Mangoes Marina -- the Cat's Meow!

Wow -- we haven't been into a marina since December 26 so it was with great pleasure that we tied up in Mangoes Marina in Marsh Harbour the other day. Gosh they all run together now but I think it was Tuesday this week.

Mangoes is the least expensive marina here at 90 cents a foot till the end of February and is just full of nice cruisers and Ray the manager who is the best -- friendly and accommodating.

Ohh man no worries about a dragging an anchor or a poor mooring line. Just tied up with 5 lines to pilings. On the flip side there are all kinds of shopping and restaurants available. Well we did them all. The first day was like a vacation and we did nothing,then we worked hard and cleaned the boat from stem to stern the next day, then it was provisioning time, then we went to Snappas Bar and Grill for lunch and a GREAT Cheeseburger....

Then back to reality today -- it is the Bahamas. We did laundry. Well first off you can't start early enough because some one always starts earlier than you do. We ended up waiting till noon for a washer to become available -- they have 2 washers and dryers here at Mangoes. we started the wash and it ran fine then Karen started the drying. Around 2:30pm she awakes me from a nap to says that the dryers are not drying -- no heat. I investigate and sure enough no heat. I inspect the dryers and they are gas. I tell Ray the marina manager and he checks and sure enough they have run out of propane -- no more till Monday at the earliest.

Well there is a taxi stand right next door at the Ferry dock so I get a cab to take us to the commercial laundry in town. Only 7 dollars but a long walk with wet laundry. Once there it only takes us 20 minutes in the big commercial dryers to dry everything. Then a call to the taxi to go back -- too far to walk with all that laundry. Thus the cost was an additional $14 dollars for the taxi but worth it.

The dock and tenants are great. Each night near sundown many gather on the dock to blow their conch horns at the setting sun -- should be done just as the curve of the sun drops below the horizon. I got caught up in this and bought 2 nice conch shells from Hollywood George who does the conch salad just outside the marina here -- only $5 a apiece. I had to cut the tip off and clean out the end so you could blow in it. I had to repair the hole they make to get the conch meat out with some epoxy putty then clean and test. They both sounded fine so I gave one to Vickie on Victoria Gaye. We joined the crowd and enjoyed blowing our horns with them.. We were not great but acceptable to the crowd. Practice will make us both better.

Tomorrow we hope to leave in better weather and enjoy more of the Abacos -- maybe Great Guyana Cay and Nippers tomorrow and Man O War on Monday and Tuesday and then back to Treasure Cay for the weekend -- yippee.

It's back on the anchor for us.

Sorry -- interrupting cruise for a vacation

That's right -- enough of this cruising thing we went on vacation today!

We were going to the Harbour View Fuel dock for water and fuel and I was thinking the water alone was going to be $35. Our mooring lease in Hopetown expires today and I didn't really want to go back there just yet. Orchid BAy Marina has a 50 cent per foot till end of February -- through this Sunday so why not go there and pay that and get free water there and stay through Sunday. Well all they have on Great Guana Cay is the beach bar Nippers and a great beach to walk -- not much for 5 days. Victoria Gaye -- Buck and Vickie went to Mangoes Marina yesterday for a few days and they just raved about it and it was just 90 cents a foot.

So we decided to go into Mangoes till Sunday and enjoy Marsh Harbour and work like dogs to clean the boat.

Well after getting in and tied up this morning around 10:30am we checked in at the office back then back on the boat tried to decide where to begin the long overdue chores -- we haven't been tied to a marina since December 26!!

Sitting there I couldn't decide where to start and it felt so good to just sit and not worry about battery management with Solar, and wind, and the gen set.. no worry about anchor dragging, no worry about too close boats picking up moorings it felt like it did when we would go on a weeks summer vacation back home. Thus we decided today we are on VACATION -- and did absolutely nothing but enjoy a beautiful sunny 79 degree day in the Abacos. I hope to keep this up for few days..

My Rocna anchor got put to a test yesterday. It bit in as usual and w set it normally. Today when I picked it up it came right up! Usually we need the engine to force it out. After bringing it up I found a large rag wrapped around the tip of the anchor. WOW that could have been bad but the ol Rocna handled it well.

Well to continue the vacation theme tonight it is a lobster dinner prepared on the boat of course -- what you think I'm made of money!

Bubbles Bubbles Boil and Trouble

We finally have a nice stretch of days for moving about.

Yesterday we left Hopetown and just went out about a mile and half to the Parrot Cays and dropped the hook. I had to dive on the boat and check the bottom. Wow what a hassle getting all the gear ready for the dive and it was a bit bouncier more than I liked -- tough in the dinghy.

Karen helped me get my gear on in the water -- BC and Tank. Unfortunately the tank regulator leaked horrible. I had to beak it down and founds the o-ring in rough condition. I flipped it around and got it to seal -- then back on with the gear and into the water. We had anchored over a stretch of white sand and when I went under oh boy the bottom was a MESS!! It had slime and round red patches and growths like rough moss growing on it -- no wonder it was sluggish. I checked the prop and zincs and they were fine. I started to brush the bottom and the stuff came off but it took a lot of scrubbing. I worked nearly 45 minutes and used a good half tank of air and I was getting pretty tired so I quit. While waiting for Karen to help me out of the BC/Tank my weight belt suddenly released. and fell to the bottom in about 12 feet of water. I tried to dive down to it but I was too buoyant. I had Karen get a lighter weight belt that I use when only wearing the lycra suit and I was able to swim down with great effort. While grabbing my belt I noticed my metal scraper was down there too!! Now who kicked that in? It took a couple more attempts and I retrieved it.

I was whipped now. rested awhile then decided instead of going over to Nippers this afternoon we would just go to MArsh HArbour and I would clean all the dive gear there. It was a beautiful day..

Skat and Bubbles came into the harbour later in the afternoon and they planned to head south to Lynyard Cay tomorrow then onto Elutheria on Tuesday.

We decided to have a get together on Temptation that night. It was fun but I didn't win at Farkle. In fact I did not get one conversion to work for me and I had the most Farkles. Bummer for me.

Today we did grocery shopping and other provisioning. Got a tub of Conch Salad from Hollywood George. Spent the afternoon relaxing and plan to fuel up and water up in the morning then head back to Hopetown for the next cold front to come through.

The weather is breaking and I expect to only hang at Hopetown for another week and then give our mooring up and explore more of the Abacos.