s/v Rainy Days

Marsh Harbour to Green Turtle Cay

Mar 18 & Mar 19

—Blogpost written by Bob

Sunday, March 18

Last night, we went out to “Steak Out” at the Jib Room at the Marsh Harbour Marina—it was absolutely delicious as usual. This (rooster-less) location of Marsh Harbour enabled another night of restful sleep.

This morning, the sun is shining brightly (again) and there are a number of puffy white cumulus clouds that populate in the sky. A 10-knot breeze is blowing from the west, occasionally gusting to 15 knots, despite the general forecast of light and variable winds. The anchorage in Marsh Harbour is not very crowded at this time (31 boats at anchor) since a lot of boats are probably moving around the Abacos, taking advantage of the nice weather.

The water is very green colored here in Marsh Harbour.
Marsh Harbour Marina is in the background
on the left side of this image.

Our big objective for the day was provisioning at Maxwell’s and it may be our last provisioning stop in Marsh Harbour (but it wasn't) before heading back stateside—this job ($306 spent) was completed (so we thought) by noon.

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As I do from time to time, today I checked the stats on this blog and listed the ten most popular blogposts of all time. None of them have anything to do with our actual cruising. I'm not sure how I should interpret this list. Are readers more interested in things they can buy and install on their own boats? Do I have to improve my writing skills for the actual cruising blogposts? Or both?

My most popular all time blogposts don't include
any of my blogposts about actual cruising.
Seven of the top 10 are about
completed boat projects.

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Our second trip of the day to Maxwell’s Supermarket (to pick up things we forgot) involved another 1/2-mile walk each way. (Maxwell’s was very busy with locals doing grocery shopping after Sunday church services.) This time, we brought back a pint of Breyer’s chocolate ice cream which we shared immediately upon our return to the boat—it wouldn’t have stayed frozen much longer.

Ice cream is such a treat
in the Bahamas!

By mid-afternoon, the wind clocked around from the northwest and lessened in intensity. We read and relaxed onboard the remainder of the day. (In Marsh Harbour most of the shops and restaurants are closed on Sunday.) Our happy hour started promptly at four this afternoon rather surprisingly since we don’t do much of anything on a schedule.

In preparation for our early departure tomorrow morning,
we lifted the outboard motor off the dinghy and
onto the stern mount on s/v Rainy Days.

In preparation for our early departure tomorrow morning and our transit through the Whale Cay Passage, we lifted the outboard motor off the dinghy’s transom and onto the stern mount on s/v Rainy Days. Thankfully, our outboard motor lift makes this an easy task. We lift off the outboard motor whenever we expect to encounter rough seas. I’ve heard stories about dinghies being turned upside down in high winds and rough seas, losing the outboard motor in the process--I don't want that to happen to us!

Monday, March 19

We weighed anchor at 6:45 AM (before sunrise) today to make sure we get into Black Sound at high tide. The sun came up as we cleared the channel out of Marsh Harbour.

A large schooner anchored off Great Guana Cay.

We traveled diagonally across the Sea of Abaco under light and variable winds--it was a motoring trip all the way. As we came into the Old Ship Channel off of Baker's Bay on Guana, a large schooner was anchored in the deep water--it had to be over a 100 feet long and had beautiful cabins made from teak.

We continued through the Loggerhead Channel and around Whale Cay and back into Whale Cay Channel toward Green Turtle Cay. The Whale Cay Passage was so mild that one could have safely taken a paddle board through it. We made the trip in exactly 4 hours, arriving at our mooring in Black Sound at 10:45 AM. (As we were tying up to the mooring buoy I could hear the roosters in the marina crowing loudly--they must have missed me!)

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When we got back to Black Sound, we decided to rip out the seal that I previously installed around the lid of the ice box. It had come loose several times, particularly in the area where it experiences the heaviest use. The seal would come loose and roll inside the ice box, leaving a big gap which was worse than no seal at all. I will have to re-address this issue this summer.

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