Exploring Hope Town

Vernon, the king of quotes.

We spent the morning snorkeling in some fairly calm water on the east side of Elbow Cay in the Atlantic Ocean. The beaches sloped steeply uphill, reminders of Hurricane Sandy, but still a beautiful beach with water just the right temperature and some nice coral reefs to view. Following our snorkel we took a little rest and enjoyed the sunshine on the beach. For Paul and Irene, coming from Seattle with typical Jan 30-40 degree rain/snow it was like heaven.

We decided to tour the town and bee-lined it for the best local homemade ice cream shop, "Sugar Shack", of course, just in time for lunch and well worth it! We also visited one of the local grocery stores, Vernon's and picked up some delicious fresh baked bread.

Vernon is a local legend in Hope Town with hundreds of quotes and witticism's posted throughout the store. Many locals are lifetime inhabitants with relatives dating back to 1785, when the Loyalists founded the island. Vernon promises us fresh coconut bread and key lime pie tomorrow.

Those are Vernon's quotes hanging from the top of the rack.

During our visit last year, we had stayed on a mooring ball for a couple nights, which is a nice compromise between anchoring and staying at a dock. You still have your own space with the nice breezes to keep your boat comfortable. This year we decided to stay at the Hope Town Inn and Marina for a number of reasons; convenience for guests, power and water for our upcoming varnishing project, great off-season pricing with our Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club membership, and a newly renovated facility with a terrific pool and restaurant-bar. We spent part of the afternoon with our books and drinks by the pool. Having Paul & Irene visit us meant we could take a little mini vacation as we don't always take breaks from the demands of a cruising life-style.

A beautiful woman finally gets some time to relax.

Later that afternoon, we walked over to the Hope Town Lighthouse, which is still in used in a traditional way, using a small kerosene-fueled mantle and a huge rotating glass Fresnel lens to send a beam of light as far as 20 miles. The lighthouse requires the hauling of 5-gallon drums of kerosene with a pulley system up the open stairway to keep the light operating.

We climbed to the top and took in the view and marveled at how they still maintained the lighthouse with technology from the 1860's. It is said Hope Town was once very prosperous from shipwrecks off the island salvaging the cargo and usable parts of ships. Some local residents tried to protect their livelihoods by sabotaging the construction of the lighthouse.