Stats for Thursday, April 4, 2019

Origin: Alabaster Bay

Destination: Hatchet Bay

Distance: 13.2 miles

Speed: 7.7 mph

Time on the Move: 1 hour and 42 minutes

We headed towards Hatchet Bay to hide from some nasty winds that were predicted that night. We heard that some people love Hatchet Bay and it certainly was a protected harbor, so it seemed like a perfect spot to stop.

The many faces of Tobin underway….

As we traveled, the wind and waves seemed to build until they were getting slightly uncomfortable. I was glad that we were at the entrance to the harbor until I actually saw the entrance to the harbor.

The wind was whipping up from the south, along with the waves. They had been behind us for our trip, but now we had to make a sharp right turn to get into the harbor which meant the wind and waves were coming right on our starboard side. AND, the icing on the cake, there was a rock in the “middle” of the channel right there at the entrance. Wonderful.

Mike watched a sailboat head through the opening, and we figured if they could do it, we could do it. Actually, just I figured that–Mike very rarely shows signs of being rattled while driving the boat. So I just fret quietly during those high pressure situations. In this case, though, I chose to take a video (ya know, in case we needed it later for insurance purposes or anything).

Woo!! We made it, and we were in!! After anchoring a few times, we finally got a good hold and decided to head to town to check it out.

At first glance, it wasn’t super inviting or beautiful, but hey, ya never know. After walking around for an hour or two, I will be honest and say that it was by far the most run-down settlement we saw in the Bahamas. Several houses on each block were burnt out shells. EVERY house had bars on all the windows or maybe just boards nailed across. Some of them were painted to match the house, but they were all barred nonetheless. There were broken down cars in most yards. Stray dogs (stray “looking” dogs?!) and roosters were everywhere. Walking around felt like we were in some of the worst parts of Detroit, where we would never go, but yet the people we came across were SO NICE!! Needless to say, we were not impressed overall. It was an interesting experience that made us wonder more about people who live there.

It started sprinkling on us, and just as we started fast walking for the boat, we stumbled upon a few nicely painted buildings and realized we were at a vacation resort and restaurant. So, in we went. I had to take pictures because I knew if I was going to show the negatives of the area, I wanted to also show the positives.

The kids played among the empty tables in the courtyard until the sprinkles stopped and it was time to go. Plus, my feet were covered with fire ants, so it was really time to go. We were ready to make a beeline for the boat.

We happened to stumble upon this playground on our way back to the boat. We haven’t seen many playgrounds in the Bahamas, so this was a treat, but you can see how basic it was.

After a half hour of playing, we headed for the boat. We cozied in to our boat and watched movies for the evening, promising ourselves we would leave the next day, whatever the weather. I don’t really like giving any place a negative review, but our experience was not what we hoped for that day. It made us appreciate all of the beautiful places we’ve been even more. On to new adventures!!

Thank you for reading and following on our adventure!!