View of the anchorage in Abraham’s Bay from the dock in Mayaguana. s/v Delancey and Nightingale Tune can be seen next to a boat from France and another from Switzerland.
A 27 hour sail from Rum Cay landed us in Mayaguana, the most isolated island of the Bahamas and our final stop in this beautiful country. We dropped anchor in Abraham’s Bay, cracked beers to celebrate another successful overnight passage, and promptly passed out from exhaustion. Fifteen hours later, we were shaken from sleep by uncomfortable bucking and rolling. The wind began to whistle in the rigging, stirring up waves in the bay.
It’s been blowing like stink ever since. The waves are so big, we must wait for it to calm before venturing out to explore the beautiful, unspoiled reefs that surround the bay. We’ve been waiting for three months to get here and check them out, and we will wait a little longer, sitting here in the bay.
Fortunately, cabin fever gave us courage to brave a wet dinghy ride into town for lunch where we ran into Scully, the island’s unofficial ambassador. We arranged a sightseeing tour around the island for the following day, a unique opportunity to see the island and its community (population 300) through Skully’s eyes. He kept us entertained with stories of growing up in Mayaguana as he drove us around to points of interest in his big pickup truck.
Easter Sunday marked the end of our first full week in Mayaguana. Deb and Pete created an inspired Easter menu and invited us to join them aboard Delancey. Naturally, mixing four nostalgic New Yorkers with too much food and many cocktails resulted in a fun night of laughter and good conversation. So good, in fact, that the next thing we knew it was well past midnight – a new cruiser bedtime record for us.
Long road into town
A handsome rooster outside Reggie’s, where we had lunch
Lunch with Pete and Deb at Reggie’s place. There is no menu, you sit down and get whatever he is making – for us it was beans and rice and chicken wings. The dining room is an offshoot of his home (that’s someone sitting in his living room behind us). Reggie is chef and waiter at his restaurant, owner of a small store next door, and serves as the preacher for a church on the island.
This stuff makes your teeth hurt.
Bread baking was just one of the many indoor projects we did to pass the time at anchor.
Scully in action, here he is showing us the Pirate’s Well. As its name suggests, the well was built by pirates living on the island back in the day.
Pirate’s Well
Investors have poured money into this beautiful place to build infrastructure and vacation properties for tourists. But so far, there’s only one hotel with 16 rooms and a ton of worn down machinery to show for it.
The island’s monument commemorates the crash of a NASA satellite on the spot where it stands.
A posh guest cottage pool owned by American investors
Tidepools in Betsy Bay
Scully crushing a whelk (snail) for Brian to eat
Brian holding dilly fruit, a local delicacy
Oldest market on the island
Rules at the local watering hole
Beers and political conversation with Scully , sitting outside the bar, facing the main road.
Building built by the US Navy and abandoned. We climbed it for the view.
View of Abraham’s Bay, from the other side – s/v Delancey and Nightingale Tune in the distance.
Scully told us that guards used to stand watch with machine guns through this hole in the ceiling.
Kids hanging out outside the house where we stopped to get some lunch. I asked them if they wanted to make funny faces for the camera.
Brian teaching the kids how to whistle using a blade of grass.
Deb’s Easter eggs, decorated in Sharpie
Aboard s/v Delancey
Easter dinner
Pete and Deb turned canned ham into a culinary masterpiece
Easter cake
Lucy and the sunset
s/v Delancey
Deb and Pete are making preparations to leave Mayaguana tomorrow, grabbing a weather window to sail down to the Dominican Republic with a quick stop first in Turks and Caicos. Brian and I will eventually be moving on too, but not right away. We have unfinished business here in the Bahamas – and that business is spelled L O B S T E R.
Where are we now?
Great photos!! You’ve probably answered this already but what camara are you using?
Hi Fiona! I use three different cameras: a Nikon D700, an Olympus OM-D, and the camera on my iPhone 6. I’d say about 75% of the photos on the blog are taken with my phone, since it is protected in a waterproof case and usually close at hand. I lightly retouch some of my photos using Adobe Lightroom.
A friend forwarded me the link to your blog after I told them about my recent visit to Mayaguana. I did something that has been on my Bahamas bucket list for a while: I took the mailboat from Nassau to Mayaguana. It was quite the journey! Ocean conditions were great but the accommodations were a long way from five star. I stayed at the Baycaner for a few days and then flew back to Nassau. The next thing on my list is to get a boat (and maybe a cat) and start to do something like what you are doing. I have been preparing for way too long and, after reading just a few entries, your blog has inspired me to take the plunge. I plan to go back and read your story from the start. Thanks for sharing.
Hi @Chris_gray, Thanks for taking the time to leave this note. Your message means so much to me, since the goal of this blog, apart from keep our overly concerned mothers in the loop, is to inspire others to follow their big, ridiculous dream of getting off the grid. I think it’s so amazing that you’ve even heard of Mayaguana, and that you took the mail boat – wow. I’ve often wondered what that would be like. Please reach out with any questions you encounter along the way. Best of luck in your preparations!