Picking up again...
06 February 2010 | Marsh Harbor
EVS: Bright but Windy
We last blogged from Treasure Cay, about to depart to Marsh Harbor. While in MH, we washed Gratitude (the first real washing since Charlotte Harbor), our clothes (and had to hang them out in the boat to dry because we ran out of quarters - at 2 minutes per), and our persons. We met up with Tootsie (Parker and Jill) and introduced ourselves in anticipation of the arrival of dear friends, Joe and Niki Lallande, joining us from way northern Maine for a week. On January 26, we hosted a reunion of Joe and Parker, who had not seen each other since college days - over 40 years.
After a walking tour of Marsh Harbor, the grocery store, a wonderful jewelry store (Abaco Gold -- where they make their own pieces from shell forms and molds), and the bakery (where we had French bread "made to order"), we departed on Wednesday, January 27 and set sail south to Little Harbor. Understand that one does not sail a direct route in The Bahamas; one goes where the water is. While the wind was from the N and would have made a delightful one tack sail, we made maybe 8 or 10 course changes to avoid shoal water. We arrived in Little Harbor on the rising tide and had no trouble getting in (the entrance carries only a bit over three feet at low tide, and Gratitude draws 5'2"). After grabbing a mooring and fitting the outboard to Attitude, we headed in to Pete's Pub to get a drink and watch the sundown from the upper deck.
Because the tide was to be high only early in the morning or late in the afternoon (and we needed the tide to leave the next day), we decided to head out of Little Harbor rather than stay for the tour of the foundry (where various brass pieces are made from old propellers, etc.). We headed back north to Hope Town, on Elbow Cay.
In contrast to our approach to Little Harbor, we arrived off Hope Town at dead low and crawled in following the deep draft route. Did the chart say deep? We made it, but at one point, the depth gage registered 5'1" so we likely were pushing sand out of the way and making our own channel. We picked up a mooring and headed to shore to do a walk-about. First stop was the wonderful lighthouse, from which we could see the entire harbor and gain our bearings. Seated outside was a retired lighthouse keeper so we asked him all kinds of questions. The lighthouse uses its original works - and it still works! Much like a grandfather clock, there is a weight (that has to be wound to the top) in the central column of the spiral staircase that keeps the mechanism wound, and the light turning.
We rented a golf cart, to explore Elbow Cay, and wandered on and off the beaten path, including some sand trails to the Atlantic beaches and another route (luckily, we had been advised to ignore all "private" signs and continue on the road) to Tahiti Beach, where there were two families with young kids, exploring the tidal flats for treasures. After lunch of coconut grouper, we headed back to the harbor and more walking about town, including the acquisition of a banana meringue pie for desert after dinner a moonlit dinner.
The next day (Friday, 1/30) we sailed to Treasure Cay to walk the beautiful beach on the north side. Although the harbor and anchorage are not our favorites (condos, not little living villages), the beach is lovely and the water an outrageous turquoise, even in the rain. The harbor also is well protected, and we took advantage of that to seek shelter from a passing front. On Sunday, we left TC to motor to Man-O-War Cay. No sailing as the winds were right in our teeth and stayed that way, clocking around with us as we changed course. MOW is a tiny harbor, with two separate sounds (the American to the east, and the main, to the west). We chose the main harbor as that is nearest to the settlement and the weather still was blowing and threatening. We were directed to a mooring ball - no anchorage because no room - and, after we picked it up, we realized we were drifting hard on to another boat. It turns out the mooring ball was not connected to the mooring, so we let it go and backed away in a hurry. We found another ball and this one was fine, but very tight to another moored vessel. Once settled, with the mooring lines on Gratitude, we had barely 2' between our dinghy and the mooring for the next boat.
We walked about town and found Lola Sawyer's bakery where we bought cinnamon rolls for breakfast and lobster tails for dinner. MOW has been under the watchful eye of one family (Albury) for about 300 years so it is pretty tame (no alcoholic beverages for sale on the island, for instance) but the people very friendly and helpful. We walked to the Atlantic side to watch the breaking waves, and returned to Gratitude for cocktail hour (no restrictions there) and a wonderful lobster dinner. That evening, it poured, so we were glad to be safe, snug, and dry.
On Tuesday, the Lallandes had to depart, so we sailed back to Marsh Harbor, refueled, and took a slip for an overnight. We bid them a fond farewell that afternoon and then set about doing laundry, changing the oil in the engine and generator, and other odd jobs that needed doing. Van asked what to do with the oil and was told to put it in the dumpster. We declined and the next day learned of a place where they take used oil and "recycle" it - actually, we understood after the fact that they use it to "tar the roads" so we are not sure how much good we did.
Since Wednesday, we have stayed put here in MH, having moved to an anchorage on Wednesday morning to await the passage of another front. In the meanwhile, we visited with old acquaintances (Adam from Igloo), met some new folks (Pete and Candi from First Draft - interestingly, Pete just retired from the law firm where Van had worked in NYC [having started there one month after Van had left in 1975], recognized Van's name from files in the office, worked on some of the same matters and with the same people, etc. Talk about a small world!), and took in a slide show about sailing to the South Pacific. That was given at a school for disadvantaged children and youngsters who otherwise have nowhere to turn, and they were an enthusiastic audience. We may offer to do a presentation of our trip to Ghana if that can be scheduled.
From here, we hope to find some small, secluded anchorages and then back to MH for our trip to Seattle from February 12 through 16 for Justin's baptism. We then will have about 3 weeks alone after which Erik, Catherine, and their three will join us for a week. We are starting to get ready for island hopping with the grandchildren, so stay tuned!
Fondly,
Van and Lauren