Mike-with additions by Kathy
04/10/2008, Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas

April 7th... Linyard Cay to Marsh Harbor

Happy Birthday Tom!


The morning dawned cloudy which is rare around this part of the world. We had talked about moving the boat south a couple of miles to be able to dinghy into Little Harbor but decided that since the weather was bad , we'd run up to Marsh Harbor. The trip was about 20 miles and it rained on and off most of the time. Arriving around noon we found the anchorage full of boats waiting out the frontal passage.

We spent a quite afternoon reading and never left the boat.

April 8th...Marsh Harbor

I went to town this morning to drop off an empty propane tank and some garbage and then spent the rest of morning hauling water and fuel from the Marina. After three trips all tanks were full for the first time in quite awhile. By calculation we figured that we collected about 25 gallons of rain water the earlier this week and will definitely do that again.

In the afternoon Dave from "Fawkes" came over to check out our SSB. He is a "Radio Person" and immediately sat down and had a conversation with a person in Waterton, NY. He gave us a couple of suggestions but basically gave our installation a vote of approval.

Later, we went over to "Sojourner" for social hour. We hadn't seen Rick and Linda since we were last here and it was nice to catch up with them.

April 9th...Marsh Harbor

We headed out at about 9am to do get some laundry done and were finished with three loads and back on the boat by 11:30. After lunch we cleaned up the boat and made another trip to town to purchase groceries. On our return, I worked on some streaks on our topsides while Kathy worked on stainless. Both are never ending jobs in saltwater. As soon as we get a relatively calm day, I need to get some wax on our hull.

At five Barry, Susan, Steve and Carol came over for an hour or so before going to the "Jib Room" for rib night. The "Jib Room" is a restaurant that is connected to one of the marinas. We had a nice time and met some new folks...friends of friends. They do rake and scrape and limbo after dinner. Fun.

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Mike
04/10/2008, Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas

You are welcome to all the relatives whom Sam apparently treated at one of our favorite restaurants in East Lansing, Michigan. Did Betsy get to eat too? We were happy to oblige...

April 6...Linyard Cay

We heard over the VHF that at significant squall line was approaching from the northwest so we decided to move from our anchorage behind Linyard Cay, where we had no protection from the west, directly to the west to Abaco. It was a move of about a mile but afforded us some safety. I took a shower and used up the water in our tank leaving only the 2 six gallon cans on deck. With a storm on the way I decided to catch some water. First I scrubbed the decks and rinsed with saltwater. Then I cut a screen to fit in our water fill cap. When the storm hit...and it did about 10am, I let the down pour rinse off the decks for about ten minutes and then plugged up the deck scupper. In no time the level of trapped water reached the fill cap. I removed the cap and inserted the screen.

It continued raining hard for about 30 minutes and we collected water during that time but had no idea how much actually ended up in the tank.

We spent the day reading. Barry and Susan stopped by a couple of times and we ended up going over to "Restless" at about 5 for social hour.

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Mike
04/08/2008, Linyard Cay, Abacos

April 5th...Current Cut to Linyard Cay

After listening to the weather, which called for 20 knot winds from the south east and 6 foot swells from the east, we left our anchorage in the company Tilt and Restless. We knew that it was going to be a long day. The first leg was down wind so we poled out the headsail and spent an hour or so wing on wing at about 5.5 knots. Once through the Egg Island Cut we turned north put out the fishing lines and sailed on a beam reach for about two hours.

When we were out of the protection of Eleuthera and associated islands, the swells which averaged about 6 feet (some as high as 10) began to pick up. Their size was not all that bad but the frequency was not the advertised 9 seconds but closer to 5. So we had 6 foot swells from the east every 5 or 6 seconds from the east and 6 foot wave chop from the south. Although not dangerous, it was not a pleasant day.

Steve on "Restless" and "Susan" on Night Hawk each caught Mahi-mahi. We had a hit that set the drag screaming, but came up empty for the day except for a 3 inch flying fish that landed on our decks.

Now that we're back in the Abacos we should be able to have better communication.

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