We made the decision to come to Hope Town because we wanted to visit Julia and Brad. Who knew that this little spot would be such a gem! Not only do we get to hang out with our friends but we get to experience probably the nicest town in the Bahamas.
We arrived on Sunday (Jan. 22) around noon and Mark got the dinghy down. We discovered that our dinghy motor wasn’t working. We also still had our macerator pump malfunction to deal with so the beginning of our stay in the harbour was shaping up to be filled with boat jobs. Mark spent a bit of time working on the motor but by happy hour, it still wasn’t working. No worries – we had oars and Julia and Brad were right beside us so we rowed over to their boat for happy hour (which turned into a lovely dinner).
The next day Mark went back to work on the dinghy motor and found that the pickup hose inside the fuel tank had disconnected so the motor wasn’t getting any fuel – no wonder it wouldn’t run! In no time Mark had a new hose in place and we went for a little harbour tour to test things out – worked perfectly. Next on the job list – take apart the macerator pump to see what’s wrong. Turned out that the pump was pooped (so to speak 😁😁) – too far gone to repair so we needed a replacement. Brad had offered his spare pump to us but we decided to go to Marsh Harbour to see if we could buy a new one.
In the afternoon on Monday we went for a walk in Hope Town. What a beautiful place! It has small, narrow roads that wind along the narrow island. Lots of the houses in town are rentals and they are nicely maintained. Hope Town was hit badly by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 but they have recovered well. There is still ongoing construction plus shoring up of the hillside on the ocean side of the island. But for the most part, the island is quite prosperous.
On Tuesday Mark and I took the 9:30am ferry over to Marsh Harbour. We walked from the ferry dock into town and were shocked by the state of Marsh Harbour. We were fortunate to visit this town in the spring of 2019 before Dorian crashed through the area. Marsh Harbour has not recovered as well as Hope Town or other areas in the Abacos. Lots of building have not be repaired and many stand vacant and neglected. The owner of the marine shop we went to explained that NGOs were helping with the rebuild process but then Covid hit and they all left. Many people just left the island (no insurance and unable to afford the costs of rebuilding). It’s quite sad to see what this once striving town has become.
Our visit to Marsh Harbour was successful though – we bought a new macerator pump and did some grocery shopping for produce. The prices are high here so we only bought a bit of stuff. We returned to the boat on the 12:30pm ferry, had lunch and then Mark began the fun job of installing the new macerator pump. I won’t go into details but I will say that it probably wasn’t great being downwind of us!! The new pump didn’t go in easily and it was a rough afternoon!! But it did eventually come together and with the wonderfully windy day we were having, the boat aired out well!! A good thing too because we had Julia and Brad over for dinner that night!!
Today we headed out of the harbour at high tide (the entrance into Hope Town is quite shallow) to test our new pump! It worked perfectly!!! Our holding tanks are nice and empty and the boat is floating a little higher now 😁. Hurray!!
We have another day in the harbour and will spend it going up the lighthouse and doing laundry. Friday we’ll start our journey south to the Exumas, slowly making our way to Staniel Cay for the February 27th arrival of Evelyn and Caroline!!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 