West End, on to Ocean Reef Yacht Club & Resort - Grand Bahama

AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Wed 16 Jan 2019 21:33
26:30.24N, 078:39.72W
We were too late to clear in on the day of arrival at West End. So it was a
nights stay on Dock N4. On arrival we were enthusiastically hailed by a local
man in a white T-shirt with something written on it that could have been ‘Old
Bahama Bay’ who waved us towards our allocated dock. He took our bow line
although with hardly any breeze we could have easily managed the docking
ourselves. It was kind of him until he then explained he didn’t work for the
marina and asked for a tip for his efforts. Hmm! wonder how many he catches with
that trick?
Our closest neighbours were two sportfish centre console boats, used for
fast trolling using either big inboard diesels or an array of outboards to get
out to the fishing grounds and back often for charter purposes. We’ve seen these
things with up to four times 350hp engines hanging on the transom so needless to
say these boats are not awfully popular with cruisers. Often the skippers are
blasé about the effects their craft have on other vessels as they blast along
the ICW whenever there are no restrictions on speed, throwing anything and
everything in their wake all over the place. You only have to listen to the
protests on the VHF to know there are big powerful powerboats in the near
vicinity. Then once in port on go the thousand watt speakers and it’s their
music you will hear over your own. We had this problem at West End but the
Admiral went outside and ‘fixed it’! The Pendry ladies are not to be messed
with.
![]() ![]() Our thoughts of moving on the next day were hampered by a strong
northwesterly wind blowing into the entrance of the marina and so it was another
day in a place were not that keen on. A walk was in order. The marina is part of
the ‘Old Bahama Bay’ resort with apartments, swimming pool etc. all on hand but
to us not terribly attractive, so we took off along the road to see what the
outside world was like. It was one of those ‘just up to the next corner and
we’ll turn round’ sort of walks but we kept going and eventually reached West
End Settlement about a mile or so from the marina. It was a rather sad place as
the last hurricane and maybe several before had impacted heavily on the
infrastructure. Walking through town we passed two sports bars and a gambling
joint. We must have missed any shops or not walked far enough perhaps. We met
Bruce the local gravedigger who was busy with his pneumatic drill pounding his
way down into the sub strata which is mainly limestone and only just below the
surface. In such a small community the gravedigger will no doubt know
everyone he digs a hole for except here the graves are often above ground in
concrete boxes with a concrete lid placed on top.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Looking out over the shallow banks there was the wreckage of a sailing
ketch, no doubt another hurricane victim left to founder by its owner. The
townspeople of West End will be looking at the stricken wreckage for many years
to come as glass fibre has no capability to rot down anytime soon. There are
many such sights in the Bahamas and it’s sad that no responsibility is taken by
the owner to reclaim or have the wreck somehow dealt with, albeit with
difficulty in the shallow water. That said the settlement wasn’t without its
casualties from the storm. The whole area was affected by not only the winds but
also storm surge meaning a lot of potential damage even if your roof didn’t blow
off!
Next day’s forecast was better and we motor-sailed down to Ocean Reef
Resort. We will spend the next month or so relaxing and meeting up with quite a
few friends and acquaintances from Titusville who now come here each year for
the winter months.
![]() ![]() Heading to Ocean Reef Yacht Club ,approaching Freeport, a major
commercial port in the Bahamas as can be seen from the blue triangular AIS
traces on the plotter. Yes parts of it still work!
![]() ![]() ![]() Ocean Reef lies within a network of man-made canals on the
south side of Grand
Bahama.
..and the way back out to sea
![]() ![]() Our very nice spot in Ocean Reef in front of some of the time
share apartments.
Finally a few pics that we took whilst at Vero Beach Florida waiting for
weather to cross to the Bahamas....
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() End
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