Southern Great Abaco Island

 We rented a car to go out and see more of the island.  What a difference!  You can literally see the line of destruction from Dorian's eyewall.  One side, devastation, the other lush greenery.  The guy renting us the car told us we couldn't go to the north end because there was still too much destruction and the roads were all too rough for the car.  Still a great opportunity to see more of this big island.  We have been stopping at the barrier islands across the Sea of Abaco from the main island.  The shores of the island are not generally boat friendly with shallows on all sides of the island a long way out.

A postcard pretty view. This is The Long Dock at Sandy Point.

It is near the end of the island.  We couldn't visit the actual tip

since the road but too rough.  We were satisfied with this.

A typical Bahamian meal.  Redfish and fries.

These gulls were all lined up for some reason.  They would get

scared away and almost immediately form up in the line again.

This is a tribute to the traditional sailing smacks of the Abacos.

Like many places in the Bahamas, people come and see the

abundant and beautiful beaches and think they can build a resort.

This was one more.  We drove down several roads and saw a variation

of the nice road and lots of infrastructure with no houses or maybe one or two.

How do these places get financing is beyond us.

A colorful place to rest and reflect.

This is the main highway of Great Abaco.

A great place to stop for lunch.

The Long Dock is a tradition for Sandy Point.  It is over

770 feet long and extends out over the flats.  It is made from

local pine trees and all labor is supplied by locals.

A long view of the Long Dock.

This development was Palm Harbour. Over a mile of

palms were planted on either side of the road.

Eyewall hit forest.

Non-eyewall forest.  There was less than 100 yards between

these two picture location.

Zoom in and you can see the tree trunks used to construction

the entire dock.

Nancy's place was our stop for lunch.  The owner came and

chatted for a long while.  He named it after a daughter who died

when she was in her twenties.  We also heard about his life as a 

sailor and his other daughters and their families.  He was a quite a guy.

They left part of the old dock.

Another postcard view.

A local park

A schoolhouse mural.

A large rental house.  We met a nice guy currently renting

for the season.  We love hearing other people's stories.

The municipal building of Sandy Point

A street in the tiny village of Cherokee Point.  It has nothing

to do with the Indian tribe.  It is a blending of the words 

cherry and key in the native pronunciation.

A limestone wall along the shore.

You can see why people fall in love with the area.  It's 

just too difficult to get here and economically maintain a

resort.

Marsh Harbour

 The eye of Hurricane Dorian passed over Grand Abaco Island at Marsh Harbour.  It is a working town not primarily driven by tourism so not as much private capital is available for repairs.  It is the third largest city in the Bahamas with about 7,000 people.  In some ways it was depressing to see so much unrepaired damage but it was encouraging to see all the work ongoing.  Every person we met seemed upbeat and moving forward.  The marina was almost completely restored.  The office was in an air-conditioned shipping container but the restaurant and slips were all up and running along with an active fleet of charter sailboats.  The grocery store was well stocked and we loaded up on as much as we could find places for on the boat.  We're over sticker shock and bought a lot!

We were able to go to Mass at the local Catholic church.

It was not heavily damaged but some work was still ongoing

It was an interesting blend of Bahamian English and Haitian French.

The priest was Haitian  and easily moved between the languages.

This hungry turtle was just outside of where we had lunch.

We have been lucky to see a lot of turtles but this is the only one

who didn't seem to mind being photographed.

 

There must be a thing for castles in the Bahamas.  This

is another private residence.  It was on a hill overlooking the town.

This was as close as I could get.  There was a sign stating,

"If you don't belong here, get your ass away"

Money well spent at Maxwell's the grocery store.

They were putting in a new walkway.  These mats have

seashell designs and they put them over the damp concrete and stamp

the designs into the blocks.  They came at the end and put pavers

between the blocks.

There was a small park dedicated to the victims of Dorian a short distance 

from the marina.

The liquor cabinet has been restocked!

Hopetown Lighthouse.

 We love lighthouses and visit as many as we can.  Sailing has allowed us the opportunity to visit quite a few and this was a great one to see.  It is unique in that the light is still active and operated with kerosene. It was heavily damaged but an international group of volunteers and donors are working towards a complete restoration.

A view of the harbour from the top.

Newly painted rails and decking.

Decades ago, it was determined that the lighthouse's exterior

was deteriorating.  Engineers added graduated layers of concrete

rings.  Originally, the exterior was smooth but now it is stepped.

This shot shows both the addition and the stepped layer.

This was a tiny door to exit to the upper walkway.  We had to crawl 

out on our hands and knees.  

Cuties

A curved cabinet and old leveling jacks

Zoom in and see the pictures of the damage done by Dorian.

Nice new roofs on the house's out buildings.

Looking out the window.

Enough to make you dizzy!

The houses commissioning placard.

A very tall tower.

A view from the base.

The kerosene works.

The lighthouse is definitely a landmark for the area.

Looking out to the North and the next island.

You can see the curve of the cabinet.  That had to be

a challenge.

A view of the reefs around the island.

Hopetown

 At the other end of Tilloo Cay is Hopetown.  It is a very iconic part of cruising the Abacos.  Every guide and previous visitor told us to put it on our must-do list and we're glad we did.  It is a small town with a great harbour.  The entrance is narrow and shallow so we had to be careful but we managed to find a mooring ball and meet some nice folks. This was the most repaired/restored island we have come across in the Bahamas.  Many of the houses are rentals so there is more money invested in getting them habitable quickly. We walked miles and saw just about the whole area.

Cap'n Jacks is a fun if pricey place to eat.  I guess you're 

paying for the view.  All the places are painted in bright colors.

There are pave roads but more scraped ones.

And then you get the paths.

The center of the garden.

A very cool memorial garden with plaques honoring

important people in Hopetown's history.

A bigger picture of the memorial garden.

One of the grocery stores.  We were there on days before

the supply boat came so not many options.

We climbed a hill to get this shot of town.

A sunrise view of the harbour.

A large house that has been repaired from Dorian.

Still a lot of repairs ongoing with private homes.

One of the many lanes leading over the hill to the ocean.

A typical road.

The beaches are stunning.  I can see why people make the

effort to come spend a vacation here.

A cute and tasty coffee shop.

Lush plantings are everywhere.

More houses.

We couldn't see the house but it must be grand to be 

worth all those steps to climb.

A memorial to sailors and fishermen lost at sea.

A cute cottage.

Sorry, I just couldn't get enough of the quaint, well kept lanes.

A public restroom.  Pink is their favorite color.

This scrawny looking pine towers about anything else.

We were impressed that is survived Dorian when so much

else did not.

We went up a few creeks and found so much damage

and derelict boats.  This one was being worked on 

with a long way to go.

If you zoom in, you can see the wash hanging under

the second story deck.  This was a hotel.