Tuesday 28 February 2017

February 20-28, 2017 Joe volunteer work


Joe started his volunteering work restoring  one of Winer Mahone's 
 personal Abaco Dinghy
… taking the rotten parts off


sanding and anti fouling the inside of the Live Well


Cecil has worked restoring the Abaco Dinghies for 18 years 
here he is installing the new railing


the Live Well … where the fish that are caught are kept alive until
they reach shore


Joe also anti fouled the bottom
this dinghy is 10 feet long


on Joe's last day in this week, I tagged along to see the work in progress
so we dinghy down into one of the two basins in Hope Town, and we had made arrangements
to tie our dinghy to a private dock … then we followed the road allowance to the
other side of the island to Tomato Paste Resort


a boat load of floats


Cecil and Joe have made a lot of progress this week


already restored Abaco Dinghies


this is the same Madeira wood for the bow … (Bahamian Mahogany)


one of the next boats to restore


on the weekends Cecil makes these 1/2 models to scale
Cypress and Madeira
this coming weekend is Hope Town Heritage Day and he will sell them, we will take 
the ferry, it is getting into the busy season and there will not be any available mooring balls
and the winds are to clock .. so we won't be able to anchor out side

February 20 - 28, 2017 Chung Tu and Old Rosie


a very friendly Curly Tail


this Hermit Crab actually squeaked at me to leave him alone
he is using an abandoned Snakeskin Top Shell as his home




back at Hope Town we reinforced out Owen Sound Milage sign


my mini boat orchids sure are enjoying the warm weather





we finally saw the controller of the mini sailboat that was making its way thru the
mooring field


Winer Malone's work shop beside his home on Hope Town, he has
built over 200 Abaco Dinghies with all hand tools and no blue prints
Winer is now over 95 years of age and we understand that this is
his last dinghy that he is working on .. and it is his coffin


the Maderia wood used for the bow of the Abaco Dinghies
it is actually the crotch of a tree branch .. they use this so the grain of the
wood goes around the bend of the bow for a much stronger piece of wood


we toured the Hope Town Museum with Ben and Jane from
Old Rosie .. this is the original Bahama Flag before Independence ...
Colonial flag flown in Hope Town up until midnight on July 9, 1973


some creative sea shell art work decorated the museum




after a week in Hope Town we went to Archers Cay and met up
with Old Rosie and Chung Tu …. the guys caught 3 lobsters, while the girls
walked the beaches for shells
Debbie and Jane


Joe, Ben and Pierre


a great supper …. once again


Tuesday 21 February 2017

February ….. some extra pictures
















February 16-19, 2017 part three Hope Town Songwriters Festival


The Abaco RAGE Dinghy
the flag is flying on the back of the very long boom


the 5th Annual Patrick Davis Hope Town Songwriters Festival
on the left Channing Wilson, from Nashville ..singer, song writer
famous ones are TrainWreck and Black Jesus
right Patrick Davis, he writes songs for Darius Rucker and Jimmy Buffett
famous songs Where I'm From, Numbers and Call Me
he is also the co-founder of this festival, which runs for 6 days in Hope Town, Abaco


right - Lauren Jenkins, singer, song writer and artist, has released her own LP
and is now touring the country as a support act for Lady Antebellum, LeAnn Rimes and others
…. famous songs Maker's Mark and No Saint
left ….  Janell Wheeler singer and song writer, she was a finalist on Season 9 of American Idol
famous songs Reckless and On My Way to You


as with most venues in the Bahamas it is all out doors
.. it is a free event, but you are expected to buy drinks and food


Joe, teal hat and our friends to the right Joe and Paula on Seaquel To
this is the last day of the festival and a rain squall came 


most people squeezed into the bar area, we stayed in the covered area by the rest rooms


the first squall hit and then another


the music guys had nothing to cover the equipment with and all the guitars got moved into the
womens washroom


Django Walker, singer, song writer and artist from Texas, has written songs for Pat Green and Jimmy Buffett … Django's father is the legendary songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker and has performed around the world with his father .. famous songs Something Bout a Boat and Texas On My Mind
(Django is his real name)


Django sang a few songs for us in the washroom building as the rain continued to pour
one of them was The Hard Way

next year we are planning to be in Hope Town for the complete festival

Since 2013 the Songwriters Festival has raised $40,000 to Hope Town causes, which include
Hope Town School, Friends of the Environment and The Hope Town Fire and Rescue

Monday 20 February 2017

February 16-19, 2017 MOW flea market



a restoration job on the William H. Albury … a Canadian from New Brunswick has
donated a mast and all the rigging, but it will cost 12 thousand to ship the parts to the Abcoes
today at the flea market I think they raised $1,000


the outside looks in good shape but the inside deeds lots of work














the dinghy dock at Man Of War … there was 32 boats anchored out




our friend Dave Wright … playing his Mandolin, AKA Barefoot Dave


it was a very hot day and the place was packed with tourists and locals


a crab race


and they are off


the winner crossing the line


to be continued .. another day .. wifi is very slow