05/05/2010, Marsh Harbour, Abaco

April 28th, 2010 Marsh Harbor to Tahaiti Beach

It was windy this morning so we stalled on our departure to let things calm down and finally got away about 11am. Our trip over to Hopetown and then south to Tahiti Beach was only about 8 miles so we sailed over with just our jib. The last three miles are shallow and we were approaching a full moon low tide, which made things worse. We saw one boat hard aground on this stretch and slowed even more. We saw five and ½ feet on numerous occasions and we draw 5' 4" so things were close. However, "Sapphire" never touched.

We anchored and had some lunch and then wandered over to Tahiti Beach where we wandered around most of the afternoon as the tide came in.

It's a little strange but our wifi service here is better than we've had since leaving the States months ago. We are thinking about visiting Abby and Jake in July, and Kathy spent some time checking out flights. We also finalized some changes to our boat insurance since we had the opportunity.

I made pizza for dinner to use up some crusts that were dated March 10th. They turned out just fine. We watched an episode of "CSI" and the last of "Madmen" before going to bed
April 23rd ---26th, 2010 Marsh Harbor, Abacos

There were storms forecast for Sunday and Monday we ended up staying for the weekend. We had afternoon get-togethers at the marina where "Savage Son" is slipped and did a lot of reading. Kathy cleaned and defrosted the refrigerator and I changed the oil and puttered around in the galley.

We made another trip to the grocery had lunch out a couple of times. I made a trip with Bob to pick up some motor oil and a few things from the marine store.

There was some rain in the area on Sunday but the real storm hit on Monday. Most of the boats in our area of the harbor were spaced appropriately, but on Sunday afternoon a small boat came in and anchored right next to us. When the first squall hit us on Monday morning with 45 knot winds, we swung about 5 feet in front of their bow. I started up the engine and kept "Sapphire" to the port away from them. For about 10 minutes the winds blew like crazy and we jockeyed to keep separated.

Finally when the squall passed, we hauled up the anchor and moved far enough away to be safe. It rained all day but the winds were not too bad. By evening we could see that the worst of the storm was passing to our south.

On Tuesday morning Chris Parker (the weather man we listen to on the SSB radio), was calling for a secondary front to pass us on Tuesday night so we decided to hang one more day.

We had a nice party at the marina and returned to listen to music are read.

Our new plan is to head over to Tahiti Beach on Wednesday and then return for Bev's party on Friday or Saturday.

There is a wonderful weather window this weekend for folks crossing to the US, but it's a few days too soon for us.

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05/02/2010, Marsh Harbour, Abaco

April 30-May 2 Marsh Harbour, Bahamas
We came back to Marsh Harbour for Bev's (Savage Son) 60th birthday tomorrow. We are bringing some fruit kabobs, so had to get to the store to wee what they had in the way of fruit. We got some nice melons, grapes and a pineapple and Bev had picked up some mangoes and a papaya.
Mike filled up with diesel and we stopped to visit Solitaire. Madcap saw us and joined the , now, party. We went back to the boat for dinner and a movie.
On Saturday, we put together our fruit kabobs and patiently waited for birthday party time. It was a gorgeous day and the party was lovely with grouper fingers, conch fritters, conch salad, fruit and vegetables, and a nice cake! A good time was had by all.
Today we are off to Great Guana Cay to go to Nipper's pig roast and hang out there for a day or so. We may not have internet access for a while, so we must be patient!

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Kathy
05/02/2010, Tahiti Beach, Abacos

April 23-28, 2010 Marsh Harbour, Bahamas
We stayed in Marsh Harbour for a few more days to wait for another front to go through. We did the usual Marsh Harbour things-shopped, walked the town, sat on the boat and read books, cleaned the boat, and had happy hours with friends.

April 28-29, 2010 Tahiti Beach, Elbow Cay, Bahamas
We decided to take a break from Marsh Harbour for a couple of days, so we got the anchor up and went over to Elbow Cay. We went to the area there known as Tahiti Beach. A large portion of this area is dry at low tide, so it's a lovely place to wander around and look for "stuff". We were joined by "Madcap", "Solitaire", and "Inamorata" later in the day.
The following day the other three boats went to Cracker P's for lunch, but Mike was into a big boat bottom scrub and cleaning fest, so we declined the lunch. I cleaned below and polished the stainless above. Then we all hit the beach to find more shells, sand dollars, and sea biscuits. We also found some nice conch, so I see conch salad and cracked conch in our future.

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