Raining, Cats & Dogs (New Plymouth, Green Turtle, Abacos)

View from our boat in Green Turtle Cay’s Black Sound, Abacos, pretty much all day May 16, 2014.

Unlike many Bahamas cruisers, we do not live our life by Chris Parker’s weather forecasts, though we do listen in on our ham radio occasionally (6:30 am Bahamas weather or 8:30 am Caribbean weather). And we do check a number of online resources (Passageweather, Windguru, and here in the Bahamas, Barometer Bob) to make our decisions on when and where to stay and go. Once in a while, for particularly shallow areas, tides can make a difference. Tidecharts for the Bahamas is handy resource for that.

True cathouse, New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay.  One of many colonial fishing village style houses in New Plymouth.

Still, it was impossible to miss that the Abacos got the crap pounded out of them this year, repeatedly.  We listened smugly, as we were not in the Abacos, and it seemed the rest of the Bahamas got off lightly, weatherwise, in comparison.  Besides, we weren’t planning on going to the Abacos.  And then we did, but figured it was late enough in the season, mid-May, the weather would be more settled.

At one point, we counted at least seven kitties unhappily huddled here, ducking rainstorms.

Wrong.

Okay, it wasn’t nearly as bad as earlier in the year, with gusts in the 20s, not 30s or 40s. 

Took this view to Vert’s Model Shoppe* between rainstorms.  Where…    

With the Abacos as our last stop for this cruising season, we realize just how spoiled we were, weatherwise in the rest of the Bahamas.  It was warm, and usually sunny, and mostly dry – exactly why we left the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington) to cruise the Caribbean (and next year, the South Pacific).

Vert’s “guard dog” an adorable mini dachshund, Rumbly kept me occupied during another rainstorm.

Overall, have two words to encourage Abacos-only cruisers to explore the rest of Bahamas:  better weather.  (There are lots more other good reasons to explore broadly – watch for my Bahamas “favorite places” roundup in a future post).

Duly warned!

To be fair, we don’t know if this year’s Abacos weather is typical or not.  We just know what our experience has been like this year.

*watch for a future post on Vert’s Model Shoppe

Rumbly enjoyed my petting but Vert’s brushing took him over the top in puppy ecstasy.

Location Location

May 18, 2014.  White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, BAHAMAS (N26.46.646 W77.20.207).  We’re getting set to leave White Sound, Green Turtle Cay for Manjack Cay (not sure once we leave Green Turtle today if we’ll have any internet between now and our return to the States).  From there, current plans will take us to Allans-Pensacola Cay, then either Great Sale or Double Breasted, where we’ll leave the Abacos the first viable weather window to Florida.  Most likely we’ll stop at Fort Pierce initially, then park our boat in Green Cove Springs (near Jacksonville) until next cruising season.  We’ll live where we land work, in the interim.  Lots more blog posts coming up, especially once my March – May backed up iPhoto Library images are re-accessible.