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HARBOUR ISLAND AND
DUNMORE TOWN
Harbour Island, known
locally as Briland, is a unique and delightful settlement and well worth a
visit. If you are bound for Abaco,
this stop takes you at least one full day out of your way. The difficult approach, just described, requiring the
services of a local pilot further detracts from Harbour Island as an overnight
stop for the trip to Abaco. If on
the other hand, you have enough time to enjoy this destination with out
detracting from the great sailing which awaits you in Abaco, then by all means,
include it in your itinerary! If
your cruising plans can’t accommodate the stop, you may wish to fly back
another time for a shoreside vacation and stay at one of the fine resorts.
Viewed from that perspective, this island actually has much to recommend it.
Both of the marinas on
Harbour Island were totally destroyed by Hurricane Andrew and both were hit
again by Floyd in 1999. Harbour
Island Club and Marina has replaced their old wooden pilings with steel
reinforced concrete pilings. Their
steel reinforcement rods are anchored several feet into solid coral.
Over the concrete, PVC protects boats from chafe.
It seemed to me that they were building as if they plan to survive the
next storm! They provided the
following prices: $1 per ft. per night for dockage with a “flat rate” of $10
per day for water. It is their
custom to give the seventh day of dockage “free”.
You can expect 8 to10 feet MLW at dockside.
The Valentine’s Marina
replaced their dock on new wooden pilings. They were closed at press time to
repair the damage from Floyd. They
have 39 slips, dockage is $1 per foot per day.
Electricity is metered at 40 cents per kilowatt hour, but they have a
daily minimum based upon the size of
your boat! A 42’ boat has a daily
minimum electric charge of $20! If
you are not accustomed to paying for your electricity this way, this basically
means, you’re going to pay to run your air conditioner whether you need it or
not!
Valentine Marina provided
the following directions to their facility, from South Cut:
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Enter the South Cut at a heading of 262°. Hug the north side of the cut
to avoid the underwater point that extends over half way through the cut. You
will clear the inlet in 18’ water.
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Once inside the inlet, adjust heading to 200°. Stay left in 16’ of
water to avoid shallow coral heads at right.
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Navigate through center of markers at 230° at 8’ depth.
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Travel directly toweard Cistern Rock at 278° in a depth of 8’ until
approximately 50 yards from the rock.
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Staying to the left of the marker, establish a heading of 320° as you
round the western edge of the shoal area.
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Once past the shoal area, change course to 30° and maintain direction in
15’ to 20’ of water to Valentine’s Marina.
These courses are
provided, coming in from South Cut, and have been depicted on our chart along
with the reciprocals. It is not
stated whether these are true or magnetic, but it would appear
they are true. Unlike most of the
courses shown in this guide, this particular course has not been tested by the
author, but the directions have been provided by a reliable local marina and are
presented here for your convenience. Furthermore,
the reader is reminded that Floyd hit this area in late 1999.
As with all sandy shoals, these sandy shoals may move with major storms.
These directions were prepared prior to Floyd!
Harbour
Island Resorts
Two relaxed resorts,
Runaway Hill and Coral Sands Hotel sit perched high above the picturesque, long
PINK beach. The sand really is
pink, but somewhat course unlike the fine sand we have in Abaco.
The color comes from the pink in thousands of broken shells.
The Coral Sands Hotel
sits on 14 hilly acres which reach from the center of town to the center of the
three mile beach. You can’t ask
for better location! They offer 33
guest rooms, a game room, tennis courts, bicycles, and water toys.
Their Mediterranean Cafe offers a continental cuisine with emphasis on
fish and lobster in a relaxed patio dining environment.
The Runaway Hill Club is
small, and intimate with only ten rooms. It
is reminiscent of a New England “Bed and Breakfast” Inn.
Sitting high on a bluff overlooking the beautiful Atlantic beach, the
resort commands an impressive view. The
dining room is only open for dinner, has one seating at 1930, offering a set
menu for $38. Proper attire is “suggested” by the management. (Every
cruiser’s dream!)
The
Romora Bay Club on the west side of the island offers a great place to sit and
watch the sunset. This once private
estate has 38 air conditioned rooms, some with kitchens.
On the premises they have a full service dive shop, tennis, and water
toys.
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