We made the passage from Marsh Harbour over to Hope Town on Saturday in a couple of hours, arriving in this beautiful protected harbour around 1:00 pm. This is the view of the harbour as you come in, with pretty little cottages all around in typical Bahamas pastels. We picked up a mooring ball labelled "alley oop" and were soon settled near our friends from Camden, Kitty & Henry Beard on their Island Packet "Galatea".
This is the famous lighthouse at Hope Town. Built in 1864, it's one of only 3 kerosene-burning lighthouses left in the world....all 3 of which are located in the Bahamas. It is a sight to behold when it comes alive at 6 pm nightly and, to add to its beauty, is currently decorated with vertical strands of Christmas lights from top to bottom. We hope to climb to the top later this week to survey the area from such a wonderful perch.
We dinghied into the dock on Saturday afternoon and walked through town, drinking in all the quaint sights such as narrow, bouganvilla-bedecked streets, precious rental cottages and beach scenes such as this. The sand on the beaches here is pink-tinged from coral and the water is a clear, pale aqua. The combination is impossible to believe unless you see it for yourself.
This a a typical street in town with all the colors of the buildings, palm trees and blooming vines. Narrow streets are fine here as only golf carts are allowed in certain sections so it's a great place for strolling. Scott finally said to me, "now, Beth, you know you can't take pictures of ALL the cottages." Well, I guess he's right but they're all so picturesque in their own right, it's hard to resist!
Yesterday, Scott and I took a nice, long walk along the Queen's Highway -- the paved road which goes from one end of the island to the other. Along the way, we saw many gorgeous vacation homes perched on the dunes and then we came across this whimsical sign. Sorry it's horizontal (please turn your head)....we couldn't get the computer to make it vertical. There are 3 signs on it for S.C. destinations....Charleston,
Hilton Head and Greenville (complete with Tiger paw).
After we had walked for quite some time, we saw a sign along the road for a bar and grill called "On da beach". Well, being thirsty by now and ready to rest for awhile, we investigated. After travelling up a boardwalk, we came to this great little beach bar, perched up on the dunes and overlooking this magnificent beach. Are we in Heaven or what??? We could see the reefs in the water and the colors of blue were all amazing & crystal clear plus there was a refreshing ocean breeze the whole time. Needless to say, we were very content to sit at the bar and have a couple of drinks and appetizer before resuming our walk! This time, we walked back to town along the beach. The water was surprisingly warm and I wished for a bathing suit.
Once we discovered that they will be open again on Tuesday (Monday is their day off) we made a pact to return to this lovely beach bar for another chance to eat and drink in such an idyllic setting. Ahhh, such is the life of cruisers.....can you tell we're adapting to this lifestyle pretty well??
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