Hopetown in the Abacos

Hopetown in the Abacos is your dream town of sailing to the Bahamas, a seaside village with pastel cottages and a quiet harbor with  moorings for the cruisers. The town was settled by loyalists fleeing America. It has undergone many reinventions from farming to fishing to wreckers, and is currently a vacation spot, par execllance. There are museums, a lighthouse with a kerosene lamp, built in the 1860s, trails, cottages in lush gardens, sand beaches, reefs for snorkling, hotels with views of both the Atlantic and the harbor, quaint groceries, one run by baker, Vernon, who bakes wonderful homemade breads and fills his store with the aroma and with homemade signs, jokes and wise sayings.

We catch a mooring ball in the circular harbor within sight of the lighthouse and enjoy our stay, prolonged a day by bad weather, which kicks up the Atlantic and drops several inches of rain onto the island. It's not a bad place to be stuck for an extra day. Don also treated us to dinner at a harborside restaurant, and here we were afraid he'd ask to be paid for his crewing.