Abacos Report

[newlazydays]

I just spent a month in the Abacos. My boat was sunk in Hurricane Dorian and I returned to re-float the boat and get rid of it. The following is the latest that I both observed and heard whilst I was there. Things can change by the day but to the best of my knowledge the following is correct as of March 1 2020.

Feel free to correct me if you know better.

The eye of the storm was about 20 miles across covering from somewhere just north of Green Turtle Cay to about Lynyard Cay. Outside the eye the damage is far less than inside.

GreenTurtle Cay. The dinghy dock is gone. The big public dock is OK and RO water can be obtained there. Only one boat survived in Black Sound, and even that one was damaged. White Sound took a pounding. The Green Turtle Club has fuel and some dockage. The club itself is supposed to open soon. Bluff House Marina was pretty well wiped out. The bar etc is closed. Some moorings are available. You cannot clear in at Green Turtle. Suggest you do that at West End if coming round the top of Grand Bahama. Power has been restored on Green Turtle.

Treasure Cay. Treasure Cay was totally trashed. Many of the hotel rooms and condos are being ripped down, The marina is trashed. Moorings are available in the bay. There are still some sunken boats in the marina yet to be removed. There is one very small store opening for basic food. The supermarket is a heap of rubble. RO water is available but you will have to use containers and lug it to the boat. The fuel dock is open but badly damaged. Florence’s Coffee Shop and Bakery opened about a week ago. Lots of trash and rubble about the place but slow progress is being made. There is no power on as yet..

Leisure Lee. The Morrings boats are scattered inland and one catamaran even made its way over the road and now lies upside down in the bush.

Marsh Harbour. A real disaster area. The Mud has been scraped clean and a fence put round it. Standard Hardware is gone. Ace is trading but in limited fashion. There are some sunken boats in the bay and both the Conch Inn and the Gibroom exist no more. The light at the entrance to the harbour is gone. The Bahamas Defence Force is camped by the Public Dock. The dock itself still in need of repair. Dinghy to the inside end and use the concrete steps. You can clear in at Marsh Harbour. Maxwells is up and running. Many other businesses are still closed. There is still no power.

Elbow Cay. Hope Town took a pounding. The lighthouse still stands. Lighthouse Marina trashed but fuel is available to small boats. The other marina also damaged but looks like work is progressing to get it up to scratch again. Captain Jacks trashed. The Harbour Lodge badly damaged. The bar is closed and the pool too. Not sure if Lowes is open. I was there on a Sunday. I think the coffee shop might be closed as well.

I didn’t get down to Tahiti Beach or Lubbers Quarters but I believe Lubbers took a ponding as well.

Man o War. Lots of boats up on Dickies Cay, plus a couple of boats sunk in the anchorage. Edwins Boat Yard open for business. The ice cream shop flourishes. You can eat at the restaurant next door. The power people are working on restoring power…..but no word on when that might happen. The old wooden schooner The William H. Albury was sunk but has been re-floated. The Old Sail Shop is gone.

Great Guana. Lots of damage. Nippers gone but being rebuilt. Grabbers flattened but work progressing to re-estabish. Both marinas badly damaged. Fuel available at Orchid Bay. (I think) I saw Troy’s dive boat, so I guess he is in business.

Bakers Bay. Didn’t get there.

I took a road trip down to Little Harbour which seemed to have escaped major injury. Interestingly as you drive south you quite suddenly come out of the dead tree zone into green trees again. A very defined line.

The road between Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay was badly pot holed but when coming down today most of the holes have been filled in.


The Abacos are in desperate need of support, so don't be put off by a few hardships. The water is great, there are plenty of crayfish and the breeze is great for sailing.

[Nightsky]

Thanks for the update.

[GordMay]

Six months after powerful hurricane leveled Bahamas, in places it still looks like it just hit
➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nation...ater-1.5460953

[AA3JY]

Originally Posted by newlazydays

I just spent a month in the Abacos. My boat was sunk in Hurricane Dorian and I returned to re-float the boat and get rid of it. The following is the latest that I both observed and heard whilst I was there. Things can change by the day but to the best of my knowledge the following is correct as of March 1 2020.

Feel free to correct me if you know better.

The eye of the storm was about 20 miles across covering from somewhere just north of Green Turtle Cay to about Lynyard Cay. Outside the eye the damage is far less than inside.

GreenTurtle Cay. The dinghy dock is gone. The big public dock is OK and RO water can be obtained there. Only one boat survived in Black Sound, and even that one was damaged. White Sound took a pounding. The Green Turtle Club has fuel and some dockage. The club itself is supposed to open soon. Bluff House Marina was pretty well wiped out. The bar etc is closed. Some moorings are available. You cannot clear in at Green Turtle. Suggest you do that at West End if coming round the top of Grand Bahama. Power has been restored on Green Turtle.

Treasure Cay. Treasure Cay was totally trashed. Many of the hotel rooms and condos are being ripped down, The marina is trashed. Moorings are available in the bay. There are still some sunken boats in the marina yet to be removed. There is one very small store opening for basic food. The supermarket is a heap of rubble. RO water is available but you will have to use containers and lug it to the boat. The fuel dock is open but badly damaged. Florence’s Coffee Shop and Bakery opened about a week ago. Lots of trash and rubble about the place but slow progress is being made. There is no power on as yet..

Leisure Lee. The Morrings boats are scattered inland and one catamaran even made its way over the road and now lies upside down in the bush.

Marsh Harbour. A real disaster area. The Mud has been scraped clean and a fence put round it. Standard Hardware is gone. Ace is trading but in limited fashion. There are some sunken boats in the bay and both the Conch Inn and the Gibroom exist no more. The light at the entrance to the harbour is gone. The Bahamas Defence Force is camped by the Public Dock. The dock itself still in need of repair. Dinghy to the inside end and use the concrete steps. You can clear in at Marsh Harbour. Maxwells is up and running. Many other businesses are still closed. There is still no power.

Elbow Cay. Hope Town took a pounding. The lighthouse still stands. Lighthouse Marina trashed but fuel is available to small boats. The other marina also damaged but looks like work is progressing to get it up to scratch again. Captain Jacks trashed. The Harbour Lodge badly damaged. The bar is closed and the pool too. Not sure if Lowes is open. I was there on a Sunday. I think the coffee shop might be closed as well.

I didn’t get down to Tahiti Beach or Lubbers Quarters but I believe Lubbers took a ponding as well.

Man o War. Lots of boats up on Dickies Cay, plus a couple of boats sunk in the anchorage. Edwins Boat Yard open for business. The ice cream shop flourishes. You can eat at the restaurant next door. The power people are working on restoring power…..but no word on when that might happen. The old wooden schooner The William H. Albury was sunk but has been re-floated. The Old Sail Shop is gone.

Great Guana. Lots of damage. Nippers gone but being rebuilt. Grabbers flattened but work progressing to re-estabish. Both marinas badly damaged. Fuel available at Orchid Bay. (I think) I saw Troy’s dive boat, so I guess he is in business.

Bakers Bay. Didn’t get there.

I took a road trip down to Little Harbour which seemed to have escaped major injury. Interestingly as you drive south you quite suddenly come out of the dead tree zone into green trees again. A very defined line.

The road between Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay was badly pot holed but when coming down today most of the holes have been filled in.


The Abacos are in desperate need of support, so don't be put off by a few hardships. The water is great, there are plenty of crayfish and the breeze is great for sailing.

Any word on Donie's Boat's Sale's in Black Sound, Green Turtle?

[tmccaffery]

Glass half full / half empty


I also just returned from a month in Abaco. Yes, things are rough there, but things are already improving. Green Turtle had main power restored in February. Green Turtle Club Marina docks, including fuel dock, were not damaged. The club itself opens this week. Many other places open on GTC. Lots of work going on.


Great Guana Cay -- Power poles were being set in late February when we left. Material to re-build Orchid Bay Marina is on hand and work is expected to begin shortly. Clydes (former Sunsetters) is open Thursday - Saturday. Grabbers is re-built, new pool going in and they are scheduled to do a soft opening March 4.


Man-o-War -- The boat yards and Sail Shop are open, albeit in different locations.


Elbow Cay -- Abaco Inn looks like there never was a hurricane. Businesses in Hopetown are rebuilding. The harbor had nearly as many boats on moorings as you would normally see for this time of year.


Great Abaco -- Boat Harbor will open shortly, they have a fuel dock in operation.



The availability of labor is a real issue. For example, Maxwell's is looking for ten people to stock shelves and can't find them.



In talking with folks and looking around you can readily see which homes/businesses had insurance and/or owners with deep pockets vs those that didn't. The former are re-building while the others can't. As soon as a place is ready to live in workers re-building homes / businesses move in. What Abaco needs are cruiser dollars to help businesses get back on their feet and get some outside money circulating in the economy. A real fear in Abaco is that with the Bahamian Government promoting all of its other islands and ignoring Abaco, that cruisers /boaters / tourists will go elsewhere and not come back when things are back to "normal".

[a64pilot]

We left there a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, a lot of it’s bad, some much worse than others, the storm really filtered out well built from not so well built, but looking at the damage I believe there were several as in many imbedded tornados, not much else can explain the damage pattern, or actually the lack of one.
Green Turtle is well on the road to recovery, but I got that there was a lot of anger towards the Government, one Lady said they never got so much as a bottle of water from the Government and it if weren’t for the US, they would still be in trouble, but she also said I believe the Dutch sent the largest relief ship she had ever seen too.
The RO water is being provided at no cost to the community by Water Mission, a non profit Christian organization out of I think North Carolina. I believe this was their first RO unit, you could tell it was home made, but well built and had some interesting features that I didn’t understand

https://watermission.org/

.

She said the USCG would fly over every day and ask on the radio if everyone was OK, were there any Evac’s needed etc.

But the Government did nothing, except apparently just before the Storm they sent word that they should evacuate to Marsh Harbor, which I believe almost none did as it was too late for that.
Anyway many thanked us for coming, I believe and think they do too that the little money we spent renting a Golf Cart, buying stuff at the store etc was helping, and to be blunt, now is the time to go, before the huge tourist crowds return, unless of course that’s your thing.

Maxwell’s, the big grocery store in Marsh Harbor seemed untouched and was doing a huge amount of business which it always did, but even the palm trees in the parking lot etc seems untouched, but just around it was devastation.

Getting ashore is difficult in these places, Marsh Harbor had one dock, and it had a sign on it saying it was for customers of something and any other boats would be set free, so we docked at the old
“Cruisers dock” which the only thing left was the big concrete block and steps, the dock itself is of course gone, and the dumpster where you used to put trash is also of course.

Oh, Green Turtle has both power and city water back now or did when we were there, and had garbage disposal for cruisers at the public dock, as was said fuel is available during week days at the Marina.

The Abaco’s and indeed a lot of the Bahamas run on tourist money, and that is what will have them recover the fastest.

[newlazydays]

"Any word on Donie's Boat's Sale's in Black Sound, Green Turtle?"


I was there about three weeks ago. Donny is fine and his house is back up. He is slowly re-building the dock. I actually sheltered in his basement during the hurricane with five others. He is now living in the basement now and has converted the main living area of the house into a huge workshop.


The boat yard in Black Sound has got all the felled boats upright, lots with broken masts. Incidentally I noticed that nearly all the broken masts in the Abacos had broken just above the lower shrouds.


I never got up to Manjack but I heard that they were not as damaged as Green Turtle.

[AA3JY]

Originally Posted by newlazydays

"Any word on Donie's Boat's Sale's in Black Sound, Green Turtle?"


I was there about three weeks ago. Donny is fine and his house is back up. He is slowly re-building the dock. I actually sheltered in his basement during the hurricane with five others. He is now living in the basement now and has converted the main living area of the house into a huge workshop.


The boat yard in Black Sound has got all the felled boats upright, lots with broken masts. Incidentally I noticed that nearly all the broken masts in the Abacos had broken just above the lower shrouds.


I never got up to Manjack but I heard that they were not as damaged as Green Turtle.

Thanks..had a sister ship of ours was assured there where moorings available..arrived moorings where not available..had to tie up at the govt dock with no cleats..