Hope Town, on the northern end of Elbow Cay, is a picturesque little town with narrow streets where only bicicles are allowed, and meticulously maintained, pastel-colored old houses.
The most recognizable feature is its kerosene-fueled lighthouse. It’s one of the last two (or three by other accounts) manually operated lighthouses in the world. Its mechanism has to be hand-cranked every few hours, as it has been for over a century and a half. It’s interesting to note that back then the population of Hope Town opposed, and even tried to sabotage, the construction of the lighthouse, because they benefited from the frequent wrecks in the treacherous Elbow Reef.
The well-protected small harbor provided a great respite to our hectic life of lately. We just grabbed a mooring buoy and relaxed without even looking at the weather forecast for several days. Of course, those where exactly the mellow days when no protection was needed, and the good spell ended the day we left.
Perhaps the only downside of Hope Town is that it’s too pretty and accessible, attracting not just cruisers, but resort-dwellers and day-trippers from other islands. Still, I could imagine ourselves living here and increasing the population to 460.
Hope Town is in the northern end of Elbow Cay. On our way there we stopped at Tahiti Beach, at the southern tip of the Cay. The beach ends in a sandbar that gets covered at high tide.
This post has a beautiful balance of history, human touch and beautiful pictures. Nothing wrong with taking a long detour in a place like this.
You finally let Kat take a picture of you Juan. Kat looks so in her element–Is she thinking about settling down in Hope Town?
OOps I forgot to check “notify me….” after my last comment
Doesn’t Juan look handsome? I swear he’s getting better with age (like a good wine).
I think both of us felt very welcomed in Hope Town. Plus you can find the perfect coconut for your pina colada laying on the street! We wouldn’t mind a little house there after our gypsy blood settles.