Settling in at Hope Town

Hope Town is the “town”  on Elbow Cay, an island in the Abacos, in the northern part of the Bahamas. Now that we are here, I have learned that Hope Town is two words, not one; although I see it spelled both ways.  We think this will be our home base for the winter months. As we entered the channel, this little sign reminded us that it is time to sloooow down!

Geography pictures of our winter “home” (and yes, I stole the graphics below off of the internet) —

A little history lesson from the Winnie Malone Museum — “Hope Town was settled by British Loyalists who were seeking safe refuge after the American Revolution.  Many of the settlers came from the Carolinas, by way of East Florida, after that area was turned over to Spain in the Peace of Paris (1783).  The same treaty called for the evacuation of New York by the loyalists.  Many people moved back to England, Canada, or south to the British Caribbean.  The initial settlements were at Carleton (near the current Treasure Cay) and Marsh Harbour.  By 1785, there were over 1,000 refugees in Abaco who were distributed in five or six settlements.  The settlement at Hope Town was founded in 1785, in part, by a widow from South Carolina named Wyannie Malone.  Wyannie, along with her children, started a dynasty in Hope Town that spread the Malone name throughout the Bahamas, over to Florida, and outwards from there.”

We have a view of the Hope Town Lighthouse (officially called the Elbow Cay Reef Lighthouse) with its famous red and white stripes, a Bahama  landmark. It is one of only two remaining hand lit lighthouses in the world. Before we leave, we plan to climb to the top!

On Saturday, we dinghied around the outside of Elbow Cay along the western shore towards the south end of the island. I spotted something on a point of land so we dinghied closer to investigate.

I am sure that everyone is waiting for  beach photos, so here are some pictures of our first trips to Elbow Cay beaches.

We found Tahiti Beach and stopped to wade in the shallow waters, with the low tide.

On Sunday, we tried the Hope Town beach, a short walk from the harbor.

Enough for now! Can’t sit around waiting for slow internet to load pictures. The morning rains have ended and it is time to play again.