HAPPY NEW YEARS and mourn Mermaid Reef

Greetings and a Happy New Years from Marsh Harbor Abacos.

We had a nice cocktail hour yesterday afternoon to celebrate New Years Eve. Craig and Dovie, Jim and Barb, and me and Karen gathered on Bubbles to share snacks and tales. It was a great afternoon. Comfortable too as the wind increased beyond forecast strength but manageable.

It was a quiet News Years Eve with some fireworks. This area is economically depressed thus can't expect much. Nevertheless a nice evening in the harbour.

I was a little bummed out yesterday. We were looking for the new Maxwell's Grocery and was having troubles with direction. We came across a trio of 2 young women and a young man all native Bahamians and I asked for a direction. I was greeted with a stare of "why did you spit in my coffee" from the young man and no response. Oh well. MArsh is not known for the friendly natives.

The new maxwell's is a very nice grocery with most everything but pricey by stateside standards although cheaper than Green Turtle Cay and Hope town.

We provisioned up and prepared to head to Hope Towwn on Friday.

Today we relaxed and I kept to my New Years Resolution of not spending any money TODAY.

Late morning we all went to the Jib Room to tie up and walk to Mermaid Reef. OHHHHH what a disappointment. Apparently you could buy the land side of Mermaid Reef and some rich SOB did and erected fences and no trespassing signs everywhere. I couldn't believe it.

Obviously many of the locals can't either and have taken matters personally. The new owner had to erect a fishing net barrier behind his picnic area that overlooks the reef to protect against thrown objects from passing cars. Hell he deserves it!!

Other than that it has been a nice New Years day except for the too strong wind here today which makes the anchorage uncomfortable.

We or better I had Lobster for lunch but Karen became queasy and didn't eat any lunch. She feels better this evening though.

Tomorrow HOPE TOWN or if there is no room then back to Treasure. We expect moderate winds for the next several days and I want top be in either Hope Town or Treasure Cay.

Finally Arrived

It's difficult to describe but all the places we have been coming and into the Bahamas it just never felt like we were really there. Surprisingly when we arrived here in Marsh Harbour today I finally felt I had arrived.

It's difficult because I never really enjoyed Marsh Harbour that much before, but today I feel a real peacefulness riding on the hook in Marsh Harbour. in the past it was only a place for provisions and laundry.

Probably because there are so few boats here. Tonight I counted only 25 on the hook. I remember back in 2006 I counted as many as 98 here one day when I was a Volunteer weather reporter for BASRA.

We plan to stay a few days and re-provision a bit and then move on. I haven't checked Hope Town mooring availability but I expect it to be poor. There are more rental sailboats out and about then I have ever seen before but is probably due to the holidays. I have never been here before the lst of the year before.

The weather is unbelievably mild for so many days. I sure hope we don't have to pay for this later.

We are anchored here tonight along with Bubbles and Skat. Got down here late like 4pm today so no exploring tonight but tomorrow we will show those other crews around. Hopefully I'll have some good reports and nothing so dismal as my Guana Cay report.

Ohh kudos to the self serve laundry in Treasure Cay. We took 2 loads in today and the lady that runs it showed us to commercial washing machines. We loaded and went to the grocery. Twenty five minutes later we returned to load into the dryer and the lady said she had low water pressure and it just started to wash. She offered to throw all into dryers later. So we left and returned an hour and half later. She had dried and folded all the stuff and packed in our bags. The cost was 4$ per load to wash and dry and thus $16. I gave her a twenty and said no change. It was a delightful surprise.

What happened to Guana Cay?

We anchored off Guana Cay yesterday and thought it was kind of funny that we were the only boats there. Later three other anchored but that was all. It was difficult to find the sandy spots to anchor but then it became obvious that there is little anchoring going on here now. We later found a good reason why. That new marina in Bakers Bay above us had a lot of of small boat but big wake traffic and it really made the anchorage uncomfortable.

Today we went to the settlement and what a disappointment. There were 3 boats in the Orchid Bay marina there and 2 on moorings. We went in around 10am and there was no foot traffic -- just an occasional golf cart. We went up to Nippers and the ocean beach and nada -- Nippers was open but no one there.

The shops in town were either closed today or permanently. That great cafe bakery was boarded up. Several other buildings were boarded up. It was just dead!! The old harbour grocery is in a new building but still quite small.

I can't believe the millions of dollars of development that went on here and especially around Bakers BAy but the ol Guana Cay business area is just dead now. Hell all these places to live now and no one here. How depressing.


We couldn't take it anymore so before lunch we packed up and headed to Treasure Cay just 2 hours away. It still was like the ol days -- at least the harbour -- but more condos than you can shake a stick at. What insanity.

The only grocery store is still the same but little traffic.. Where do these folks get their groceries or is there no influx of people to match all the new housing?

Unbelievable. The grocery prices are higher here but just under Green Turtle Cay prices. The liquor store is cheaper but that is all. It is quite quiet here in the mooring/anchorage field here tonight. Ohh Skat, Bubbles and us are all anchored tonight.

The beach here is one of the 10 best in the world and tomorrow we will invade it and maybe play some Bocci Ball.

Merry Christmas and moving on again

Merry Christmas to all.

We had a very nice Christmas day yesterday. Karen was able to contact all our children on Iphone Face Time and we had a nice visit. Matt did the turkey and they all gathered at our house of which Matt is the proprietor for now and doing a great job of keeping it all together and taking care of our mail.

Here on Green Turtle cay we celebrated the Christmas dinner with a cruisers pot luck on Brendel's Dive Shop properties -- Thank You Brendel -- he also furnished 2 gallons of Goombay Smash -- an Island Rum punch.

We enjoyed the holiday with our Carolina cruising buddies -- Jim and Barb also Buck and Vickie who we have cruised with for 22 years, Craig and Dovie and Dell and Cory who have cruised with us for 14 years. A great time.

Today we all left the Green Turtle Club to finally live off the anchor for awhile and stop the money drain!! It was $67 a day to stay at the Green Turtle Club but it was worth it. Now we will bounce from anchorage to anchorage and just put in for food and water and maybe some fuel. I topped the fuel tank today with 40 gallons so I'm good for a long time here in the Abacos.

Today we went around the Whale Cay Passage to Great Guana Cay. The Whale is every Bahamas cruisers nightmare. It is impassable some days and you have to wait for a window. Today it was WIDE OPEN and easily navigated. Bubble and Skat came across with us and we are in the "Hub of the Abacos". Everyplace easily reached now.

WE will stay here for a few days then hopefully go back across the Whale to Green Turtle Cay for Junkanoo on New YEars Day.

We need to find some cheaper groceries right now. On Green Turtle Cay all provisions are three times what we pay in the states -- like a 12oz Log cabin Syrup for $8.95 or a cucumber for $3.77. Over here and at Treasure cay we pay twice as much. In Marsh Harbor it is 1.5 times as much.

Ohh the little things that count.

Tomorrow we will explore Great Guana and go to Nipper's, the ocean beach, the grocery store and stop at Milo's strand for fresh veggies and LOBSTER TAILS -- they call them cray fish in the Bahamas but they are LObsters with out the big claws. My mouth is watering already.

1st Day Winter Green Turtle Cay Bahamas

Yesterday was the winter Solsitce -- 1st day of winter. Not bad here in the Bahamas. The picture of me is on the Bluff House Beach with New Plymouth in Green Turtle Cay in the background and the Sea of Abaco. Not bad. High was 75 and a low of 70. Eat ytour hearts out northerners!! The living is easy that's why I don't update every day now. We moved over to the Bluff House Marina yesterday but today we needed to do 2 weeks of laundry in their "new facilities". It was a disaster. They had 3 working washing machines out of 4 and NO working dryers. We were besides ourselves. The docks are not friendly to sailboats for egress and this was too much. I checked out and moved BACK to the more expensive Green Turtle Club to dry the clothes and wait out the coming severe weather which apparently is becoming less severe and taking longer to get here. Bubbles and Skat also checked out and moved over here. Ohh well it is only money and the entire Carolina Contingent is again together; Victoria Gaye, Bubbles, Skat, Temptation, and High Flite on the hook just a stones throw away. The laundry and moving marinas took way too much time but that's cruising somedays. I was able to get another swim in the atlantic though. Beautiful beach and just a bit too cool water but great nevertheless. This morning I heard distance drumming around 4:30am. I learned later that there was a tradition here of folks beating drums between 4 and 6 am to "awaken the Christmas spirit". I hoped it worked. Lots of decorations and Christmas music abound even though this looks like the tropics.

Great Crossing to the Bahamas

WOW we made it and in one piece with no equipment failure. This is a tough crossing when you do it in one day what many take 3 days to do. We left Lake Worth Inlet in Palm Beach Florida at 7:30am, found the Gulf Stream very mild and made it across to the Little Bahama Banks by 5pm. Got to see the ground come up in daylight.

We just carried on and crossed all the banks in the dark. No moon till 1:15am and it was small. We had very gentle conditions on the banks and used AIS and radar to navigate through the boat traffic and some rocky areas like "Barracuda Rock Channel". Lots of boats had stopped at Great Sale Cay and Mangrove Cay for the night but we just carried on. You have to trust your instrumentation and ability to use it to do that. We had daylight just as we passed Crab Cay and entered the Sea of Abaco. We made it to Green Turtle Cay by 9am and took a slip at the Green Turtle Club. We planned to stay a few days but I can't get emails on their WiFi system so may move tomorrow.

I'd write more but I need sleep. I only had a 2 hour nap today after being up nearly 30 hours.

It's still hard to believe we finally made it here today in our boat.

Just a lay day here at North Lake Worth

Not much to report.

We are just killing time till our Monday Crossing Window. All the forecasts still show Monday as a GOOD day.

Trying to get more info from the posse that crossed and arrived in Green Turtle Last night but they are stingy with the reports -- already on Island Time I guess.

Buck and I finalized our crossing plans, Karen made a run to CVS for last minute delicacies.

Wind blew moderate here today and one Canadian boat dragged anchor with no one aboard but didn't hit anything till the owners arrived and re-anchored the boat.

Too many clouds to see the meteor shower last night but I tried.

Early to bed tonight and off to the main Lake Worth tomorrow for another crossing attempt. Boy I wish you could store up sleep credits. When we cross I'll be up for about 30 hours.