I flew over with my buddy Mike. The trip took place in around early November back in '92. We were flown over to the main island in a prop plane owned by Mike's friend. Turns out I went to The University of Miami with his girlfriend (small world). After arriving we rented a boat at Marsh Harbour and headed over to the barrier island. It was a very peaceful place. The houses were all painted some pastel color, like you'd expect in the Bahamas. What I didn't expect was the hundreds of dogs running around. The indonesians believe dogs hold sprits and they are not disturbed. I don't know what the Bahamian excuse was.
Mike and I rented a small room 50 yards from the beach. There are no fancy hotels or casinos out there. This is a more laid back island style community. Most tourists arrive on their own sailboats. There were, however, some upscale bungalos here and there.
The first day of the trip the surf was small, about 3 feet. Being from Jacksonville, Mike had never surfed over a reef before. So it was a good day to get confortable with the sight of sharp, multi-colored coral rushing two feet under your board. And the water was crystal clear. The next day the swell jumped to 4 to 5 feet and then again to about 6 to 8 feet the following day. Unfiortunately, the on-shore winds got the better of the swell, so we decided to go fishing.
There are three main breaks on Abaco. I can't recall the names of them all except for Rush Reef. They are all within walking distance of each other. This is good because there are only a few cars on the island. It was quite refreshing. We walked to the surf, walked to the bar, and stumbled back to the hoel (if you can call it that).
We hooked up with one of two other surf crews on the island. They were a bunch of guys from Boca Raton, Florida. We surfed, partied and fished together for four days. One night we stumbled onto a local party. We all got ripped with the locals and somehow wound up starting a fire on the beach (what else do you do when your drunk... start a fire!). Mike showed everyone his ability to do flips over the fire pit.
Abaco is a cool place for a surf destination. There are no locals to hassle you, no cars to rent, and the locals take their drinking very seriously. Just be prepared to get skunked and go fishing.
