Hanging at Marsh Harbor - March 8 (4 Posts)

Tuesday, March 8

Well, 5:00 a.m. came awfully early, but Mikel made it to the taxi on time, and Dan came back to the boat for a few more hours of sleep.  The rest of the day was spent doing what you usually do when tied to a dock in a marina -- 3 loads of laundry, scrub off the deck to remove all the salt, repair things you don't want to mess with while at anchor, clean off the stern where exhaust from the diesel accumulates (so the people eating in the marina restaurant have a good view of our back end!).

We were frequently told that boaters tend to get to Marsh Harbor and never go any further.  We certainly can understand the attraction.  We had expected a huge bump in prices in the Bahamas, but our slip at the Harbor View Marina is $40/nite, $3.00/day for unlimited water, and they have the nicest/cleanest bathrooms I've seen since we were in Solomons.  Oh yes, did I mention a pool (with fresh water! Usually, you expect to find salt water pools in the islands).  And did I mention, the pool is heated!!!!

Tuesdays are the day for the boater's dock party, where everyone gathers for a pot-luck dinner and a game of Trivia, with questions made up by local boaters.  Everyone donates a beer for prizes and the competition is fierce!  It must have been beginners luck b/c our team won first place, and Dan came back with 4 beers to add to his stash!

We are definiitely the newbies on the dock as the rest of the boaters have been here since Nov/Dec ... all the better for us to collect good tips on places to visit and shop.  The best news was that a new grocery store opened in town, Maxwells, and we were totally blown away when we biked over to see it.  Besides being HUGE, it was stocked with everything you'd find in the states, and prices were fairly comparable.  For all the coffee I've been hoarding, it cost just $1.00 more here ... and lemons are 4 for $1.00 which is less than I paid in Palm Beach.  Compared to the tiny grocery stores we saw at Green Turtle Cay, this place is heaven! 

We only planned to stay here for one night, but now we may wait out the next cold front coming through later this week ... but we've promised ourselves NOT to be one of the boaters who gets here and never leaves!  But I hear they have a great annual rate .... hmmmm, something to think about! I wonder what our insurance rates would be?

Friday, March 11

Well, we've decided to move out from Marsh Harbor tomorrow (Saturday), so we spent our last day in this lovely town (3rd largest in the Bahamas, after Freeport and Nassau), doing what we've enjoyed doing all week -- taking our bikes for long rides around town.

Great folding bikes from Camping World. They fit in our bow anchor locker.

It was a blustery day (20knots NE wind), so we decided to ride to the end of the island.  On one side, we could see white caps rolling in from the outside islands while the other side was placcid, like glass.

Never get tired of the color of this water!

We rode by lots of property for sale on the island ... for sale but not selling due to the huge price tags.  Due to their British heritage, people drive on the left side of the road, something we had to get used to ... and since the roads are quite narrow, drivers are generous with their horns to let you know they are zooming up behind you, something we never got used to!

Chilly today - 68 deg - but we're in the Bahamas!

Several of the homes built their own personal beach bar across the road of their home.

On our way back to the marina, we decided to ride to the other side of the island where there was a another marina we wanted to check out.  For such a flat island, we had to climb one hellva hill to get there.  Thank goodness Dan had the forsight to bring cash b/c the stop at the Jib Room bar was the motivation we needed to get back!  The thing I love most about the bars here is that they are so open ... no walls, no windows, just open to the outside and the sea.

So, after exploring Marsh Harbor from one end to the other, we can see why it's a favorite place for boaters to spend their entire season ... everything you could possibly want it is here ... Ace Hardware, Napa Auto Parts, fresh fish markets, Bahama Telecom Company where we bought a sim card for an unlocked GSM cell phone I bought on ebay before we left Florida and are now the proud owners of our own Bahamian phone number!

But, we get antsy when hanging in one place for too long ... we are cruisers at heart ... so tomorrow, we'll take our last long, hot shower, top off the water tanks, and then untie the dock lines and shove off once more.  Time to get out the Abacos maps and pick another anchorage.

Sailing on to Marsh Harbor - March 6 (2 Posts)

Sunday, March 6

Yah!  It's a go ... we are taking on the The Whale today!

After the 8:15 weather report and a flurry of radio calls with a few other boaters who'd been waiting to make the passage as well, we decided to go for it.  What the hell ... we can always turn around and come back!  We're told that it's fairly easy to determine if The Whale is safe to cross ... if all you see is breaking waves, then don't go!

After sitting at anchor for 10 days, it took a little mental reorganizing to get back in moving gear.  Oh yeah, gotta raise the dinghy, stow the motor, put away everything that will go flying when the boat begins to heel....

It took about an hour to get thru the Whale Cay passage ... quite rolly and wet ... the report we got from a boater on the other side was "not too comfortable but doable..."  And we did it!  The swells were running about 4-6 feet, and we had a couple of 8-10 foot waves that broke over the bow (now that's excitement for ya!), but once we cleared the cut and were out in the Atlantic, we were able to set the sails and have a good sail.

Reef in the Whale Cay Passage.  Need to avoid this!

Hard to get steady pictures of waves breaking on the reef on a rocky boat!

Tha Bahamas are basically one huge sand bar ... with some parts sticking up high enough to qualify as islands while other parts have only 2-3 feet of water covering the sandy bottom (at high tide!).  In order to navigate through the Bahamas, there are times when you must cross out to the Atlantic to have enough water under the keel to reach other islands in the chain.  So from the Atlantic, we came back into the Sea of Abaco through Loggerhead Channel, and headed towards Treasure Cay, our destination for tonight. 

The anchorage at Treasure Cay was full (I guess lots of boaters were out moving once the wind calmed down to 15 knots!), so we anchored out in the Sea of Abaco.  Quite a strange feeling to be anchored in 12 feet of water, but 1/2 mile from shore, and to be the only boat out there.  It became even more unnerving when we woke up at 2am to lightening in the distance ... as Dan and I were putting up the enclosure for the cockpit, we were both wishing there were other masts around us (and taller ones!).  Fortunately, the lightening and rain stayed over an island a few miles away from us.

Monday, March 7

Today is the last day of Mikel's journey on Maja.  Good thing our order for ideal sailing weather came through!  South winds, 10knots, would send us all the way to Marsh Harbor on one tack.  Just set all 4 sails, engage the auto pilot, and pass around the beer!  Ahh, life is good today!

We sailed along at about 4 knots, in no particular hurry to reach Marsh Harbor.  We had a slip reserved at the Harbor View Marina, so no worries about finding room at the inn.  However, what we should have been worrying about was low tide, but somehow that managed to escape us until we entered the harbor and the depth sounder started beeping, meaning that we were in 7 ft of water.  The dockmaster assured us we'd be fine ... no worries mon ... you'll just plow through mud ... but Dan was nervous as he threaded though the deepest part of the entrance in 6 ft of water (5.5 feet and we're aground .... eekkk).

But we made it in fine form, including docking between two huge motor yachts and securing our lines around the fixed pilings.  Mikel has missed all the fun of our docking mishaps as Dan has masterfully lined up the boat each time we've had to land on fixed pier.

Following a long, long, long hot shower, Mikel treated us to dinner at the marina restaurant.  Yummm - the special was MahiMahi with a wine/capers sauce, twice baked potatoes and glazed carrots - $18.  So far, we are really liking Marsh Harbor!

After sunset, we returned to the boat to get Mikel ready for his 6:00 am departure tommorw.

The Jack Daniels didn't get finished, but the rest of the vacaction was a success!  Mikel was a generous and gracious guest, and we look forward to a return visit.

Exploring Green Turtle Cay - 2/25 (7 Posts)

February 25

Everyone agreed that today was a day to do nothing but relax ... sleep in, read books, dinghy in for drinks at the bar at sunset.  Honestly, that's all we accomplished!

February 26

Today was our day to explore what Green Turtle Cay had to offer.  Mikel brought his fishing gear with hopes of doing some bone fishing.  Bone fish are incredibly illusive fish, hard to spot and even harder to catch.  But Mikel was up for the challenge, so Dan and I brought our books and watched from shore.  One side of the island has a nice shallow bay (perfect for bone fish), and then we could hike over to the other side where we could see the Atlantic.  Even though we brought our snorkling gear with us, the water was too cool to go exploring the reefs we could see from shore.  Later mon ....

Mikel going fishing.

Nancy looking for sand dollars.

The Atlantic.

February 27

The Green Turtle Cay Marina offers an 'off season' special where they let you "eat your fees" ... so we could eat two meals in the restaurant for the price we paid for a slip.  Since we hadn't been into a marina for about a month, we decided to take advantage of this great deal.  Ahhhh, a long, long, long hot shower!  Ahhh, some else is cooking tonite!  Ahhhh, TV in the bar so we could watch the Oscars!

We filled our tanks with diesel ($4.89/gal) and our jugs with gasoline ($5.17/gal) and our water tank (25cents/gal).  Of course, Dan also had misc. engine work to get done, so it ended up being a busy day at the docks.  

February 28

We have had a hard time finding internet service (at the library, using the internet is 50cents/minute, so just sending out a half dozen emails with one line saying that we safely arrived cost us $10.00!), so we ended up subscribing to a Bahamian internet service for one month ($99).

Today, Dan and Mikel went off in search of the more bone fishing spots while I stayed on board to bake bread, get caught up on our mail, and work on the blog.  The boys put in a long day searching for fishing spots, and they came back at 5:30 with only the usual share of fish stories .... as in Mikel was chased to shore by two sharks about 12 ft from shore! 

March 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAN DEVEREAUX ... LOVE YOU. MISS YOU.

We debated about leaving Green Turtle Cay today and doing some sailing on the Sea of Abaco.  We have to cross through an inlet in the reef (called the Whale) and it can be treacherous if the weather conditions are not just right.  Today would have been a good day to go except that another sailboat, leaving at low tide, ran aground at the entrance to the channel.  It looked like a tight fit, so we decided to stay put.  Usually people are fairly benign when talking on the VHS radio (after all, everyone can hear you) ... but not this wife!  Boy, did she let it rip that her husband/captain did not listen to her advice when exiting the channel and the grounding was all his fault.  She repeated this many times just in case someone missed her point!  Note to self: don't use the VHS radio when pissed off at one's boat captain!

March 2

The wild winds are blowing now. 20-25 knots. and the seas outside our protected anchorage are 6-9 feet (with some reports of 12ft! yikes!).  So, we aren't going anywhere for the next 3 days until this blows itself out.  So far, we've had good luck with our anchor holding ... we were surprised this morning to find half the boats in the anchorage pulling up their hook and going into the marina.  Not a comforting thought, but at least there are now far fewer boats to worry about dragging into us (and viceaversa!). 

On the plus side, the sky is blue and the sun is shining ... and we're in the Bahamas!

March 3

As predicted, the winds and seas stayed high as the cold front passed through from Florida.  The temps dropped to 70 degrees!  (with a low of 66 degrees ... gotta love the tropics!).  We dinghied over to the other side of Green Turtle Cay and hiked over to the Sea of Abaco (honestly, it takes all of 20 minutes to cross the island!).

Mikel did some more fishing ... with ditto the luck he's had before.  We've come to believe that if you want to even see a bonefish (let alone catch one), you need to shell out the big bucks to get a fishing guide for the day. But Mikel is a trooper, and he takes his trusty pole with him everywhere, and he moves through the shallows while we read on the beach.

That's our fisherman out there!

4:00 pm marks the start of happy hour at the beach bar, so off we went to join the crowd of boaters who moved into the marina due to the weather.  The bar was hopping so we had a couple of Bahama-Mamas and then decided to stay for dinner.  Of course, by the time we rolled out of the bar, it was raining ... and combined with the chop in the marina, we were all wet by the time we finished the short ride back to the boat.

Friends, Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet) joined us for dinner.

March 4

Geezzzzz.... how many days in a row can the wind keep blowing over 30 knots?  Every day, we listen to the Abacos CruisersNet on our VHF radio at 8:15am, and the main topic is always the weather.  Today, the report was short and sweet:  wherever you are today, plan on staying put, and hope your anchor doesn't drag.  In particular, we are watching the conditions in the passage we need to make to get to Marsh Harbor, where Mikel catches his flight back to MN on Tuesday (3/8).  The passage is called The Whale because it cuts thru Whale Cay and another small island ... it's a relatively narrow cut that is lined with reefs on both sides.  The passage takes us from the Sea of Abaco to the Atlantic Ocean and therein lies the trouble.  When the Altantic is rough and windy, you get breaking waves over the reefs, and the waves can form a continues line of breakers across the cut. You definiitely don't want to be out in those conditions ... which is why the locals refer to breakers in the Whale as "the rage".  It doesn't take much convincing for us to know we want to avoid anything that goes by "the rage"! 

Not much to do on days like this but read books and take the dinghy out and visit other boaters in the anchorage. 

March 5

After the morning weather report, we're hopeful that conditions in the Whale Passage will be good for us to cross tomorrow.  So we decided to make the most of our last day in Green Turtle Cay.  We dinghied over to New Plymouth, the biggest town on the island, which we were able to circumnavigate in about 20 minutes!  Did a little shopping, did a little eating, and walked into every open store in town ... all 7 of them! We found a ice cream store, and as we studied the list of flavors trying to decide what to get, the owner told us that the last shipment she got did not match any of the flavors listed on the blackboard.  Gotta love the islands!  Instead of Mocha Almond Fudge they had Mint Chocolate Chip.  And I had my heart set of Mocha Almond Fudge ...

After making the rounds to our friends in the anchorage, we learned that there was a band tonight at the beach bar, so we dug out some clean clothes and our dancing shoes and went ashore for some reggae music and BahamaMamas!  The whole crowd was there, so it was a fun night ... hopefully, our last in Green Turtle Cay.

Feb 24 - Arrival at Green Turtle Cay

February 24

High tide was around 10:00 am, so all 3 boats raised anchor and followed Deb and Dan (s/v About Time) through the narrow channel into Green Turtle Cay.  It was a tricky entrance so we were glad we had someone to follow in ... even at high tide, our depth sounder alarm was beeping as we passed over water 6.5 feet deep.  Finally, we've arrived at our destination!

What a pleasant surprise to see Mikel waving to us from the dock as we dropped anchor!  Unfortunately, our first order of business was to clear customs at New Plymouth, so all we could do was buzz by him in the dinghy and tell him we'd be back to pick him up later!

Customs office.

Terry, the customs officer, may checking in a very pleasant affair. No worries, mon!

Gotta love a town where all the buildings are pastel colors and people get around by golf cart!

Bankers hours:  10-2pm, two days a week!

Hard to read, but beer is indeed $49.00 a case.

Welcome aboard Mikel!

After picking up Mikel from the dock, we compared notes regarding our respective travels to the Bahamas.  It took us 2 long days to arrive, and it took him just about the same amount of time ... talk about a trip from hell!  The poor guy had delayed flights the entire way and ended up being stranded in Nassau for the night.  The airlines cancelled his connection into Marsh Harbor, so he had to rebook the flight the next morning and then take a long (aka expensive) taxi ride to the ferry, which took him the final leg into Green Turtle Cay where he arrived in time to have breakfast before we pulled in.  Good thing we had ice and bourbon on board to help raise his spirits!

Maja at anchor.