Elbow Reef Light

Elbow Reef Light   ...   Thursday 10^th Jan 2013

This morning we set out to visit the lighthouse.  It appears that there is no road to the lighthouse.  Instead, there is a dock where you can tie up your dinghy.  The idea of a tourist attraction with no road access amuses me.  From the dock a concrete walkway leads up to the entry to the red and white lighthouse.  The lighthouse was built in 1863 and is still a kerosene light, one of only three left in the world.  The beam is said to be visible for twenty miles thanks to the rotating Freznel lens.  The walls inside of the tower are painted pink while the iron staircase is painted green.  As you might imagine, Mike’s camera got quiet a work out.  From the top there is a great view in all directions.  Out to the east we could see the surf breaking on the reef off Elbow Cay.  To the north and west is the colorful sea of Abaco.  A great view of the mooring field can be had from the platform outside the light.

We spoke for a while to an English guy who runs a boat chartering business here.  He told us that he runs one or two week trips all year except for hurricane season.  Part of the year he does cruises for Boy Scouts—twelve boys at a time.  We would have liked to quiz him a bit more.  However, he was escorting a couple of clients so we didn’t really get the opportunity.   

After exploring the lighthouse we stopped by the Lighthouse Marina to get some “yellow feather” lures.  These were recommended to us by a local fisherman for use in the cuts around the outer cays.  Judging by what has gone before, these yellow feathers would need to be magically empowered to significantly improve our fishing record.  We shall see…

While we feel that we could spend a good long while here in this protected harbor, we think we need to get moving.  If we are going to log enough sailing days, we should get going and explore other places.   Our plan is to get up early tomorrow and leave the harbor on the rising tide (high tide at 7:30).  Our objective is an anchorage south of White Sound on Elbow Cay. 
It's been blowing 15-20 mph out of the east for the 3 days - tonight it's really howling with the boat creaking and swinging on the mooring, but it's plenty soy down below.

Gloria

Elbow Cay (Hope Town) light

An intermediate landing

The stairwell - looking up

Looking out over the harbor entry channel, Hope Town itself and the Atlantic

The Sea of Abaco - the closer boat is owned by the English Guy we met in the Lighthouse. It's a 65 ft double masted motor sailor and although only 4'6" draft it's too long to be welcome in the enclosed harbor

Portrait of a curly tailed lizard