Enjoying Little Harbor Bahamas and some molten bronze.

It’s Friday morning, the sun is up, the surf is pounding in the distance and it’s another wonderful day aboard Pandora.

Yesterday we enjoyed the sights ashore in Little Harbor, a diminutive harbor here in the Abacos.   For our friends aboard Nati, this is their favorite harbor in all of the Abacos and one that they enjoy visiting at least one each season.

After only one day here I can certainly understand why this is a spot that’s so popular with cruisers and charters alike.  The harbor is totally protected, unlike most in the Bahamas that only offer limited protection from wind and seas, and it has the wonderful shore side attraction of Pete’s Pub on the beach.

Pete’s Pub is one of those quintessential beach bars complete with palm trees and and open air bar.  The food is quite good and we enjoyed one of the best hamburgers in quite some time.  Most spots in the Bahamas serve fried foods and to get something that hasn’t been bathed in oil and served along with french fries was a treat.  The burger came with a wonderful pineapple slaw and some Bahamas rice.  Yum…

For me, this photo says it all.  A real beach bar where you pull your dink up on the sand and step inside to watch the afternoon setting sun while bathed in warm tropical breezes.   Actually, “inside” is a relative term as there are no walls and the floor is sand.  It’s a fun and colorful place. Brenda and our friend Anne of Nati enjoying a cool one on one of the decks in  comfortable Adirondack chairs. While Pete’s Pub is the center of the social scene in these parts, the harbor is also the home of a world renowned sculpture studio that creates and casts work in bronze.   As luck would have it, the studio had scheduled a pour for yesterday and had invited anyone interested in viewing the process to visit the studio.  I understand that this studio is fairly unique in that they do the design of the pieces as well as the casting, a combination that is not common.  Most sculptors take their work to a foundry and have the actual casting done by someone else.   We met a young women,  Kristen, who was visiting for a few months to assist in the studio and work on her own pieces.  She was very nice and talked to us for a while about her work.  As the studio has been around for many years, there is a riot of old molds for designs everywhere along with some great pieces on display. I was particularly struck by this piece of a pompano fish, about two feet long.  I would love to have this in our home in Essex.  I didn’t even ask about a price, if it was for sale at all, as I was certain that it was well above our pay grade. The area around the studio had a number of large pieces on display.  These two really big rays were a wonderful installation that would also be perfect for our yard in Essex.  I wonder how they would look under three feet of snow?   Hopefully, I won’t be in Essex to find out any time soon when there’s that much snow on the ground. The furnace, powered by diesel fuel, was blasting away all day and around 2:30 the guys suited up in protective gear for the pour.  Imagine how hot it was in all those clothes.  Sweat much?They poured about a half dozen pieces in just a few minutes.  It was quite a spectacle.   After they are removed from the mold, there is plenty of work to be done before they are sold.  Right next door there is a very nice gallery where you can view, and purchase, their work.   To look at it, the gallery would be just as much at home in Arizona as in the Bahamas.  We have enjoyed watching rays in the water over the last few months and couldn’t resist purchasing one of the little cousins of the big ray sculptures in the outdoor installation to take home.   While not large enough to put in the garden, it will look great on our coffee table.  It’s all wrapped up so you will have to wait till you visit to see what it looks like.

Along the waterfront are lovely palms and well kept sandy roads and beaches.   This place is quite scenic and being the home to some artists has likely contributed to the look of the place. Of course, a shot of the harbor and Pandora is always nice to have in a post.   Isn’t this scenic?    You will have to trust me that Pandora’s in the picture, framed by palms swaying in the tropical breezes.  Get the picture?   I could get used to this.  No wait, I AM USED TO THIS!!!There’s even a very nice boardwalk leading from the Pub to the beach, complete with a nice bronze piece along the way. When you reach the top of the walkway this view greets you.  Pretty dramatic.  I am always struck by how violent the seas look from land and never seem anywhere as nasty from the deck of a boat.    Having said that, I expect nasty wouldn’t begin to describe the view if you were close to this shore in a boat.  These breakers would make quick work of Pandora if they had the chance.  Better be sure I never get close.    Note to self…stay well away from the hard stuff.All and all, Little Harbor, and it is indeed little, is a great spot and our timing to visit couldn’t have been better.

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