Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour

--Blogpost written by Bob

The Philadelphia Eagles Won!

We attended the Super Bowl Party on February 4th at the Jib Room of the Marsh Harbour Marina and it was one of the best Super Bowls (ever) with lots of scoring and, best of all, the Philadelphia Eagles won, 41 to 33.  This was the very first Super Bowl win for the Eagles. I grew up in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia—so I’m a big Eagles fan.

A couple dozen cruiser's and others attended the Super
Bowl Party at the Jib Room at Marsh Harbour Marina.

When I was in Marsh Harbor 26 years ago, I was at a Super Bowl Party at the exact same place and the Washington Redskins won. I remember dinghies going back to their respective boat’s late in the afternoon with Washington Redskins flags waving from makeshift flagstaffs.

Monday, February 5

Originally we were going to leave Marsh Harbour today but we have to fill our 6-pound propane tank used for our grill. We ran out of propane when I was grilling dinner on Friday and our next opportunity to fill it is today (or so we thought). Sometimes I think Mother Nature simply wants to exert her influence when we make plans.

When we went to drop off the propane tank for refilling we found out that they are completely out of propane but the tanker is due to arrive from Nassau today. So, we brought the propane tank back to the boat and tackled the messy job of cleaning the grill in place. (This is the first time that I’ve taken the grill all apart for cleaning. It was new last year at this time of year because I had wiped out the previous grill after an altercation with a fuel dock piling in Vero Beach.) We will drop off the propane tank again tomorrow morning. You would think that the local propane would have two large tanks and when the first one runs out he would order more propane (while he is selling propane from the second large tank). But this IS the Bahamas after all and we have to go with the flow.

At 10:30 it started to rain--by 11:00 AM it was all over.  Fortunately, we were taking a break while the Easy Off oven cleaner was doing the heavy work on the grill.

The sun kept shining brightly for the remainder of the day.  After the grill was clean, I hooked up the propane tank and the grill lit perfectly fine.  Since the tank didn’t seem light enough to be empty, the high wind may have simply blown the flame out on Friday night. I re-assembled the grill and pronounced it "good to go."  We went out for lunch at the Blue Hole and, then, bought hot showers at the Conch Inn & Marina.

I think the boat anchored in front of us in
Marsh Harbour is a Pacific Seacraft 40.

When we came back to the boat we emptied our composting toilet’s solids container—we call this activity the “dirty deed.” However, it wasn’t bad at all this time. While we have shortened the interval between “dirty deeds” to 3 weeks, I think the warm weather temperatures promote more complete composting. Sorry for even the mere mention of this activity but it IS part of cruising.

After the “dirty deed” was completed, we went off to Maxwell’s Supermarket for provisions for the next 5 to 7 days. We are now planning to leave tomorrow morning for areas a little bit south of here.

Tuesday, February 6

We woke up to a beautiful day in the making, partly cloudy skies and a mild 9.5 knot wind out of the east. It seems like it will be a great day for wandering about in the Abacos! 

Our plan for the day, is to, first, drop off our bag of garbage (mostly the packaging from the provisions we purchased yesterday) at the dumpster by the Union Jack dock. Second, to pull up anchor and head to Hope Town to get good RO (reverse osmosis) water (we decided never to buy water in Marsh Harbour again because it tastes so bad and because of the ticking time bomb mentioned in our previous blogpost entitled “Peas & The Mudd”). We also need to get another bag of ice cubes before heading southward to Lanyard Cay. 

We have all the necessary waypoints programmed into our chart plotter from last season to get around the shallow Lubbers Bank (just off Lubbers Quarter Cay) that juts nearly all the way across the Sea of Abaco. We have to hug the western shore to avoid it as well as Tilloo Bank (just off of Tilloo Cay) a couple miles south of Lubbers Bank.

It was low tide at 6:53 AM and the water depth in our Marsh Harbour anchorage is only 6.6 feet at 8 AM.  We only have 1-1/2 feet of water beneath our keel at this time, probably less an hour or so ago. Preferably, I would like to enter Hope Town Harbour’s inlet channel around mid-tide (10 AM) or later.

The north end of Elbow Cay as we go
into Hope Town to get fresh water.

One of the nicest things about cruising is the complete lack of schedule.  Sure, we still have plans but they can be changed at a the slightest whim.  In an abstract way, I view the Bahamas as a senior citizen playground since most of the cruiser's are retired from their land-based lives and physical impairments or senility hasn't set in yet.  Maggie and I fit into this description perfectly, although Maggie is a little crazy at times.

An example of the views we had most of today.
The various shades of blue are unforgettable.

The Tilloo Bank just out into the Sea of Abaco
and we had to travel around it.

Based on the weather forecast for the next four days, it seemed like we would be better off going directly to Little Harbour where we are well protected from the 15 to 20 knot =winds that are expected over the next two days and then go to Lanyard Cay following Little Harbour when the winds die down.  So, we changed our plan accordingly. 

As we were coming into Little Harbour it was already 3 hours after high tide (2:30 PM) and we ran aground in the channel.  We were able to get off by motoring through the soft sand until we got into a deeper part of the channel but it was touch and go.  From now on, we will only enter Little Harbour within an hour of high tide!

s/v Rainy Days on a mooring in Little Harbour.

A rowing dinghy sitting high and dry
on the beach at Little Harbour.

During happy hour we saw a couple turtles surface within about 50 feet of our boat.  We had a great steak dinner with grilled carrots tonight.

Wednesday, February 7

It is 7 AM and the sun is just now coming up over Pete’s Pub here in Little Harbour. I can hear the rhythmic pounding surf from the ocean side of the isthmus. Including s/v Rainy Days, there are ten boats (three are power boats, which is unusual) on moorings in the harbor—only one mooring remains available. The wind is still blowing at 10 to 15 knots out of the east and I’m glad we made the decision to come here first and go to Lanyard Cay second.

The relentless surf we heard all night long.

We are planning on leaving Little Harbour on Thursday at 1:40 PM, one hour before high tide (2:38 PM) so that we don’t go aground again.  Today, we are planning to walk on the beach later this morning, go to Pete’s Pub for lunch, and then possibly visit the cave where the sculptor, Randolph Johnston, lived when he first landed at Little Harbour in his quest to find an unspoiled environment for his family.

The Atlantic Ocean hitting the rocks on
the beach side of Little Harbour.

A big ball of colorful line that
washed up on the beach.

The ocean abrasive action has worn smooth the sharp
points of the limestone rocks in this area on the
beach. They look like "moon rocks."

Hundreds, if not thousands, of bits of plastics litter the ocean-
side beach and they didn't come from around here.

The front of Pete's Pub
in Little Harbour.

Some of the t-shirts, flags, and license
plates hanging in Pete's Pub

An anchor on the beach holds this row boat
in place as the tide comes in.

Our attempt to see the cave was unsuccessful--so, we went back to the boat to relax in the afternoon.  We will be going to Lanyard Cay, a new destination for us, tomorrow in the early afternoon.  Stay tuned for more of this season adventures...



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