking smiling down on them from heaven.
Making due with what little groceries we had left, Shaun whipped up some make-your-own pizzas on the grill using whole wheat pita bread, shredded cheese, leftover pasta sauce, deli ham and leftover breakfast sausage. After lunch, we changed into dry clothes and motored back to Abaco Boat Harbour & Marina as we were due to return the boat by 4:00pm.
Back at the marina, we refueled the boat and replenished our water supply at the fuel dock, and completed our check-out with one of the charter company captains. Andi was glad to get some docking practice in as he safely pulled The Lucky Cat back into its slip.
Shaun pulled double duty — drinking the last Kalik beer while refilling the water tanks.
Not even twenty minutes after the captain left the boat returning our damage deposit in full, Aden kicked one of the open window hatches and cracked the tempered glass. Andi called the captain to report the damage and asked how much he thought the window would cost to replace. “You don’t even want to know,” he responded. Yikes.
Shaun and Laura walked to the shower house to clean up while Andi and I took Tory and Aden to the marina pool to swim for a bit. We decided to order take-out from a local restaurant called Jamie’s for dinner, but realized we were running desperately low on alcohol. Andi decided to take a cab to the liquor store before it closed in an hour while I showered the kids after swimming.
We all ordered grilled snapper for dinner, so we got our fresh fish in the end! (Even if we didn’t catch it ourselves) We had a fun last night on the boat reminiscing about Andi and Laura’s childhood.
Sunday, April 7
The six of us were up bright and early to pack up our things. We said good-bye to The Lucky Cat and taxied to the Abaco International Airport for our 9:00am flight back to Fort Lauderdale.
In Fort Lauderdale, the four of us hugged Laura and Shaun good-bye and then rented a car to drive to Fort Myers, FL where our RV has been parked all winter. Now begins the third leg of our trip — RV life! We’re excited to explore the southeastern part of the United States over the next month as we travel back to Wisconsin for the summer.
