Hurricane Maria – All is calm in Abaco. It is Sunday afternoon, September 24th, and Hurricane Maria is now north of Abaco, and we are hoping for a sharp turn to the east – away from the US coast. The breeze is still gusty. Windfinder says sustained winds of 17 mph with gusts to 21 mph, but the wind is from the northwest, so it seems less on our beach. I wanted to write a quick update because we are still receiving emails from concerned friends. Thank you! This is a video of our beach today: And I will close with my 2 favorite treasures from the last few days:
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After Hurricane Irma – at Casuarina Point, Abaco, Bahamas
After Hurricane Irma – at Casuarina Point Good morning from Camp David! It is a gorgeous day! We are back in business. As you can see 2 of our boats are in the water, because we had guests arrive at two houses yesterday. It is great fishing weather and also perfect for hanging out on the beach. We are so thankful! On Monday afternoon the breeze was back to normal, and I went on one more treasure hunt on the beach. My main objective was to save any conch or anything else alive that was stranded by the winds and high tides. I did find several that I put back in the water, and I hope they all lived! I found 3 HUGE conch shells – still alive – and HOPE they lived! They were hard to get back in the water, because they are surprisingly heavy! In the short video above, I was hoping to capture some movement, but didn’t get much. It is a good, up close picture of the animal though. I found several live queen conch, of various sizes, stranded by the seaweed and tides, too. This video shows the larger conch moving: Some other interesting […]
Update: Hurricane Irma in Abaco – Sunday morning
Hello from Casuarina Point, Abaco. (If you do not see the full blog – click on the picture.) This is our 3rd day of 25 – 30 mph winds (Sunday morning) and rough seas, and we continue to be very thankful! Yesterday afternoon (Saturday) at low tide I went for a walk – and it was BEAUTIFUL – partly sunny – but still VERY windy! You would never know it was windy from these first pictures. Here is a video from this morning (Sunday, September 10th) around 9:45 am. And here are pictures from high tide – around 11:30 am, Sunday: This is the most incredible graphic – showing Abaco between 2 MAJOR Hurricanes!….Irma & Jose: I will end with some pictures from my walk on the beach Saturday afternoon at low tide: This link takes you to a very interesting article/video that was published by the Washington Post about the water being sucked away from Long Island in the Bahamas. What a powerful storm Irma is! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/09/hurricane-irma-is-literally-sucking-the-water-away-from-shorelines/?utm_term=.b0825bedd409
After Hurricane Matthew – Counting Our Blessings!
Thank you to our many friends who inquired about our safety and our houses! Abaco was spared the hurricane force of Matthew, and the tropical storm winds did minimal damage. Here are some pictures that show just how lucky we were! We are THANKFUL!
Postcards from the Bahamas
The weather has been less than perfect during our stay at Abaco Palms on Abaco Island in the Bahamas but when the wind lays down enough to get out and do some fishing we have had some very nice days. I have had a chance to give the new Winston BIII Plus Saltwater Rod a work out and it’s been fantastic. I love the metal reel seat, ultra slick guides and fast action with “Winston feel”. This is one of the best saltwater specific rods available today without a doubt. The new Airflo Bonefish/Redfish “Super Dri” line has been solid as well. It floats considerably better than the Airflo Ridge Bonefish/Redfish. This entry was posted in Fly Fishing Gear Review, Fly Fishing Travel.
Abaco Parrots at Casuarina Point
During our recent visit to Casuarina Point (September/early October 2015) Abaco Parrots were in our neighborhood everyday. We would hear them squawking loudly as they flew from tree to tree at feeding time – early mornings & late afternoons. We had just planted 3 new, tall Christmas Tree Palms on the street side of Kokomo, and they LOVED feeding on the berries! It offered me a great position on the porch to watch them and take pictures and these three videos.
Progress update from Abaco…
Hello from the Miami airport! I am on my way home to Talladega after a short trip to check on the houses and inspect the progress on The Bridge House at Schooner Bay. I am SO EXCITED! The Bridge House is just as I hoped it would be! I can’t wait to see it finished! The finish dates keeps moving farther out. (Is that surprising to anyone?) I think it is possible that it could be finished the end of February, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Luckily they have large crews that will work on the different finish processes – such as tile work, painting, etc. As you can see in the picture, the Bridge House is PINK! There is trim on the main level that still needs to painted white and the landscaping will help tone down the pink. Right now I think it looks TOO pink!…but I hope you can envision it with more white trim and some nice landscaping. 🙂 The main floor has 2 bedrooms (that will have king beds) each with an ensuite bath, and there is a powder room off the living area. The ‘pop-up loft’ has 2 […]
Recent Activity at Abaco Palms Properties….
We have been busy the past few months working on improvements to our properties, and I want to cover some of the highlights in this post. The Bridge House – Progress with our Schooner Bay Property Here are a few recent pictures of our newest house that is under construction. We are excited that the current estimated completion date is mid-January! Camp David’s paintings have been hung. and the street side yard’s initial landscaping has been done. We are really excited about our new beach level deck and grass at Abaco Palms. One of our MOST EXCITING projects from the past few months was moving 3 HUGE coconut trees! One (the largest) is now in front of Abaco Palms, and 2 are in front of Kokomo and will be ready for a hammock next year. We moved the largest of the 3 trees to the beach in front of Abaco Palms. I was amazed as I watched the process of moving the huge trees. It was quite a project!…but I think it will REALLY be worth it. I know this has turned in to a LONG post, but I didn’t want to have 3 or 4 […]
Dream Destination Wedding at Schooner Bay in Abaco, Bahamas
After deliberating over the many options of having a larger wedding at home in the States or a smaller wedding abroad, my wife and I chose Abaco as a destination to host our wedding celebration. My family has been going to Abaco for years, and my wife (Marianna) and I have already developed some fond memories there. We didn’t know how it would all play out when we decided to do this, but it turned out to be the wedding of our dreams. The whole wedding party including guests (20 in all) were easily accommodated by Abaco Palms Properties (founded by Kathy Heacock in Casuarina Point), where nearly everyone had their own beach-side, private, and luxurious bedroom with a view. Throughout the wedding week our whole party enjoyed kayaking, fishing and snorkeling expeditions basically whenever we wanted. All of the amenities that they offered really relieved the pressure of organizing large group activities. At the end of the day (as well as maybe a few times before noon) we enjoyed drinking Kathy’s famous Goombay Smash. While her accommodations maybe not all-inclusive in the traditional sense, there is really nothing she hasn’t thought of. I have now started drinking these at home in […]
