04-30-2015 - BAHAMAS, Hope Town, Elbow Cay, 4-19-15 - 4-30-15

On Sunday, April 19, we sailed south from Man-O-War Cay, to Elbow Cay, where we found Hope Town. We had trouble getting the boat engine started, but eventually it worked. We fueled up in Man-O-War and were on our way.

April 19 is my birthday, and I was feeling a little bummed that I had come all the way to the Bahamas to celebrate my big birthday in a special place and it was not really working out. We had no connectivity (no Face Book Birthday Greetings???) and things were breaking left and right. Everything electronic was giving us trouble. My phone, the radio. Our dinghy engine stopped working. Even our yeast expired, so the coconut bread that I had tried to make didn’t rise. We went to shore to mail postcards and couldn’t, because the PO is closed on Sunday. There are no mailboxes on the streets like in the US. 

The Hope Town Post Office (upstairs, on the left)

We went to the grocery store and it was closed. Went to the second grocery store and it was closed, too. Nothing is open on Sunday!

Finally we found a little food and ice cream place, Muchees, and got cups of ice cream. Chuck managed to talk the owner, who turns out to be an accomplished chef, into singing Happy Birthday with him. The chef, Norris, was also a very good singer!

Chef Norris served us ice cream and sang “Happy Birthday” to me

“Munchees” restaurant, from inside, where I was cheered up with ice cream and song

We walked around the town and visited the beach.

Another restaurant in Hope Town.
Only in the Bahamas, can you spend more for a veggie burger than a lobster roll!!

This is not a Spanish speaking island, so maybe this was not intentional.
Usually you see the expression, “Mi casa es su casa”,
meaning “My house is your house,” or “Make yourself at home”.
This homeowner felt differently?

Beach on the ocean side

Beach on the ocean side

Beach on the ocean side

Chuck got our spare dinghy engine working. So for our test drive, we visited our friends on BuBu, Paul and Dawn, who we had met on the dock in Cape May, NJ, and later saw at the marina in Vero Beach, FL. On their advice, we visited the light house, a “must see,” the next day.

The lighthouse

Which way is the Light House???

Approaching the Light House, with lots of visitors on the balcony viewing platform

Approaching the Light House

Light House Entrance

The Hope Town light house is one of two still operating in the world that is lit each evening by a lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse keeper winds it up every 2 hours throughout the night. People can visit the light house, climb the 101 steps, and even walk out onto the tiny balcony for a fabulous view in all directions.

It’s windy up on the light house!

View from the Light House. Can you spot Summer Wind? 

We accidentally wandered over to one of the two lighthouse keepers houses. We met the lighthouse keeper’s girlfriend who told us that there are two lighthouse keepers, and they work on alternate nights. 

Light house keeper’s girlfriend

The next day we found ourselves back at Munchees for ice cream, again! We visited the town and the beach, and got drenched in a sudden rainstorm.

On Wednesday, it rained again in the morning. None of our dinghy engines were working (again!), and we (Chuck, that is) had been rowing the dinghy. By now, the dinghy was full of rain water. While I was washing dishes on the transom, he decided to raise the dinghy and dump out the water, by himself. His usual routine was disrupted because the engine was not on the dinghy, and he forgot to remove the dinghy bag, which contains the anchor, bilge pump, sponge, cable and lock. As he lifted the dinghy, the bag fell into the water. For a short while, it floated, but it quickly disappeared. We went into the water with masks and snorkels to look for it, but the visibility was very bad because of the rain. We decided to wait for low tide (a 3 foot difference), and meanwhile went into town for groceries. We snorkeled again later that day, but still didn’t find the dinghy bag.

The next morning, we snorkeled again, but the tide was high and we saw nothing. We finally decided to go in with scuba gear.  We tried to be organized and do a search pattern, but we were more like a Roomba – all over the place. At one point, Chuck found a conch and showed it to me. This completely distracted me and I swam in a direction that I didn’t plan to go, where it “couldn’t” be, and suddenly, there it was! Very exciting! I brought up the bag, and then I went back down to clean the barnacles off the bottom of the keel. There were plenty, even though the boat bottom had been cleaned 3 times in FL.

Diving makes us hungry, and we needed to celebrate finding the bag and contents after 2 days of effort.  So we headed off to “Pappa Nasty’s” barbecue restaurant for a celebratory lunch!

We’d heard it advertised on the Cruiser’s Net, and really want to try it. We had no idea how far it was, or even really where it was. We headed off on foot, and walked and walked in the hot sun. Finally, who drove by in a golf cart and offered us a ride? None other than Mr. Norris! He dropped us at a nearby intersection, and we walked to the restaurant.

This is it??? 

Yup, Pappa Nasty’s. Delicious barbeque! (To the left are two picnic tables)

When a young couple showed up in a golf cart looking like they weren’t sure, we told them it was really good and they should stay. And could they give us a ride back to town? Yes, sure. The woman of the couple was celebrating her 40^th birthday that day, and their trip from FL was their second in 10 years, each time to celebrate her birthday. When we asked them what they liked about the Bahamas, they said the weather. We said we thought it was pretty hot. They said that was because we were from CT, they were from FL. They were very sweet and gave us a ride back to town, even though they were actually going elsewhere.

Also at Pappa Nasty’s we re-met our friend Don, on ‘Straight from the Heart” and met his wife, MaryAnn, (who also has an April Birthday!). We had met Don in Vero, and their boat was now near ours in the mooring field in Hope Town.

After Pappa Nasty’s, we went to a bar, Harbor Edge, for ice tea and internet (for Chuck, the only one of us with a working phone, sadly), and then stopped for a few more groceries and some fundraiser cookies from kids outside at the harbor.

Harbor Edge, where we stopped for Wifi

On Friday morning, we went to the coffee house for internet and breakfast. This time I dragged my PC along so I could play too.

Coffee House

In the afternoon, Don very patiently showed Chuck how to rebuild the carburetor on the dinghy engine.

Dinghy engine maintenance

Don and Chuck

One evening we were treated to a grand wedding celebration, complete with Junkanoo parade and band. The wedding party, Junkanoo band and other wedding guests boarded a special ferry to cross Hope Town harbor for the wedding dinner and dancing. Junkanoo involves elaborate (and heavy!!) costumes, sort of like Mardi Gras, or Las Vegas (but far more modest).

Junkanoo parader (from a different event)

Later that evening there were fireworks to rival any municipal fireworks in the US. We heard this was the finale to 4 days of festivities. It seems this is a popular wedding destination. Fortunately, they had great weather.

Other days we rode our bikes around the island, and explored. We stopped several times at this outdoor restaurant/beachclub for drinks and live music.

Lemonade made in front of us, from scratch. 

Delicious, and so refreshing on a hot Hope Town day!

We discovered another favorite lunch restaurant, Mackey’s Take Out, where there were no tables, but we could sit on the porch and split one of the huge entrees, with abundant side dishes.

The cook at Mackey’s.

Mackey's Takeout

Eventually we found Tahiti Beach, at the far southern end of the island, past new construction and a sign that suggested that the area was private, but it was really just a road.

Tahiti Beach

Tahiti Beach attracts tourists from everywhere, these people were from Italy.
For (these) Italians, every coconut was a soccer ball.

Tahiti Beach

Tahiti Beach

Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay was, in the end, the most southern spot that we reached in the Bahamas. We had hoped to go farther south, but the weather held us back.

People come to Hope Town from all over.

 As the end of the month of April approached, we started trying to plan our return trip, but the weather was not cooperative. There was rain, and too much wind. Chuck and MaryAnn were comparing weather info daily. Finally one Thursday morning we started the engine and headed out for Green Turtle Cay. The weather was OK, but not as smooth as we’d expected. This was because nice weather was forecast for Friday, and somehow we thought it was Friday! At least we landed back at Green Turtle in time to enjoy the Island Heritage Roots Festival, which started that Thursday.

Sandy and Chuck on S/V Summer Wind

Hope Town Harbor, at sunset

Just after sunset

04-19-2015 – BAHAMAS, Man-O-War Cay, 4-13-15 – 4-19-15

One and one half hours after leaving Marsh Harbor, on 4/13/15, we were tied up at a mooring in Man-O-War Cay’s Eastern Harbor.

Man o War’s eastern harbor with view of Déjà Vu, 

one of two historic Albury boats that was being restored.

Drying on our life line, at the far right in the picture above, are the remnants of a Bahamian courtesy flag that we found underwater, while checking our anchor. (Things that we might find above ground and call “trash” are always considered “treasures”, at least temporarily, when found underwater.)

The other Albury boat under restoration

Man-O-War is a Cay, a small, narrow island along the ocean, 2 ½ miles long and about ½ mile wide, far less in some places. It is a dry island, and the people here are religious and loyalist. Most are white and many of them have ties to England or other British colonies. Shop owners and workers are nearly all white and many speak with accents that are at least slightly “British” (to my ears, which, I confess, cannot tell British from Irish from Scottish from South African from Australian, etc).

A house by the beach

A terrific name for an exotic beach home!

Man-O-War is a clean and quiet island. It has a museum, open 3 days a week from 10 AM to 12 PM, with island history and artifacts.

Man-O-War Heritage Museum

Man-O-War Heritage Museum

Chuck, across the street from the Man-o-War Museum

Chuck and Sandy, across the street from the Man-O-War Heritage Museum

There are 3 well stocked, small grocery stores, and several stores that sell gifts or specialty items. One of these sells batik cloth and soft goods made from it, and another sells bags of every size and style made from heavy canvas cloth. The canvas bag store has 3 women working at sewing machines, turning out carrying bags and toiletry kits and luggage, in many patterns, all with very heavy duty plastic zippers.

There are two restaurants. We went to one (yum, conch chowder!) but have yet to find the other. There are almost no cars. Most people drive golf carts.

On Tuesday, we took a dinghy trip to go snorkeling with our friends Tim and Joan, on “Head over Keels,” who sailed in on Monday from Hope Town, right before we arrived from Marsh Harbor, and their friends Kate and John. We had first met John, who is a boat broker, in Vero, when we went along on a boat inspection trip down the intracoastal to Ft Pierce, with our pal Pete. John was the broker for the boat that was for sale. Small world! 

We all dinghied to the western end of the main harbor and out to a cove called “The Low Spot”, which is the narrowest point on the island. We snorkeled on a reef and saw a lot of different small fish and corals, and lots of empty conch shells. 

Snorkeling - Sand and corals, at Man-O-War Cay

Snorkeling - Conch shell dump, at Man-O-War Cay

Snorkeling - Sponges and Sea Fans, at Man-O-War Cay  

Snorkeling - Tiny fish at Man O War Cay

At the low spot, view of the ocean side, at Man-O-War Cay 

At the Low Spot, (bay side) at Man-O-War Cay  

View of the bay side at the Low Spot, at Man-O-War Cay. We snorkeled on the bay side.  

Lovely sun shelter at the Low Spot, at Man-O-War Cay  

Picnic area, at the Low Spot, at Man-O-War Cay  

Chuck and I both took pictures and we found a couple of “sea biscuits.” I also found a conch shell that I thought had a conch in it. We brought it home and started pounding it open with Chuck’s heavy hammer and large screwdriver. When we stuck in the knife to cut the muscle of the conch, out crawled a large, stocky crab! Chuck wanted to cook it but I sort of freaked out, and we tossed it overboard.

Too bad we didn’t realize that this was an empty shell. Usually the empties already have a hole in them, from when somebody removed the conch. (The hole looks like the coin slot in a piggy bank).

Conch Shells with holes from conch harvesting

Without a hole, they can be used as a horn. (With a hole, they can still be used, if the hole gets plugged. They're just not quite as pretty).  Occasionally we hear cruisers blowing conch shells in the anchorages at sunset.  I think as a former French horn player, Chuck would make a great conch blower!

On Wednesday, Chuck and I hiked all over the island in search of the library and the ocean beaches. It was a very hot day, and the island is a little hilly. Our packs were heavy with water, cameras, towels, bathing suits and other things in case we found a beach for swimming, so walking was pretty tiring. The beaches were pretty to look at, but not places we wanted to spend time. They have a lot of rough black coral and no shells to speak of. 

View of the ocean, at Man-O-War Cay  

We were equally disappointed with the library. We asked some school kids when the library is open, they said they thought it was open on Tuesdays. We asked a storekeeper and she said it’s been closed for a couple of years, there is no one to run it. (She did offer to loan us some books if we needed something to read. We declined.)

On Thursday, Joan and Tim left for Green Turtle Cay and the start of their return trip. We took another snorkel trip to one of the two tiny islands just outside of Man-O-War Cay, on the Abaco Sea, with our new friends Dave and Lisa, on “Virginia Dare”. 

Virginia Dare, in the eastern harbor at Man-O-War Cay

We saw a lot of signs at the island saying “Private” but landed our two dinghies on the beach and hopped in the water. At one point I went back to the dinghy to drop off my camera and a man with “Sandy Cay Staff” on his shirt came along. He told me the island was private. I told him all beaches in the Bahamas are public. He told me the island was private. I told him all beaches in the Bahamas are public. He told me the island was private. I said, “So what does that mean? Everything is fine as long as we don’t go on the island?” He said “Yes.” I went back in the water.

We had a nice time with Dave and Lisa. Here is a link to Lisa’s beautiful blog, with terrific pictures: http://sailingcoopers.blogspot.com/

We learned a new word: Snore Box. Chuck was looking at real estate ads and came across this term, which we, of course, thought was a typo, Shore box? But it occurred in more than one ad. Then we saw one, and it looked like a garden shed, or a root cellar. It wasn’t until I read Lisa’s blog that I found out what it is – a spare room for guests to sleep!

Sandy, at the “snore box”

On Thursday night Chuck and I went to the theater on Man-O-War Cay. It was a fundraiser for the island school. When I saw the signs I was hoping it was a play, but it was a movie, “The Best of Me”. It was PG 13 and the signs said that anyone under 13 would need parental permission to attend. The audience consisted of young high school kids and a few other islanders who were considerably older than 13. About 15 -20 people in all, no other cruisers. I was proud to be among the best supporters of the concession stand. We had hot dogs, nachos, and milkshakes. And we bought some baked goods to bring home, too.

Finally on 4/19/15, at 10:00 AM we dropped the mooring and continued over to Elbow Cay, which contains the lovely harbor of Hope Town.

Passing “Sandy Cay” where we had snorkeled, on the way to Elbow Cay.

On the way to Elbow Cay/Hope Town

Sandy and Chuck, on s/v Summer Wind

Sandy, washing the dishes on the transom, at Man-O-War Cay  

04-13-2015 - BAHAMAS, Marsh Harbor, 4-9-15 – 4-13-15

Marsh Harbor is the third largest town in the Bahamas, after Nassau and Freeport. It’s not a Cay (island, pronounced “key”). It’s on the mainland, Great Abaco Island, a big island, which also includes Treasure Cay (a town, not really a Cay) and a few other places. Marsh Harbor is the place to go to get things fixed, and to get groceries, for a good selection and better prices.  A lot of cruisers spend a considerable amount of time here in the well protected harbor, and do short trips to other Cays that are close by.

On the way to Marsh Harbor

On the way to Marsh Harbor

Friends

We arrived here on Thursday afternoon, April 9. The first boat we saw in the anchorage was that of our friends, Helen and Stan, on s/v Voyager. We were hoping to see them, and they were happy to see us. We had met them in Vero Beach and we had a lot of fun together. They decided to leave in February to cross over to the Bahamas with other friends, Joan and Tim, on s/v Head over Keels. Since they arrived at West End, Helen and Stan began to have trouble with Voyager’s diesel engine, which had now reached a very serious and unfortunate stage. Stan is a very competent and confident sailor, so they made their way across the Little Bahama Bank to Green Turtle Cay, through the “Whale” and then to Marsh Harbor, with sails alone and no auxiliary engine except the one in their dinghy, which they used to maneuver the boat in close quarters. They were waiting for parts, so that “Basil” (aka “Bah”), the local mechanic, could rebuild their engine before he was to leave for vacation on May 1. Parts might get here just in time. Meanwhile, they were stuck in Marsh Harbor.

Dinner with Helen and Stan, on Summer Wind

Cruiser’s Net

Marsh Harbor is where we started listening each morning to the “Cruiser’s Net”, a structured informal program from nearby Hope Town that airs over the VHF radio, channel 68, at 8:15 AM. The program begins with a weather forecast recap, then reports on all of the nearby ocean passages (the Whale and 3 or 4 others), followed by advertisements of services (“Yoga class this morning in Hope Town”) and restaurant specials. Then there are the announcements – which is a free-for-all of requests for info or assistance (“Does anyone have any 2 part epoxy for fixing a hypalon dinghy?”, “What is the racing schedule today?”, “Does anyone know who can fix a Westerbeke generator that is overheating?” “We have visiting Canadians, does anyone know the hockey score from last night?). Sometimes this also includes stolen or missing boats, or people searching for people. The next section of the program allows cruisers to introduce themselves as newly arrived or leaving. We announced on Saturday that we arrived on Thursday, someone else announced their arrival and plan to stay for a few months, while someone else announced that they were leaving. The Cruiser’s Net program can be heard in other areas, but some of the conversations cannot be heard because of the distance. Sometimes they are relayed. Mostly it’s restricted to Elbow Key (Hope Town), Marsh Harbor, Man-O-War Cay, and any smaller Cays that are very close by.

Town 

There is one traffic light in Marsh Harbor. Traffic is very frightening and confusing to us, because they drive on the left side of the road here. We have to look both ways, several times, before crossing the street. We are accustomed to looking again to the left just before crossing. Here we have to remember to look right last! There are a lot of cars. And here they drive full sized cars, whereas in Green Turtle Cay it was mostly golf carts. Many streets have no sidewalks, most have no shade and it’s dusty. Town is sort of depressing to me. A lot of the storefronts are empty. There is no center, no order. It’s hard to find anything we expect, even though there is a lot here.

The one traffic light, at Marsh Harbor 

(Note: these cars are not parked, they are driving on the left!)

Phone service

There is an odd arrangement of businesses here in Marsh Harbor. My HTC cell phone had stopped working and could not be charged or turned on, and we had no service with Verizon, so our first stop was the Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) store, to see if they could help with my phone or with providing service.  The Batelco store had a security guard who opened the door, an unseen cashier off to the right side, a small display of phones in the middle, and “Customer Service” on the left, with a waiting room that held about a dozen chairs. The message was clear, “Be prepared to wait.” Two people were ahead of us. Eventually a woman (Not Customer Service, Security or Cashier) came over to see what we were looking for. If our phones were not locked, they could give us service. She looked at each of our phones, and removed the batteries to check the sim cards. No conclusion. They don’t fix phones, for that we have to go across the street, walk past the car wash to the ”All Mart”. So if we could get mine working, we’d be able to see if it’s locked or not, and if it’s not, we can get service from Batelco. Chuck’s did not have a removable Sim card, so no Batelco for him.

We walked down the street to the All Mart, which was also a pawn shop. The door was locked. We rang the bell and we were buzzed in. The person who can fix phones, Wayne, was away in Nassau, expected back the next day. Moses, the very helpful and bright young Bahamian-and-American guy who was working at the counter, was able to charge my battery externally, overnight, with a device that they sell. My problem could be the phone’s charger, or any of several other parts. They do all of the repairs for the Batelco phones. Batelco only sells them, they don’t fix them. He said if they did, he’d be out of business.

We came back the next day to see Wayne, who was still not back from Nassau. Ryan, Moses’s counterpart, checked the phone with the charged up battery and said it was a software problem. Wayne doesn’t do software. We’d have to go further down the street, to another business, Epyon Technologies.

We found Epyon, and the door was locked but the outer security door was still open. We rang the buzzer, nothing. Too late in the day, on a Friday afternoon? Rang it again and we were buzzed in. A pretty young woman with very strange hair – white in front and dark brown everywhere else – who knew a LOT about phones helped us. She and her husband run the business and write software for phones and anything else. If my phone were working I would have taken photos of her, and of the shop, with its interior door (to the room that contained her very tall husband) covered with circuitry. She tried the recovery process on my phone and proclaimed it DEAD. We asked why Chuck’s seemed to be stuck on 1980 all of a sudden, and she said that was because the Batelco lady removed his battery. “She should know not to do that with these phones!” His is CDMA, the towers here no longer use that. He might be able to reset it in Hope Town, they have CDMA there. She said Apple phones reset to a different date, December 31, 1969.

We went back to Batelco to see if we could buy a local phone that we could use as a hotspot. The guard was letting someone out, and she said they were closed. It was 5:15 and the door said they close at 4:30. So I guess it’s like some restaurants, where you can enter before closing and get served, regardless of how long it takes.

Maxwell’s Supermarket

So we continued on, and walked to Maxwell’s Supermarket, the big grocery store. They had a terrific assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, all at ferociously high prices. We hadn’t planned on shopping, but we picked up some bananas, eggs, sausage for our friend, 2 limes and a small piece of blue cheese, $17.40. This includes 7.5% tax on everything.

The next day, we returned for a few more things, chicken and lamb, and some fruits and vegetables, $70, which again included the 7.5% VAT tax on everything.

We did not get any of the cereal for $8-10 per box, or beef for $10 per pound. I was tempted to get some goat and try to cook it, but it was over $8 per pound, so I decided against that experiment.

Harbor – no swimming

There is no swimming in this harbor. Chuck and I like to swim everywhere we go, unless we are specifically told not to. Maybe it’s allowed, the local kids do it. But one of our cruising guide books advised against it. One of the locals described it as “muddy”.  The real reason is there is no pumpout here, and we hear that boats just dump their holding tanks in the harbor. Unfortunately, I think I’ve seen some evidence of that floating by. We did not swim there.

Mermaid Reef – or not

Because we can’t swim in the harbor, and it’s really hot and we’d really like to swim, we took the dinghy around to the outside of the harbor, to Mermaid Reef in the Sea of Abaco. Mermaid Reef is a man-made reef, with small moorings for dinghies. We stopped at the first place that looked like a beach. We didn’t see any moorings, so we landed the dinghy on the beach, put on our masks and fins and entered the water. A very kind man called out to us from a nearby house. He pointed out an eagle ray in the water. I saw it, it started to come toward me, I backed away, and it left before Chuck could see it. Chuck had a similar experience with a barracuda. We both saw sea cucumber and various small and tiny fish. I collected a few shells, nothing special. Chuck played with his underwater video camera. We never saw a reef.

Picnic at Mermaid Beach

The next day, we decided to go to land, see the southern portion of the harbor, and find a place for a picnic. After a very long and hot uphill walk, we found Mermaid Beach, complete with snorkelers and tiny dinghy moorings. The sky was strangely dark over the water. It might be rain, or it might be because of some brush fires in the distance. We had our lunch and decided to return to the reef another time, by water, in the dinghy.

Mermaid Beach

Swimmers at Mermaid Beach

Mermaid Reef, from land, with signs of impending rain storm

On the way back, we wanted to stop for ice cream, but we wanted to sit inside, in air conditioning. We stopped at one place that looked like it might have ice cream, but Chuck didn’t want to stay because it didn’t have AC. It did, however, have the white and dark brown haired phone-fixing girl from Epyon & her very tall husband, as well as the sweets shop girl from Green Turtle Cay, “Momo,” who has equally strange very long hair that is bright red in front. They seemed to be together, with a few kids, so maybe the two girls are sisters. (I think they each mentioned that they are originally from Nassau.) There is a very small population here, and everyone seems to know everyone else. We saw other people we knew from Green Turtle while we were in Maxwell’s. They come over by ferry, visit family, and shop over here.

Unfortunately the next ice cream place was closed, and then we heard thunder. So we got our exercise for the day, making a run for the dinghy dock, after our very long, very hot walk, with heavy backpacks. Whew!

Rain laundry fail

We heard a few more thunder booms, but no rain yet. We got back to the boat and closed the overhead ports in time. I scrambled to do “rain laundry.” I grabbed all of my essentials (= underwear) and tossed them in some fresh water with Woolite. Then I wrung out each piece and hung it on the lifelines, so the rain could rinse it. I also put out a large plastic bin to catch (and measure) the rainfall.  Unfortunately, there was only a little rain. So I now have dry, soapy clothes. I added some of our precious tank water to the plastic bin to rinse the clothes, and hung them out the next day to dry.

Dinghy racing in the harbor

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

On Saturday morning there were dinghy races in the harbor – opti’s for the little kids and sunfishes for the adults. We were anchored just on the edge of the race course so we had a good view. Other small spectator boats with family members and pets were also floating around and inside the race course. This went on for quite a while and provided some good photo ops, now that I managed to resurrect my 11 year old digital camera, after replacing the batteries.

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Sandy, watching the Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Dinghy races in Marsh Harbor

Electronics

Salt air is not good for electronics. My phone was dead and Chuck’s was acting up. My handheld radio, our “2^nd backup” stopped working. We left batteries in it too long and they leaked a little. There is another small business that might be able to fix it, the person who fixes things is away in Nassau and expected back on Monday. We’ll see... Marsh Harbor seems to be a good place to get things fixed.

Leaving Marsh Harbor

The weekend evenings were very noisy, with loud music playing from the bars until late at night.

On Sunday we returned by dinghy to Mermaid Reef with our friends, Helen and Stan. We snorkeled above the manmade reef and saw lots of tiny and little fish. (Sorry, the UW camera was on the wrong setting, so no decent pictures.) Then we went out to dinner together at one of the local restaurants.

We stayed through Monday, 4/13/15, to revisit the electronics store. The fixing person didn’t come back from Nassau. The girl at the desk advised us to try the marine store across the street. We did. He didn’t fix things, and he told us that the electronics guy across the street is never there, he’s always in Nassau. She sends people over all the time and he sends them back.

I'd had enough of dirty, dusty Marsh Harbor. We decided, at mid-day, to pull up the anchor and head over to little Man-O-War Cay, less than 5 miles away, but a world apart.

Sandy and Chuck on s/v Summer Wind