Hope Town

Captain’s Log – Thu 4/17/25

Short sail to Hope Town this morning in a pleasant 15kt NE breeze. Still had to run the engine to generate power to make water but just using the engine as a generator doesn’t burn too much fuel. At Hope Town we putted around the harbor looking for a mooring ball for about half an hour before we gave up. Most of the unoccupied ones were marked unsafe. Which begs the question as the what the criteria is for being safe? On a scale of 1-10, is a 5 safe? Do they wait till it’s a 1? We decided just to anchor outside the harbor instead.

Hope Town are s a beautiful little section of Elbow Cay. It s home to the last manned kerosene lighthouse in the world. The lighthouse is nearly two centuries old. The fresnel lens floats in a giant bowl of mercury so it spins freely even by hand. Every two hours, the keeper must pump kerosene up by hand, then hoist the clock weight back up which uses gravity to turn the light at a set interval with a giant clock spring mechanism. Fascinating. No electricity or modern technology. With the fresnel lens it makes 325,000 candle power, visible for 17 miles.

After touring the lighthouse we walked the small town. It’s full of colorful little cottages. We stopped by the museum and finally at a dock bar called Jacks to have a cold drink.

The island was originally settled by British Loyalists ran out of the US after the Revolution.

After running around town, we went back to the boat and decided to put the Bimini top up on the dinghy. It’s getting pretty toasty here in the afternoon sun, and we’re thinking of taking to Tahiti Beach tomorrow.

We dined ashore at Hope Town Inn which is one of the best restaurants we’ve been to here.

✌️❤️⛵️