Weds & Thurs May 4-5th:  Man o' War Cay

Schooner William H Albury (missing the main mast) - a testament to Man o' War's heyday of boatbuilding.  Sad to say she's in really sorry shape now.

     The weather forecasted strong winds shifting from Southeast through Northwest, with thunderstorms and squalls, bringing gusts up to fifty knots.  We had a slight sprinkling of rain during Tuesday night, but Wednesday morning we awoke to a deep blue sky, puffy white clouds, and a very hot sun.  You could tell something was brewing.  We decided to spend the morning snorkeling.  We took the dinghy out of the harbor and around the North point of the island to snorkel along the beaches on the Atlantic side.  

      The big reefs were way off shore - we could see the waves breaking over them.  We stayed inshore and snorkeled along some smaller reefs.  Again the predominant fish were tangs, parrotfish, and grunts, but we did spy some squirrelfish peeking out from under some rocks, as well as butterfly fish and a couple brightly striped angelfish.  The coral was varied in both color and type.  We spent over an hour checking out the environment, until we noticed how dark and overcast the sky was getting.  The wind was picking up a bit, too.  We decided it was time to head back.

     After a late lunch of cole slaw and peanut butter crackers, we gathered the laundry and our shopping bags and headed to town for errands and a walk around.  Man o War is a sweet little town with concrete streets.  No cars are allowed (but we did see a few very small trucks) and most everyone gets around by golf cart.  The entire settlement is walkable from the harbor, and we saw a good part of it while waiting for the laundry to wash and dry.  There are two working boatyards, a sail loft, a grocery, and a handful of shops selling the usual mix of tourist t-shirts and handmade crafts.  There was a Heritage Museum with displays of Man o War’s boatbuilding skills on the postage stamp-sized lawn.  The museum itself was closed but we walked around it to look at the boats.  We browsed the book swap shelves at the marina, and bought a few things from the grocery store and returned with clean laundry to the boat just as the first thunderstorm rolled over us.

Queen's Highway.  (All Bahamian towns' main streets are called Queen's Highway or Queen's Street.)

One of the displays at the Man o War Heritage Museum.

Man o' War Grocery Store

     By dinner time the squalls were pouring rain down on us.  Our dinghy cover is our main collection point for rainwater, but the dinghy was still in the water.  Dan rigged up the cover to collect anyway and we started filling the juice jugs that we use for laundry water.  I took advantage of one particularly strong downpour to have a shower.   The winds picked up, setting off a ghostly moan as they whistled over people’s hollow masts.   We began closing portholes and took turns darting out on deck to replace a jug or empty out the bimini into a dishpan.  By bedtime we’d collected about six gallons of water and Dan ran the hose directly into the boat’s water tank.

Our method of collecting rainwater.

     It rained off and on all night long, punctuated by thunder and lightning, and the wind howled right through till morning.  People on the island were excited - everyone has a rainwater collection system going into a cistern and they said they’d been needing this rain for awhile.  It was all over but the wind by morning, and when we went ashore for a walk at nine-thirty, you couldn’t tell it had rained.  Everything was already dry.

Man o' War cemetery.

Wilson's Plover on the beach.

     We walked toward the South end of the island, as far as the streets went, and then across the island to the beach on the other side.  Just before the beach is a little cemetery, cheerfully decorated with brightly colored plastic flowers and bows.  The beach was mainly clear of debris, and we saw one man walking around filling a plastic bag.  This was the first island beach & settlement we’ve been to where people make a point of dealing with their trash.  Man o War is very clean and tidy.  They even have a small transfer station where they separate their trash into containers for easy pick up by boat.  

     After our walk we returned to Willie for lunch.  We sat first in the cockpit and then on the cabin top watching the turtles swimming between us and the shore.  We think we saw a green turtle and a loggerhead turtle, but they look very similar and it’s hard to tell. 

Probably a green turtle.

     After turtle watching Dan rigged the dinghy for a sail and invited me along.  We sailed the length of the harbor and back, drawing lots of stares and a few thumbs up.  Very few people seem to go sailing in a small boat here.  

     We’ll stay here another night and probably head out tomorrow.  The wind is staying in the Northwest, but won’t be blowing as strong.  We’ve heard a lot about Green Turtle Cay, maybe that will be our next destination.