Marsh Harbour

On Friday, we sailed from Treasure Cay to Marsh Harbour. The wind was brisk (between 16 and 20 knots). We had to go through a narrow passage between a shoal and the main island. The sea was choppy with a very short interval. So we decided, to take down all the sails and make our way in to Marsh Harbour with our friend the Iron Wind.

The anchorage in Marsh Harbour is huge. And there are many boats anchored out. Some of them, never leave the anchorage for weeks or even months. But most of the yachts are transiting on there way towards their destination. Many of them are coming from the Exumas, where they spent the winter time. Now, with the warmer weather, they are headed north, through the Abacos to cross the Gulf Stream. Some leave their boat somewhere in the South, some proceed to their home, wherever that is.

Marsh Harbour is the commercial center in the Abaco. If you are looking for any kind of supplies, this seems the place to be. If you are looking out for nice beaches and crystal clear water, you may have to search somewhere else.

Upon arrival, we were starving and decided to treat us with a lunch in the Conch Inn Martina restaurant. Some conch fritters and a fish burger with Grouper was just about the right thing to make us happy.

On Saturday, we went on a dive trip with Dive Abaco. We had to be at 9.00 am at the shop. When I checked all the gear again, I found out, that the battery of one of the dive computers was low. So I had to get a new battery somewhere. Not an easy job in the short time remaining, until the boat was scheduled for departure! There I went, ran to the hardware store - nothing, ran to the jeweler stop - still closed, checked the photo shop - nothing. I ended up at the pharmacy, about 1 1/2 miles away. Luckily they had the battery, and I bought all their stock - 2 pcs.

I knew, I couldn't make the way back to the boat in time, when walking. So I hitch hiked. Already the third car stopped and agreed to carry me back to the dive shop. Well the cars door did not had any handles inside anymore... I had to hold it in the closed position through the window, while the driver smiled at me and switched the central locking function on and off we went.

The people here in the Bahamas are very friendly and helpful.

I made it just in time back to the boat, where Beatrice already begun to gear up the tanks. It was a choppy but nice 30 minute ride out through the North Cut of Man-O-War Cay to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the third largest barrier reef in the world. So we picked up a mooring ball and jumped in to the water. Between the first and the second dive, the boat relocated to another mooring, about 500 meters away. Both spots were beautiful and very different from each other. We spotted sharks, many groupers, lots of colorful corals and dove through some caves in the reef. The water is just amazingly clear.

We returned at about 1.00 pm at the dock in Marsh Harbour, rinsed the gear, had a dip in the pool and returned to our boat. After a hot meal on the boat, we both fell a sleep for a while, until our friend from Windsong II came over for a chat and a drink. The Goombay Smash really became our favorite drink within a short time.

The pictures will be uploaded as soon as we have a suitable internet connection. I relocated the Wifi Booster and it turned out, that a line could catch it and ripped the off the antenna. So I had to solder the things together. After all, the performance is not outstanding, but functional. Nevertheless, there is no free WiFi hotspot in rech and we have to relay an the cell phone with the Bahamas SIM card.

We still have no useful internet connection, anyways, here they are:

Goodbye Treasure Cay

We've spent 6 nights here in Treasure Cay. It's a beautiful place with a beach, rated as one of the top 10 in the world. We would fully agree with that! But weblike to see more of the Bahamas which pushes us to move onwards at a steady pace.

 The weather wasn't always good. Three days ago, we had a very stormy night, with torrential rainfall, thunder, lighting and high winds. We were happy to be hooked up on a mooring ball.

Our friend from Switzerland headed out for Green Turtle Cay yesterday.

Our next stop will be Marsh Harbour. It should take about 3 - 4 hours to get there.

But before leaving, I wanted to provide some impressions from today of the mooring field.

Hey, did you notice that including our boat, there were 3 Hunters lined up in a row? It's ours, Windsong II Hunter 356, and another Hunter 45 center cockpit.

Sometimes it has to be as far as the Bahamas

I'm sure, all of you already have experienced this - you are at remote location, far away from home, and then unexpectedly you meet with somebody, which you haven't met for a long time.

Exactly this happened to us today. We went to the beach and noticed, that there are some people in the water, speaking Swiss German. This is the first the second time in two weeks, when we found Swiss people here. So we headed there and started talking to them. Very quickly it turned out, that they were friends of Marco, which he haven't met for 20 years or more! All converted from the six pack in the old days to a one pack at present and grow older. So we did not recognize each other in the first place. Urs Bögli, with his wife Barbara and friends. Long time ago, we all played together in a carnival orchestra. Urs and I joined the Jungwacht, a kind of a boys scout organization in Switzerland.

It was an entirely unexpected and very pleasant get together after all. The will stay for couple of days on the catamaran, which they chartered for two weeks in Marsh Harbour.

Sometimes, you have to go far, to find people, you haven't seen for decades. You can look at the horizon and certainly you will agree, the world is really big, and all of a sudden, it's smaller than the town, you were raised at. What a small world you then may say!

Treasure Cay

We still enjoy the fantastic beach, thepool and the infrastructure here at Treasure Cay. The advantage to live on a boat pays off by far! The cost for a mooringball is $20.- per day and boat. This includes all the facilities at the marina, ghe beach and free WiFi. The internet access is not garantied tough. Every now and then, the connection gets lost. But this is not a real concern.

The Treasure Cay beach

Yesterday, the crews of Windsong II and Tranquilizer teamed up to prepare a nice dinner to celebrate Eastern. After a tropical drink and a variety of apetizers, we had a salad, pork loin from the BBQ, risotto, and wine, followed by a pineapple cake frome the lokal bakery- yummi! We had a fantastic evening with good friends. In addition, Bob handed me over one of it's fishing rods as a present! Many thanks to Bob again! When thinking about it, I think it is how he expressed his compassion for my inability to catch a fish with the Cuban fishing reel I've purchased some days ago. Of course I'm under heavy pressure now, to catch some fish quickly, and invite him for a fish meal. Well, that could also end up in an invitation to fish restaurant - let's see how quick I can develop my skills. All I know is, that the learning curve must be verry steep!!!

Today started with rewiring the solar controller. When I've installed the system, I did not go through the shunt with the negative cable. So the battery monitor did not ount for the amps, charged by the solar system. Afte about an hour, ghe system was back up again. Time to get ready for the beach.

Going through the Whale Cay

Yesterday we went back to Green Turtle Cay, to stay at the mooring ball for the night. Thunderstorms and squalls were forecast.

Today, Saturday, everything was on green to go through the Whale Cut and in to the Sea of Abaco. We dropped the mooring ball around 7.15 am and headed for the channel, leading to the sea. But there were several sailboats ahead of us. So even on the water, queuing is what it takes...

Several sailboats in the Green Turtle White Sound channel

The wind was moderate (10 - 13 kts) from ESE, just as needed for the passage. When we headed out for the open Atlantic Ocean, some swell gave us a bumpy start, then things smoothed out and we had a good crossing. Once we were arrived in the Sea of Abaco, we hoisted all sails and we made up to 6.5 kts over ground. Thats pretty good for the 13 kts of wind we had.

Sails up on Tranquilizer

Our buddy boat Windsong II sailing the Sea of Abaco

Our destination was Treasure Cay, where we were looking for a mooring ball. After toping up fuel and water at the fuel dock, we found plenty of available moorings in the field. Beatrice did a great job. She grabbed the ball the third time in a row at the first attempt!

We went to the arena office, the super market, the bakery and finally to the beach, where we suffered from the hard life on the islands...

Isn't this beach just one of the best in the world? And while this portion is having a restaurant and some infrastructure, the main portion of the beach is just untouched. We will carry the load and keep on suffering here for a while!

Headed out for Crab Cay / Manjack Cay

On thursday, we finally made it out from Whithe Sound towards the anchorage between Crab Cay (another Crab Cay, than we already have visited) and Maniack Cay. It was a short ride only. The anchorage is very large and a number of boats were in there already. Not a problem and we could drop our hook in a well protected spot.

After having a small snack for lunch, we got the dinghy ready to go ashore. Bob landed me his bucket with a lens at the bottom. So I could inspect the anchor - all good. Well set in a sandy spot with some gras. The water depth is only 3 to 4 meters. So the 80 feet of chain, we let out should provide a good holding.

We were headed for the beach and noticed, that there must be native animals on the ground... We knew, that there are pigs at Staniel Cay in the Exumas and there should be pigs at No Name Cay in the Abaco as well. But we did not know, that there are hogs at Crab Cay too!

These pigs are very curious!

Well guys, up for a ride?!

The encounter with the animals was just fascinating, and the beach is amazing! We had a quiet night at anchor and will head towards No Name Cay. We will probably spend the night in White Sound again and heading trough the Whale Cay passage tomorrow.

Still in Green Turtle Cay

We are still waiting for more settled weather here in Green Turtle Cay. During the last couple days, we went to the town, tried out the new BBQ grill for the first time, and fixed this an that on the boat.

Of course, we also dignified to the local culture and bought some Bahamian rum! Beatrice then prepared our own tropic drink - delicious!

We liked the name and the taste of it!

Today, we will go a shore and probably do some laundry and rent a golf cart, cruising around the island and trying to see the atlantic coast.