Wildcat-February 17, 2005

February 17, 2005

We enjoyed our stay in Marsh Harbour. We were able to sign up for high speed wireless internet access. Accessing the internet from our boat is an unimaginable pleasure. There's so much you take for granted in the States. We became very knowledgeable about the 2 boat stores, 3 hardware stores, and 4 grocery stores. Marsh Harbour is the third largest city in the Bahamas. About 4000 people live here. There were several choices of restaurants too. We haven't tried it yet, but we plan on buying some souse one of these days. It's like a stew and can be made with either chicken, pig's feet, wild boar, or who knows what! We'll let you know.

So we were very industrious doing some projects on the boat and sitting out yet another cold front. Being a shoal draft (we draw only 4') vessel made it nice for us to get tucked into the shore when the winds blew strong. We had many days of wearing sweatshirts plus jackets in the town. This is unusual for the Bahamas but I think they say that every year no matter what the weather. I mentioned before about the hurricane damage here. One sad loss to me was the laundromat. The only laundries in town were at the marinas. The cost is $4 per wash and $4 per dry. Water is also expensive. It's 20 cents per gallon and not easy to get. We use our water maker whenever possible.

We took a side trip out to Hopetown. It is as beautiful as we remembered it. It is so delightful, picturesque and has a beautiful historic red and white striped lighthouse, as well as a beautiful beach. The harbor is small and they have put in many moorings so that boats can be accommodated. We had a lovely stay there.

We set sail to Marsh Harbour again to meet up with our good friends from home Becky and Mark. They arrived as a really, really cold front came through. We rode out rough weather in the harbor and found that Becky and Mark were indeed hardy. We were weathered in for the next day and decided to rent a car to see part of the island we had never been to. We rode down to Cherokee Point. The roads there are barely large enough for a very small car. There were not many people living at this settlement and the one restaurant, which was situated at the end of a long dock, seemed out of commission. We stopped off at Little Harbor, home of Pete's pub and bronze foundry. Pete's father is a famous artist, reknowned for his lost wax process of sculpting in bronze. He has written an interesting book called "An Artist and his Island". His son has continued his legacy and we saw some beautiful art work in the gallery located on the beach. We also trekked up to Treasure Cay by car. Treasure Cay has one of the top 10 beaches of the world. The only people besides us on the beach that day were the workers raking up the seaweed. It was pretty cold and windy.

We had some beautiful sails with Becky and Mark and visited Hopetown, Great Guana Cay, and Man-o-Way Cay. Each stop had its own special quality. We even got in the water to snorkel. We saw coral, sea fans, starfish, blue tangs, parrot fish, angel fish, sergeant majors, mangrove snappers, grunts, grouper, bar runner jacks, barracuda, and nurse sharks. We also saw some manta rays and 3 out of 4 of us saw a turtle and porpoises. The time went by fast.

We are anchored today at Green Turtle Cay. We're still lucky enough to have our internet access but it is shortlived. We will be heading north to spear some fish, catch some lobster and maybe find some conch. There are more uninhabited islands in this part of the Abacos. We will be back on our ham radio to receive any emails. As always it is great to hear from you. We enjoy all our messages.

Till next time we are signing off hoping for fair winds and smooth seas.

Pam and Chris