Saturday, April 25, 2015

Hopetown to Treasure Cay to Marsh Harbor

Sunday, April 19, 2015.  Lisa and deb (Outbound) went shopping.  Kachina and Majestic Phoenix departed this morning.  Hopefully, we will see them again. We then went to the beach.  Outbound and October Moon are already there.  The beach here is beautiful and there are only a few people.  Fran (October Moon) gets knocked down in the surf and lost her prescription sunglasses.  We had a bunch of people looking for them to no avail. Lisa met two people (Cindy and Jean) vacationing here from Ohio, who are crafters and are on the beach looking for sea glass and other materials to make jewelry.  They have been coming here for 17 years and have rented a house.

Dinner was at the Harbor’s Edge Restaurant.  It was the most expensive restaurant we have eaten in here and the food was OK.  I had wings and a Caesar salad and wings.  Small salad and the wings are the smallest I have ever seen.  Lisa had nachos.  While they were tasty, it was the smallest portion I have ever seen.  Mike and Fran said they had only been there for lunch and the prices were more reasonable and the portions larger.  They did have live music and the view is great.

When we got ready to leave, Lisa met with Cindy and Vicki and they were going to out boat to view each others handy work.  Lisa made a necklace out of sea glass and seizing wire this afternoon that came out great.  When they got to the dingy, it was stuck under the dock (tide came in). Mike and Fran’s was stuck also.  Steve went over and freed the dingy for the girls.  Later, he gave me a ride back to Rhiannon.
Nice evening all around.

Monday, April 20, 2015. We are off the mooring at 9:30 and head to the Lighthouse Marina fuel dock.  We had called ahead and the attendant said it was empty, so off we went.  Just as we got there one of the big charter catamarans tried to cut in front of us onto the dock.  He was yelling that he needed water.  The attendant told him he would have to wait his turn and the catamaran motored off not to be seen again. We filled with fuel, water and ice and are off the dock at 10am.  It is partlyt cloudy and 85 degrees.  The wind is S to SW at 15+.  We were heading over to Great Guana, but everything we read says don’t go there if the wind is South or Southwest (no protection).  We opt for Treasure Cay with much better protection.
1:30pm, we pick up a mooring at Treasure Cay.  It is development with golf, condos, houses, timeshares, and a great beach.  It looks more like something you would see in Florida, as opposed to what we have seen so far in the Bahamas.  Outbound arrives a few minutes after we do.  Shine (Scott and Lynn) are here!  We traveled from Atlantic Highlands (Sandy Hook) to North Carolina with them in the fall of 2012.  They stopped in New Bern, NC and bought a condo.  They come by the boat to say hello.  Great to see them again!
18NM, 21.4SM today.  26°40.26’N  77°16.93’W

Jim and Judy Foster called and they are going to come for a visit.  We traveled with them our first year heading south (Tug-a-Long).  Last year they came for a visit in Marathon.  They will fly into Marsh Harbor on Saturday.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Wind out of the SW, 85 degrees, very humid, looks like rain.  We walked over to the beach and met up with Scott and Lynn and had a late lunch.  Afterward, we are back at the boat for the rain and are trying to find some boat insurance that will allow us to leave the boat in Florida at a reasonable price.  A catamaran comes in with 19 people on boat – 4 adults and 15 scouts.  They are sailing for a week.  Neat experience for them.  They are all from the Boston area. Dinner with Outbound at Tipsy’s (the bar at the pool).  Pizza and burgers.  Food was OK. We gave Steve and Deb a ride in as they are having fuel line issues with the outboard on their dingy.  Another spare to add to the list (hose from the tank to the outboard). Still overcast and looking like rain.  Wind has died completely. Rain overnight.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015.  Outbound left for Green Turtle today.  October Moon is leaving from Hopetown for Green Turtle.  We heard from Tintean, who we traveled with north last year and they are in Green Turtle.  Popular place.  Lisa and I went shelling this morning and got quite a nice collection of small sand dollars and some other shells suitable for making jewelry.  We had dinner at Coco’s on the beach and when we left we forgot the shells.  When Lisa went back to get them, they were gone.  Could not have been 5 minutes.

At 6pm, low tide, we took the dingy up the creek and then walked over to the beach and looked for more shells.  Found quite a few sand dollars and others.  There was also a guy throwing food to flying seagulls, hundreds came! Dinner on board and rain again over night.

Thursday, April 23, 2015. 10am, we drop the mooring at head for Marsh Harbor, PC 80 degrees, wind NE @ 10.  1pm, our macerator for the rear holding tank is not working.  This is the unit that grinds up the waste and pumps it over board when we are at sea.  1:30pm we are on the dock at Harbor View Marina in Marsh Harbor. 

After checking out the macerator pump, one of the screws that holds the pump to the motor is sheared off.  It either happened when the yard in Canada installed the pump or came from the factor that way.  It is also leaking.  I was able to tighten up the other three screws and the pump seems to work.  I will call Jim Foster and have him add a new pump to the list of spares he is bringing on Saturday.

We went to Snappa’s for dinner.  Lisa had fish and I had a chicken kabob.  Both good.  After dinner we took a walk to see a bit of the town.  Not a lot close by the marina (other than restaurants and marinas), but we did find a place to buy ice cream!

Friday, April 24, 2015. Today Lisa spent the day cleaning the interior of the boat and re-storing items that we had taken out, but could be stored so there will be more room when our guests arrive tomorrow.  I went on errands – walked to the hardware store – there are three large ones here, the bank, the liquor store and the grocery (Maxwell’s – it is the largest and best stocked we have seen since coming to the Bahamas). Took a cab back to the marina.

Marsh Harbor is a city and there are lots of cars and traffic.  It is the largest place we have been in the Bahamas (we by-passed Nassau). There is one main road where everything is located and would remind you a bit of Marathon.

Saturday, April 25, 2015. This morning we gave the boat a bath and filled the water tanks.  Jim and Judy Foster arrive this afternoon and then we will head over to Great Guana.



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