Great Guana Cay to Man O War Cay
It is less
than 10 miles from Great Guana to Man O War.
We needed a little tidal help at both as the entrances are shallow. Fortunately, we didn’t have to leave too
early. We cast off our mooring at
0745. We were able to motor sail and
raced to stay ahead of a sqawl which caught us shortly after we tied to the fuel
dock at Man O’ War at 1000.
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| Abaco Dinghy |
A most
unusual incident occurred within minutes of our arrival. A large catamaran running at full speed,
rammed the fuel dock. The captain either
grossly misjudged the approach to the fairway he was attempting to enter or had
his bow blow off before clearing the entry way.
Regardless, it was really a gross error.
The entire dock shuddered from the impact. It is amazing the catamaran sustained no
visible damage.
We took on
water and got off the dock as soon as the storm passed. The mooring situation was poor as the mooring
balls were very close together and at least one had rocks near-by which made it
unsuitable for any boat with a draft of more than 3 feet. We made three passes at our mooring before we
were able to grab it. We dodged other
boats and obstructions in the process.
We went
ashore shortly after lunch. Man O’ War
is the boat building capital of the Abacos.
The Albury brothers build several models of fiberglass, v-bottomed,
outboard powered boats. We were able to
examine a few of their runabouts in various stages of manufacture. The Albury’s have been building boats for
over 200 years. They also run a
boatyard, marina, sail loft, ferry service and nearly every other business on
the island.
About 3/4 of
the inhabitants on the cay are members of the Albury family and direct
descendants of Benjamin Albury and his wife.
She was a Loyalist who settled on the island after leaving the newly
independent United States of America. Ben
arrived on the cay when the ship upon which he was serving as a mate wrecked on
the reef off Man O’ War Cay. The total
population of the island is probably about 200.
We visited the museum which is housed in a small 100+ year old house across
from the now dormant Methodist Church build in 1912. One impact of the Methodists is the ban on
alcoholic beverages on the island which continues today.
Henry and
Elizabeth on VonYachtSki were on a
mooring next to us. We first ran into
them at West End but didn’t get to know them there. We invited them over for sundowners. They are Canadians from British
Columbia. They are taking a couple of
years to travel. Their home is in prime
ski country and Henry was a competitive skier in college. He is also of Austrian decent. His friends began to call him VonYachtSki
when he took up sailing. Thus, the name
transferred to the boat they are now living aboard. This is their first trip to the Bahamas. They are considering heading further south
into the Caribbean after leaving the Exumas.
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