Mike
01/19/2008, Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas

Friday Jan.18 Treasure Cay to Marsh Harbor.

As soon as I stepped foot in the cockpit this morning, Ann from "Peace" was over to ask for some computer help. She had heard that we were using Skype and assumed that we knew something that she didn't. When the coffee was finished and I was readying the dinghy, Rick yelled over wanting to borrow our Honda generator to see if one would fit where he want to keep it stowed. So I loaded it in and dropped it off while I was aboard "Peace".

The computer problem had to do with their new wifi antenna and luckily it was the same system that we are using. I had to uninstall the software and then reinstall to get it going.

I ran a bag of garbage to shore and then readied Sapphire for departure. We weighed anchor at about 10 am and had a wonderful sail down to Marsh Harbor which is a trip of about 14 miles.

The harbor in Marsh is large and it's a good thing because there are tons of boats here. Many because of a forecast storm for Saturday night. After getting situated, English Rose took us on a tour of the Harbor and a walk around town. Snappas (one of the many open-air bars) was having a happy hour at 5:00 so we all agreed to return to try to get some free snacks.

Back at the boat I cooked some rice to make fried rice for supper...(we had left over port loin) while Kathy finished her book. I typed up a blog entry and it was back to town for happy hour. We stayed about an hour and a half and were quick enough to snag some meatballs and chicken wings. Beers were half price as well ($3)

Back aboard we had supper and watched the first episode of "24". before going to bed.

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Mike
01/19/2008, Treasure Cay, Bahamas

Thursday Jan. 17... Treasure Cay Happy Birthday Jake!

I spent the morning sneaking over to a little used fish cleaning station to fill water tanks. We have six five gallon containers for this purpose and during the morning I made three trips. Two trips actually filled the tank but I wanted to rinse some salt off the boat so I borrowed about 15 gallons more.

I don't know that I have mentioned that our friends Anne and Neville are here to pick up some friends who are flying in and are anchored right next to us. They are very interesting people and I thoroughly enjoy their company.

Water detail finished, we set out with Bob and Jan from "English Rose" to walk the beach in the opposite direction as we had yesterday. It was a least a couple of miles to the far end of the beach but once there we found a plaque commemorating Carlton Point, the spot that the first loyalists landed after fleeing the newly founded United States Government. We finally got around to taking a few photos of the water and will send them along when we can get this out.

We returned to the boat at about 2:00 and I went to work installing the new LCD screens for our instruments. They had arrived the day we left Vero Beach but I really hadn't found the time to rip out the old ones and rewire the new. It took a couple of hours but everything worked when we turned them on....

We've been experimenting with Skype and were able this morning to call Mildred who is recuperating in a nursing home back in Holland. It is a little weird, and the signal comes and goes which changes the pitch of voices but it actually works well most of the time when we have a good wifi connection.

As we were cutting up snacks ... "Sojourner" pulled in and anchored next to us. Rick and Linda were rafted with us in Vero Beach before we went home for Christmas and we knew that they were here somewhere but had no idea where. They came over for snacks along with Bob and Jan and we all had a nice time catching up.

Tomorrow we will move down to Marsh Harbor

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Mike
01/16/2008, Treasure Cay, Great Abaco

The picture was taken on our passage from Great Sale Cay to Manjack Cay by Peter from Isabel -from Britt, Ontario.

Green Turtle to Treasure Cay-January 16

We spent a rocky night off Green Turtle in an unprotected anchorage. I was up three or four times making sure that our anchor was holding. At 6:30 I listened to the weather on the ssb and at 7:15 we were off to face the Whale passage which at times is a little dangerous.

From our anchorage we could see our destination, but between us the water is too shallow for passage. Instead, our route is between two islands and out into the Atlantic and around Whale Cay to a very narrow channel before we navigate back into protected waters. When the wind is blowing from the north or east, ocean swells hit the shallower water of the passage and break.

Last night the wind picked up from the NNE to about 15 knots and we knew that the passage was going to be rough....however, the weather dictated that we go this morning or wait till next week. After a short radio conversation with "English Rose", we decided to sail down to the passage and take a look. When we got to the Atlantic, we found rolling confused seas of about 4 to 6, but no breaking waves so we pushed on using our sails for air breaks as we plowed through the beam seas. In about 40 minutes we were on the other side in perfectly calm water.

The remaining trip to Treasure Cay was uneventful and we arrived are about 10:30. After putting things away it was off to the dinghy dock and across the point to the beach. In size and shape it reminded me of South Manitou... the resemblance stopped there. The water and sand are perfect. We tried to take a photo but the camera seems temporarily out of service.

Tomorrow we will head south to Marsh Harbor to find a welder. . . or maybe on Friday-it's pretty nice here.

P.S. I managed to talk to my mother today for a moment on Skype (not the best connection) and all is well with her. She will be 6 weeks in therapy, but has a great attitude.

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