Bright (Stop)Light, Big City

We've back in Marsh Harbor for the past day and a half. Marsh Harbor is the third largest city in The Bahamas after Nassau and Freeport and also is home to the only stoplight in the Abacos. It's biggest asset, probably, is the large harbor with excellent holding, meaning we can anchor worry free.

After we set our anchor yesterday we took a very wet dingy ride to the fish store (no luck), and then decided to head to the other side of the Harbor to check out the Jib Room Bar/Restaurant at Marsh Harbor Marina. As we were dingy'ing up to the marina we spotted Eva Marie, the boat which docks next to us in Deltaville. We called out for Kenny, and he invited us aboard, and then to the Jib Room for a drink and to catch up. He's been down here for awhile - he took the outside route down and it only took 6 days!

Me, Ben, and the Camera Timer

Fishing in Hope Town

We ended up staying in Hope Town for two nights. Both days we were in Hope Town we headed over to the beach around 1:00 pm and watched an older man and woman escorting a very older woman with a cane a short distance down the beach. Then they all stripped down to their bathing suits and went for a dip before coming back out of the water and walking back up the beach. The first day Ben and I had already decided it looked a little rough and cold to go for a swim. We told the threesome that they were braver than us, and the man told us that the oldest women is 96 and has been swimming off the Hope Town beach for 51 years!

Pink Sand!

The second day we were inspired to go snorkeling off the beach. The water was cold, but we were ok in our wetsuits, and it warmed up as we moved around. Apparently, the water was not quite as clear as the time Ben went with Dan and Sarah, but we saw several fish and plenty of coral and it was nice to get in the water. Ben also had his new Hawaiian sling, but did not see any fish big enough to spear, except for two Nassau Grouper, which are out of season. He was excited to practice with his new toy though.

It was very calm the day we left Hope Town, and not great for sailing, but we decided to go out into the Atlantic via the North Man-O-War cut and try our hand at some fishing - no luck. We spent that night on a mooring ball in Man-O-War's Harbor. The following morning Ben got a much needed haircut. Between the haircut and shaving in Costa Rica he is looking very clean cut.

Conky Joe's, Marsh Harbor

Today we did some much needed boat tasks - mainly filling up on water (at $0.30/gallon) and gas, and taking showers. We also attempted to go for a little sail, but with the dials reading 0.0 knots of wind we decided instead make it a day for exploring Marsh Harbor. We found lobster at a small store with a dingy dock, had lunch at Conky Joe's, checked out the Art Show and then decided to purchase WiFi for the day - allowing me to simultaneously listen to the UVA-Wake Forest Basketball game and post this blog! Oh, Conky Joe's had the most tender conch we've had the whole trip. It was excellent.

Ben at Conky Joe's, Looking very clean cut

Wine Down, Sip Sip

For the price of a drink, free Internet is available at Wine Down, Sip Sip Wine Bar in Hope Town, which certainly beats Out Island Internet. Also, there is a Wii, which we have yet to take part in.

So anyway, we're in Hope Town, on Elbow Cay on a mooring ball waiting out the 50 knot winds which Chris Parker is forecasting for tomorrow night. The good news is that for the first time on our trip we were able to hear Chris's forecast, since we only recently got the new SSB receiver, and today for the first time were up by 6:30 to catch the forecast, so we are aware of the predicted 50 knot winds, and are prepared by being in a well protected harbor on a mooring ball.

Yesterday, after buying some bread and having our laundry done in Treasure Cay, we headed to Marsh Harbor. Predictably the wind was pretty much on our nose, although about half way we turned enough to allow us to motor sail. We went to the "big" grocery store to pick up a few more items, and try to replace our small pot which was ruined by being overheated. We were pretty worried because we use that pot all the time (when you have 3 pots and 2 pans they are all important) and all we could find were sets of pots and pans which were way out of our price (and weight) range. We also figured if we couldn't replace the pot in Marsh, we were going to have a hard time replacing it anywhere else in the Bahamas. Luckily, Ben was able to find a replacement this morning at the Corner Value store, while picking up some fishing gear which we lost in Costa Rica (surprisingly, the only thing that went missing from the porch of our house, luckily our hammock, which was hanging from the same hook was safe).

Ben also purchased some heavier leaders, so this morning we were able to use one of the lures that Sarah's dad made. We didn't have any success fishing, but as always, that's why they call it fishing and not catching.




That's it for now, time to get back to sip sipping and wine'ing down.

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Costa Rica (Not Sailing)

I wasn't planning on blogging about our trip to Costa Rica since it did not involve Sailing or Whisper, but we had such an amazing time the trip deserves a mention. We missed Whisper and are happy to be home, but we really enjoyed relaxing, warm water (at the beach), cooking with friends and a few adventures. 

The meals produced in a very limited kitchen were not only the tastiest food we had all week, but also turned into adventures in themselves - both acquiring the ingredients and figuring out how to cook them with a few propane burners, a charcoal grill-pit, one cutting board (plus an extra "wood cutting board") and a small prep area. Luckily from being on the boat, we've been cooking under similar situations for the last two months. We also thought ahead and brought our kitchen knives and our spice rack from the boat (a large ziplock bag filled with small ziplock bags filled with spices). The first night we cooked we had purchased a jackfish from a Domingo on the beach, but after a little bit of research there was some concern about ciguatera. The fish taco meal turned into veggie tacos and as we sat down we realized the meal was completely vegan (except for a small about of fish consumed by Seth who volunteered to be the King's Taster). Later in the week we had a few rounds of ceviche (You know ceviche?) and an absolute feast of octopus and shrimp. For much better pictures of the food, see Justine's blog. Actually, referring to Justine's blog I realized I had completely forgotten lobster night!

The lobster night actually happened after one of our first adventures. Armando, one of our Costa Rican spirit guides, took us snorkeling off the Montezuma beach and was able to spear about 4 lobsters for us. We purchased the rest from Domingo, our favorite fisherman. The snorkeling was pretty good (not Bahamas good, but the water was clear and there were plenty of fish to see). The bad part for me was the  jellyfish I found as soon as we got in the water. I tried to tough it out, but eventually I had to go in and rest.

She said Yes! We also had an amazing day going to Saint Teresa on ATVs. It was a fun and dirty trip but especially exciting because it turned out to be Tristan and Erin's engagement day. We were excited to be able to celebrate with them and look forward to celebrating at their wedding as well.

The place we stayed is pretty janky - no hot water, limited kitchen, bugs, geckos and crabs in the rooms, small holes in the roof, and a caretaker with some late night antics and the ability to make liquor and cigarettes disappear overnight. All that aside, it's worth it for the amazing view right out the porch. One of the best parts about was the tide pool right out our front door. The tide pool had the infinity pool effect with the ocean and was pretty warm although during high tide the waves would bring in some refreshing cool water which would knock over your beer if you weren't careful. More on the trip, including the canopy tour will need to come later.

Because it's Sunday the laundry in Treasure Cay is closed, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get that big task out of the way. We have quite a few dirty clothes from Costa Rica - it was so dusty that clothes got dirty pretty quick (as compared to the boat where I'm pretty sure I've worn the same pants every day for 2 weeks without washing). We also have quite a few towels to be washed (we asked Ben's parents to bring their own towels to save us $8/load at the laundry, but we were not clear that meant they should take their dirty towels with them when they leave, so once they're clean we are also going to need to find a place to store our "new" towels). We also spent this morning cleaning out the starboard water tank which developed a scummy growth in our absence and smelled awful. Staying in Treasure Cay today will also allow us to buy fresh bread in the morning (the baker was at church this morning).

An Unexpected Sense of Accomplishment

We thought flying from Marsh Harbor to Miami was going to diminish our sense of accomplishment since it would only take an hour, but looking down at the dark blue water between the Bahamas and Miami made us realize how far we've come.

I wasn't able to post these pictures yesterday, but lets see if it works today.

Junkanoo Parade, Green Turtle












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Visitors from Home

We had an excellent time with Dan and Sarah and were sad to see them off today, although they did go out with a bang - we had an amazing sail this morning from Hope Town to Treasure. 6 - 7 knots (ok maybe 5.5 but we hit 7 a few times) in about 15 - 20 knots of wind, close hauled (as close as we get).

I think I already covered New Years Eve, so I'll start with Junkanoo at Green Turtle. We took the ferry over and got there a little early but had time to see the town, pick up some not very good lunch from one of the booths and grab a seat. Note to self - long lines are sometimes worth it and always go to the booth with the food being warmed up in catering trays, not the microwave. There was a sign on one of the buildings that the parade would start at 2:00 but, we heard a local say, "well it's scheduled to start at 2." In true island fashion, it was closer to 3, but was worth the wait. The costumes were amazing and the music (like the whole thing), some how came together.

It was a slow moving parade, but apparently it looped around the town and them started over. We didn't wait that long. We grabbed some drinks and hopped back on the ferry.

January 2nd was a Sunday, so we decided to head to Guana and go to the "famous" Nipper's Sunday Pig Roast which we had heard so much about on the Cruiser's Net. We had no idea the party we were getting ourselves into. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday and the music was pumping and the dance floor was full. We stuck to the pork and, of course had to sample Nipper's house rum punch.

On Monday we decided to head to Hope Town. In very exciting news, we caught our first fish on the way, and then promptly caught our second fish of the same variety. We think it was either a type of tuna or a mackerel, but really have no idea other than it was delicious.

The entire harbor is full of mooring balls, so we hailed Hope Town Marina to arrange a mooring for the night. Skeddadle hailed us back and we ended up having happy hour on their boat, which is beautiful and somehow only 3 feel longer seems much bigger, especially in the cockpit/living room.

On the way into town Sarah proved her worth by spotting a hand painted sign which read, "Yamaha Sales and Service." We dingyed over to the marina with the sign, and they were closed Monday for New Years Day, but would be open the following day. But they allowed us to dock the dingy for a little while so we could climb the 101 stairs to the top of the lighthouse. The view was beautiful and it was fun to look down and see Whisper in the harbor.

The next day we headed over to the marina. We did some laundry, went snorkeling and of course, had the engine fixed! Once the guy arrived the fix didn't take very long. The longest part was probably cleaning the gas tank, and filtering the gas. We couldn't get the gas tank out of the boat until we emptied it, so we used the extra fuel bulb/line to syphon the gas into 3 buckets (with Ben in the dingy holding the buckets). Then once D at the Yamaha place cleaned the fuel tank, and we reinstalled it in the boat, we syphoned the gas back into the fuel tank (which was much easier, since the dingy was not needed).

Once the motor was fixed we did a victory lap around the harbor, including several left turns, and a pirouette right next to Skeddadle who cheered along with us. The beautiful sail the next day was wonderful, and of course it came the day we finally had the motor fixed. We were very thankful we had it though because right as we were docking at Treasure the wind picked up to almost 20 knots, and something we've done several times with one motor somehow became incredibly difficult despite having both.

We are going to miss Whisper, but we are excited to be heading to Costa Rica and are looking forward sleeping in a bed that doesn't move, as well as all the other things that go along with living on shore. I think in two weeks we are going to be very excited to see Whisper again.

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Motor Fixed!!!

The motor was fixed today. The new problem was a clogged carburetor, but D at the Yamaha place in Hopetown was able to identify and fix the problem. He also cleaned the gas tank, which we think might have caused the clogged carburetor. We syphoned the gas into 3 buckets so that he could clean the tank. We're a little light headed, but we like to think it's from the excitement and not the gas.

We've also had a great last few days with our friends Dan and Sarah, more to come later, but here are some pictures to tide you over.










Yes - we caught and ate our first fish. Also, bonus points for anyone that finds Whisper in the picture above, taken from the Hopetown light house.

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Prodigal Motor Returns, Breaks

After my family left, two of our friends, Dan and Sarah, came to visit. We saw them the night we got here, but they were spending a few nights in the Treasure Cay hotel, which was perfect since we needed to run to Marsh Harbor to pick up our motor and battery.

We got to the Marsh Harbor Boat Yard (which is pretty close to the town of Marsh Harbor, but isn't actually in the Harbor) Thursday night. We walked to the broker, paid for the shipment and made sure all of the customs paper work was in order. Abaco Outboards ended up having an issue with a stolen boat so were unable to do the work Thursday. We kept the boat in the water and were able to stay for the night at the very minimally equipped boat yard. (We were given a bathroom key, but told, it's just a toilet and sink, and it's not, uh, female friendly. We used our facilities on the boat).




We hauled the boat about 8:30 the next morning, and Abaco outboard was (of course) running late. The yard closed at noon, so the boat needed to be back in the water by that point. I went back into town to go to the canvas shop to pick up the new directors chair seat (the old one ripped a few days ago). When I got back the motor was installed! It took a little while longer to figure out all the connections, but it seemed to be working and we just made the noon deadline to be put back in the water. The Abaco Outboards guys waiting to make sure the engine was working, but as we were heading out of the channel the engine died. We turned around and headed back, and waited an hour and a half for the Abaco Outboards guys to come back until we decided we needed to leave to make it back to Treasure before dark.

In the last few days we worried that maybe the battery wasn't going bad. It had finally completely charged, and the "hours" calculations didn't look quite right, but we did have green lights instead of red on the link 10 battery indicator. The new battery has been a total relief - it really did need to happen. Last night, several hours after the sun went down, with the Christmas lights plugged into a 12 V outlet, the Link 10 was reading 255 hours remaining at current consumption! That's about as good as it gets. We are now charging all of our electronics as needed, what a luxury.




We had an excellent New Years Eve. We went to Tipsy's bar by the marina with the rest of Treasure Cay. It was packed with tourists and locals, young and old. Ben and I stayed up way past our bedtime, and are exhausted, but it was fun and I'm sure we will sleep well tonight.


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