Mayaguana

Mayaguana is a relatively large island north of the Turks and Caicos. We stayed in there about a week, first snorkeling and feasting on fish and lobster, then waiting out some weather. Abrahams Bay, in the southwest corner of the island, is a large area with lots of reefs and several great anchorages. The kind of scary thing about it is that the bay is enclosed by reefs that are just submerged beneath the surface. On a calm day, you really can’t tell it’s there, and it would be really really easy to plow right into it if you didn’t have charts and weren’t paying attention, because the water is deep (greater than 100 meters) to about ¼ mile from the reef, then shallows quickly. So it’s kind of nice when there are at least light breakers showing the reef edge. But the reef keeps the bay much calmer than the open water outside, and there’s good sand to anchor in. The dinghy landing, although a little worse for wear, has a nice welcoming sign and some picture-perfect coconut palms. Just along the shore is an old graveyard—each grave had a pile of rocks and one conch shell—not a bad view for eternity! The settlement of Abrahams Bay is a 5-10 minute walk from the landing. The road is line with mangroves, and we saw lots of birds wading in the shallow water. One thing we’ve learned in the Bahamas: head for the Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) tower, which you can see in the left side of the photo below. You can see the red-lit towers from miles offshore, and you can generally find a phone (although not always a working phone) and internet access nearby. We went to the island administrator’s office to extend our immigration papers, and sat in their small vestibule to use the wifi, warning people who came in the door not to trip over the power cord. Everyone was very nice and helpful – great people. This was on January 22^nd, and we haven’t had internet access until now (February 8^th), thus the big silence.