Busy days in Hope Town – Sailing Oestara

For our next adventure, we decided to head over to Hope Town, on Elbow Cay. We needed to arrive there on a rising tide in order not to touch bottom while entering the channel, so we left Man-O-War around midday on November 20th. We put the jib out and left the main put away, since it was a pretty short trip.

Are y’all tired of these dodger/boom/mast views yet?

After threading our way through the shallow channel (even at high tide!), we breathed a sigh of relief when we got inside the harbor and could pick out a mooring. One problem with picking up a mooring: we somehow must have lost our boat hook off the deck during the run from Hampton to Charleston. So picking up a mooring meant that we picked one out to be our target, then Patrick hopped in the dinghy with a dock line, and I drove Oestara onto that mooring without running him over, allowing him to reach up and feed the dock line to a bow cleat and tie us off. Whew! It worked, but I was nervous.

Time to go to shore!

We spotted the ocean at the other end of one of the streets right as we walked into town, so we headed that way. That took us past a church whose doors opened out onto the ocean view. What an amazing sight to see to while at church!

Hope Town was really picturesque, with cute houses and pretty flowers everywhere, up and down windy little streets.

We checked out the playground and had some really delicious ice cream at a little snack shack called Skoops & Tings.

Top of the slide, at a playground with a view.

We decided we’d head back to a place called Captain Jack’s for bingo that night at 6, so we took a long walk in the other direction to kill some time. We got back to Captain Jack’s at 5, which we assumed would be early enough to have a drink and a snack before bingo, but we were wrong. All the tables were already taken! They told us we could come back after bingo. Oh well! Change of plans, dinner on the boat, no bingo.

The next day we got up and had school, then thought we’d head to shore and rent a golf cart to check out the other end of the island, as it was a pretty long walk to get there.

It turned out all the golf carts at six different rental places we called were completely booked. (Note to others who might visit Hope Town: if you want one, be sure to reserve a golf cart in advance…and make sure you are two hours early for Bingo!)

We wanted to go to a place for lunch on the other side of the island, and check out a beach bar over there, too. Patrick had booked a haircut for 1:30 on this side of the island, so he’d need to get back quickly after lunch…which meant it would be too long of a walk. So, we divided and conquered: he went and rented a bicycle to use, while Cecelia and I got our walking shoes on. We walked about 45 minutes to Mackey’s for lunch, and Patrick biked and met us there.

Lots of pretty vacation houses on our walk.

It was worth it! Delicious fish and chicken, and we got a slice of chocolate pie for dessert. (I mean, what else are we doing all this walking for?!)

After stuffing ourselves, Patrick headed back on his bike for his haircut (long overdue!) and Cecelia and I backtracked to a beach bar called (what else) On Da Beach, which was a few minutes away from Mackey’s. Patrick met us back there when he was done.

The waves were crashing, the beach was pretty, and the breeze was excellent.

We also took advantage of the baskets near the bar for collecting trash off of the beach. Cecelia and I filled up two of the baskets, and she and Patrick filled up a third. Water bottles and flip flops/shoe soles seemed to be the worst offenders!