Man O War Cay

 We arrived at Man O War Cay on February 1. We put our anchor down in an open area outside of the harbor. I counted 18 sailboats in the anchorage. The water was flat calm, but we knew that was about to change. Our Friends David and Paula went inside the harbor to check to see if they had mooring balls available. We were told by other boaters that there were no mooring balls and no place to anchor. David and Paula came back and said there were lots of balls available. We decided to get in the dinghy and go see for ourselves. We found what David and Paula had seen, but only saw about 5 balls that looked usable by our boat. Now, the problem was that the entrance to the harbor is very shallow and should only be attempted at mid tide or higher. The high tide was at 7 the next morning. I was concerned that all of those other boats had to go somewhere. Our little three boat group decided to get moving early and head into the harbor and pick up a ball. 

When we arrived we were greeted by Mike. Mike is a super nice guy that had lots of local information including where to go spear fishing. Today was the last calm day for a while so, we got ready to go right away. The cost of the balls was $20 per day or $100 per week .We decided to pay for a week and check out Man O War. Much to our surprise, none of the other boats from the anchorage came in to the harbor. I think they all went over to Marsh Harbor that is only about 5 miles away and has a large anchorage. 

This is a shot of the anchorage on the outside of Man O War Cay.

I did some snorkeling on that first day and found a couple of King Conch. I found out later (Mike informed me) that they are not edible, so we threw them back. The following day the weather came in as expected and we were very glad we were in this very protected place. It blew about 25 knots for 2 days. 

The mooring balls in the harbor are very close together, but are on short pendants, so all is good. 

This 50 foot boat came in and took the ball next to us. They ran aground at low tide. 

After the blow, our buddy boats decided to head their own way, which is the way it goes in this lifestyle. We had much more of Man O War we wanted to see. This island is very unique for the Bahamas. They do not sell alcohol on the island, and there are no restaurants. This is not the place to come to party. The island was founded by the Albury family in 1820. Benjamin Albury was a shipwrecked sailor that was rescued by his future wife's family. The legend is that it was love at first sight. He was given 60 acres of the island as a wedding present and he started a boat building company. That company still exists today and can be seen along the waterfront of the harbor. This island was also badly damaged in Hurricane Dorian in 2019, but has done an amazing job of clean up and rebuilding. There are many churches on the island for only 450 residents. We met a number of people as we walked around and found all of them to be very friendly and welcoming. While we were there, we walked the island end to end. It is all beautiful. 

This is the Heritage Center on the Cay. Very interesting history.

This is the very nice local grocery store. Everything is very expensive, but high quality.

This is the original Methodist Church built in the 1800's. 

This is a Bahamian sailing dinghy built by Albury Boat works.

The ocean side of the island is stunning. It was mostly too rough to snorkel that side of the island while we were there.

Here is an Albury Brothers boat fresh out of the building process. They are known to have the highest quality. 

Our host in the mooring field, Mike is into building and resurrecting wooden boats. There are two in the harbor here that are being restored. One was built in 1945(Traveler) and was recently brought back from Florida to be restored. The other in 1963 (William H.). The William H. has been sunk 4 times including after hurricane Dorian. She stayed under water for 3 months and is now in the process of being restored. It was moored in our mooring field. 

The William H is being restored.

This is Traveler. It just made the trip back from Florida under it's own sails and motor. Now going through restoration by the local folks. 

We really enjoyed our long walks on the island. It is a beautiful place and we can see why people come here and stay. 

This part of the ocean side is rocky and you can see one of the houses that has not been rebuilt yet.

We have to get a Kim on a beach shot

Breathtakingly beautiful

This is a narrow spot on the island with the Atlantic Ocean on the right and the Sea of Abaco on the left. 

Kind of Random, but Harry Potter fans would enjoy this English phone booth.

This is a shot of the bay that we were moored in

This local cemetery was dominated by the Albury name. I was surprised to see it placed along the ocean side. It has been washed away multiple times.

This is SHIFT in the mooring field. All of our Buddy boats are gone.

SHIFT is doing well on this trip. Our comfortable home. 

Well that is about it for Man O War. We really enjoyed the vibe of that place. It was very different than the other places we have been in the Bahamas. Next up was the opposite end of the spectrum. We then moved on to Hope Town. There was a music festival going on there and we wanted to check it out.