Thursday, January 5, 2017

Marsh Harbour Trip

We left Green Turtle cay this morning. We had a couple of days left on our month long retainer but the weather really deteriorates Saturday and for most of next week so we thought we would take this opportunity to move on. That and we need to do a major provisioning run since we have been living off stores for the last month,.

The weather was perfect for leaving the crowded GTC dock this morning -- no wind no excuses. We made an easy exit fully under control. There was very little wind on the Sea of Abaco and only a 2 foot swell around the Whale cay passage -- we fought the current going out but had a great ride back in. It took only 3.5 hours to get to Marsh harbour and put the anchor down.

After a brief rest we went to the Tupps Liqueur store for beer and stuff and soda cans. Then onto the Abaco wholesale place that actually had very little for us but did buy some Goombay Punch, block of Cheddar cheese and a couple of BOUNTY candy bars -- can't find those at home anymore.

Back on the boat to just enjoy the harbour this afternoon. Unfortunately an occasional thoughtless boat wake but otherwise not bad. Currently there are only 25 boats here which is a small crowd.

Tomorrow morning we plan to hit the major supermarket here -- Maxwell's -- then get a taxi to bring it all back to the dinghy dock. If we get it done early enough we an catch the near high tide to get into Hope Town for hopefully the next several weeks.

The strongest cold front of the season is forecast for Saturday night into Sunday so we need to be in a protected harbour. IF Hope town is full then we will consider either Man O War mooring or worst case -- over to Treasure cay ( a 15 mile run) for a mooring or slip.. The forecast is for up to 30 kts wind with gusts to 40 or 45 -- that is major. Although we have heard that before and it never happened you can't count on that being wrong.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Happy New Years -- Happy Junkanoo

Happy New Years -- a little belated though. That is a problem when you are on Island time.

Nothing much happened over here in White Sound. There were the high dollar holiday dinners at the Green Turtle Club Restaurant at $60 a head and at the Bluff House for $75 a head. Not for us -- we cooked steak and ham on the barbecue grill.

Some went to Sundowner's to celebrate but that is a 2 mile dinghy ride for us and I didn't want to do that after midnight. So it was my usual New YEars Eve -- in bed by 9:30pm. Karen stayed up though.

Now my friends Art and Jean on SAMANA had the right idea. They celebrated New YEars on UTC Time -- Greenwich mean time or 5 hours before EST. Thus New Years was at 7pm EST.

I celebrated NEW Years day with a swim in the ocean. It was a bit rough and the waves pushed me around -- a lot but I did it.

January 2 was Junkanoo at 2ish pm in the New Plymouth Settlement. It was fine. Karen will post some pics on her Facebook page. It was smaller and with a smaller crowd then others we enjoyed but still a lot of fun.

After the Junkanoo they had a fireworks display in the Settlement at 8pm. Again I wasn't going to do the 2 mile dinghy ride out and back in the dark so we took the dinghy over to the Bluff House and walked over the hill to the beach to watch. Now that was way cool. The beach bar was closed and it was completely dark on the beach. We had to find our way in the dark and were the only ones over there. Several folks said they were going too but only we showed. I like the dark but Karen was a bit apprehensive.

For such a small community (and budget) they put on a VERY Professional show. I really liked it.

Well we are in need of more provisions and we are finally tired of GTC so we will move on tomorrow or Thursday down to Marsh Harbor to provision there. Prices will be about 1/3 cheaper there than here or about twice what we pay at home.

Big fat cold front coming in Sunday so we need to be in protected harbor by Saturday night so we will move on to either Hope Town or Treasure cay or a marina in Marsh Harbour.