Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

November 23, 2013.

We're sitting here at Big Majors Spot waiting out 2 fairly serious cold fronts. One will bring gale force winds to the Abacos but we're far enough south that we shouldn't see anything more than 30 knots.

There’s 3 beaches along the west side of Big Majors. The southernmost is Pig Beach. The big attraction is the wild pigs that roam the beach looking for handouts. They're pretty good swimmers and will come right out to the dinghy as you approach.

Picture of the pigs shamelessly stolen from my friend Steve on Fine Lion

The northernmost beach is Honeymoon Beach. Its a stones throw from Fowl Cay.

You know a place is exclusive when they have their own rainbow....

The resort on Fowl Cay is a very pricey vacation resort with its own private beach and all the water toys you could want. Its not unusual to see couples in small Whalers head over to Honeymoon Beach for some privacy. I figure they crawled out of their cubicles long enough to get married and head to Fowl Cay on their honeymoon. They're usually snowflake white and , I dunno, awkward.

Then there’s the center beach. Bills Beach. No not me, some other guy. We were on this beach years ago and we helped some other cruisers pick up all the flotsom and pile it up and burn it. We burned the crap below the high water mark so that when the tide came in it removed any evidence that there was ever a fire there. It was pristine when we left. Every year when we come back through I've noticed a disturbing trend. Junk.

There are several places in the islands that once cruisers arrive they just kinda sit there. There’s so much time to kill if you're not traveling that they need an outlet for their energy and building things is a good way to burn that energy off.

Pipe Creek is a perfect example. There are several boats that make Pipe Creek the destination. Over the years they've collected the detritus of society that floats up on the windward beaches and fashioned the Pipe Creek Yacht Club.

Its a clever little building built from crap that was already there. Its a good place to have a happy hour and strikes me as being “clean”. It adds to the landscape.

Down in Georgetown there’s another example of this type of structure. As with the Pipe Creek Yacht Club it seems to make the place more picturesque.

Its a nice place to congregate and get out of the unrelenting sun.

Down on Hog Cay in the Jumentos there’s a place known as the structure. Its made completely of things found on the beaches. Its the only shade on the beach and a great gathering place no matter what time of day.

Bills Beach on Big Majors Spot is the exception. It looks like a hobo encampment. People have been bringing “improvements” from home and adding them to the beach. “Hey, I've got these deck chairs that are too shitty to have on my boat so I'll bring em” down and leave them on a formerly pristine beach so everybody can use them”.

“Thats great, I've got a barbecue grill that is such a rusted piece of shit I gotta get rid of it so I'll bring it to Bills Beach and abandon it there”.

“Hey look at all the amenities we have on our beach”. They bring crap they wouldn't have at home and leave it on a beach like they're doing something positive. The place looks like a run down trailer park.

One of the basic tenets of the Seven Seas Cruising Association is to leave a clean wake. These people are starting their own landfill....