April 20 to April 30
The big change in Marsh Harbor from 9 years ago is the new supermarket. What used to be Solomons apparently had a fire and was re built and upgraded to the current Maxwell’s. They had an excellent array of products and prices about typical for the Bahamas. We also got to the bank which open every day here! Batelco was another story! Again, the clerk did not want to make an exchange without the box; we got her manager to approve it and walked out with a phone. By the time we got to the boat, it wasn’t working! Next day Jeff went back and they switched SIM cards and all is finally good. While walking in town he said, “ Let’s go back to Batelco, I don’t like this blue phone”; His idea of perverse humor!! We enjoyed eating with Dolphin, Nina and Adrian, whose homeport is Warwick, RI. Adrian was the victim of a lion fish sting; yikes, it looked awful, tho he claimed it was much improved. Stay away from this invasive species. And if you decide to go spearfishing, make sure your tip has a barb on it. His did not, and the fish slid off as they were putting in their bucket.
We finally did it—we bought the 15 hp outboard. A nice chat with the Yamaha dealer convinced Jeff that it was ok to go with the “enduro”, non-US version. Also, the one we’d ordered in Hope Town was not due in til June 13. On Thursday, we headed over to Man O War Cay. This time we got a mooring right in front of the marina, next to our friends on Running Free, a Freedom cat/ketch. This cay is unique in that it is dry and inhabited by descendants of British loyalists from the Revolutionary War. There is a lot of in-breeding and their accent is unusual; they also are the least friendly people we’ve met in the Bahamas. A “hello” is met with a somber face and a one finger wave (no, not that finger). There are some very nice shops however!! Three of us girls went shopping in the afternoon and left a few hundred dollars on the island. I took a really long walk the next day and discovered a new harbor. Spoke with a man from Texas who owned a cottage on the shore, along with a Hinckley yacht and a center console boat. Got the navigation instructions in case we ever want to go there.
On Friday we headed over to Great Guana Cay which also is little changed from our previous trip. We took a long walk on the ocean side and circled back through the Orchid Bay Resort. There are about a dozen “cottages” in there; they are unbelievably pretty and landscaped to the nth degree. The resort actually has a nursery on the property with gorgeous plants. Around here they grow asparagus ferns and wandering jew plants as ground covers and borders, not as house plants like we do at home. We went to Grabbers for sundowners and met Randy and Mary from “Emme”. The rum punch here was really good. We got a tour of Emme, a 40 ft Ta Shiba; wow, what a boat!! And of course, since it was Sunday, we all headed to Nipper’s for the famous pig roast. Walking from the dock we met some more cruisers. Turns out that one of them is a long time friend of Jeff’s brother Jack!! Bill and Jack belong to the same ski club and he even was at the same 70th birthday party we attended in Cotati, CA. There were a lot of people there and we never did meet until we got to the Bahamas. Another long beach walk after lunch took us to the north end of Great Guana and up to another small resort. While everyone else headed to Green Turtle Cay, Meltemi headed back to Marsh Harbor.
Jeff went ashore and picked up the new outboard. It is very “lively”!! We stowed the old 5hp til we can sell it and are using the new one. We took a spin around Marsh Harbor and had a blast. We also checked on our UPS package which is another reason for returning here. The sage goes on; I called a UPS number that was no good, but got another number. Was then told the package was being held in Nassau because there was $$ due. Got that arranged and the package was released; so, we are supposed to get it today. We’ll wait and see. This includes Jeff’s medication and his old US cell phone which we mailed to Ryan in mid March. Between the 2 way freight and duty, we could have bought an iPhone!! Plus, we have been notified that the package was damaged. Only 100 miles from home, but it is still a developing country!