Renee set up coffee and cut fruit before she left in the evenings, so when we woke up in Hope Town we had our coffee, tea, and fruit with stories and coloring.
Once the ferry arrived, Kyle and the kids took the dinghy out to meet Renee and Ray, and Renee made yummy scrambled eggs for our proper breakfast. As we were eating breakfast, another boat sailed by leaving it's mooring and yelled Happy Birthday to Nana! They were friends of Ray's and Renee's and had heard the birthday announcement the morning before.
At 10, Ray took us to the Hope Town Lighthouse. Nana didn't climb the lighthouse on her first trip, so she wasn't going to miss it this time!
The red and white striped lighthouse in Hope Town on Elbow Cay was built in 1862, and is one of the last operational kerosene-fueled lighthouses in the world and one of only three manual lighthouses left in the world. The lamp burns kerosene oil with a wick and mantle. The light is then focused as it passes through the optics of a first order Fresnel lens which floats on a bed of mercury. Elvis, the lighthouse keeper, hand cranks the spring mechanism every several hours to turn the lens and maintain the unique Elbow Cay sequence of five white flashes every 15 seconds. Its light can be seen from 23 nautical miles away.
At 10, Ray took us to the Hope Town Lighthouse. Nana didn't climb the lighthouse on her first trip, so she wasn't going to miss it this time!
The red and white striped lighthouse in Hope Town on Elbow Cay was built in 1862, and is one of the last operational kerosene-fueled lighthouses in the world and one of only three manual lighthouses left in the world. The lamp burns kerosene oil with a wick and mantle. The light is then focused as it passes through the optics of a first order Fresnel lens which floats on a bed of mercury. Elvis, the lighthouse keeper, hand cranks the spring mechanism every several hours to turn the lens and maintain the unique Elbow Cay sequence of five white flashes every 15 seconds. Its light can be seen from 23 nautical miles away.
The climb to the top of the lighthouse is 101 spiral steps--and that doesn't count the walk from the water to the base of the building. We all made it (thanks to Ray's help; he carried Hamish part of the way!)
The view from the top was worth it of course!
After our tour, we went back to the boat, changed into swimsuits, and went back to Hope Town to the beach on the ocean side, Harbor Lodge Beach. The sand was powder-fine and had specks of pink. The kids loved it, splashed and played. Kyle snorkeled a bit.
We came to lunch on the boat: more fresh fruit and chicken salad and homemade Bahamian bread. Once we were settled with our lunch, Capt Ray raised the sails and we headed to Man-O-War Cay.
The Harbor at Man-O-War was much smaller than Hope Town and the island is quieter, especially on a Sunday. Kyle and the kids took Ray and Renee to their ferry in the late afternoon, then came back for Nana and me to take a dinghy tour of the harbor.
