Our Travels: Falling in Love with Hope Town

The next day, we were all excited to leave Estella and go exploring in town! As Tiffany would quickly realize, a family that includes two toddlers takes quite a bit longer to get going. I think it was almost noon by the time we all loaded into the dinghy and set off.

Here is a photo of the Hope Town public dinghy dock. This picture was taken at a relatively high tide. When we came and went at low tide, we had a very long ladder to climb up or down, which was more difficult with beach paraphenalia, stroller, newly-purchased gifts or groceries in tow.

The first thing we saw after walking up the dock was this large interesting tree and a playground! After days and days of windy rain in Marsh Harbor, which was also full of US-type strip malls, the mother in me was thrilled for the girls to have such a quaint place to play.

As if on cue, during our first moments on land in Hope Town, the local church bells started to chime. Later we were informed that the bells chime at noon and 6:00pm every day. This became part of our routine as you could hear the bells from all around the town and harbor. I'll try to insert a video here...

Here are some photos of the tiny library, operated by volunteers and open daily from 10:00am until noon. The girls donated a few of their too-familiar books from Estella, and traded them for some exciting "new" books of their own.

This is the little medical clinic, run most days by a nurse. The doctor visits by boat from the mainland once per week, from 10:00am until 1:00pm. I want those hours!

Here is the Methodist church and the bell tower....

Here are some other views from around the town...

Here is a sign outside the tiny police station, with English at the top and Haitian Creole at the bottom of the sign. I like the last sentence, "Mesi bon kou." (Merci beaucoup).

If you are interested in learning more about Hope Town, here is a link to a helpful website:
http://www.visithopetown.com/

The island itself is much larger than Hope Town itself, and maybe if we visit again we can rent some golf carts or bicycles to do some more extensive exploring.

We enjoyed strolling through the tiny streets past brightly colored homes, restaurants, a scuba shop, little storefronts, a cemetery, a little volunteer fire station, art galleries, and a grocery store.

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That morning, when listening to the "CruisersNet" on VHF 68, we heard about a art show in Hope Town. So later that day, found Hope Town Lodge and browsed the show. This was an annual event marking the finale of a weeklong workshop of art lessons, hosted by Walter Bartman of "Yellow Barn Studios" in Maryland. The artwork presented was created this week by his students.

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Here are some fantastic results from some of his students...

This one is from Susan Abbott,
here is her website:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanabbott

where there are 5 other fabulous Hope Town paintings...