Day 27
Is a blustery day, but only traveling for a few miles to the largest town in the Abacos- Marsh Harbor. We will stay here to wait out this blow, at least two days. Will give us a chance to catch up with ourselves and get some groceries and maybe even laundry!
We weighed anchor at Man-o-War for our long 5 mile trip to Marsh Harbor. Left early to make sure we got across the Sea of Abaco before the waves picked up due to the wind.
Our trip was uneventful and we pulled into Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco.
This is a main shipping center for the Central Abacos, with large freighters bringing in goods from Nassau.
Turning north and east, the harbor opens up into a huge basin for anchoring and a few moorings. Right now this part of the harbor is filled with boats waiting our the weather. This basin also has 4 smaller marinas along it s shore
Once settled, relaxed a bit and I caught up with the blog from yesterday. We then got ready to go ashore when a fellow boater let us know the grocery store is closed, as Good Friday is a holiday in the Bahamas. So we will grocery shop tomorrow. But we did go ashore just to check out the area which is mostly commercial or related to the port. We had been warned that Marsh Harbor has not had the revitalization from the 2019 Hurricane Dorian as many of the out islands. There were lots of vacant and damaged buildings.
On our walk back we met a French couple who just bought a sailboat in the Bahamas and were sailing her back to the States and eventually Canada. Always fun to meet and learn from others.
Going back to the boat by dinghy, we stopped to say hello to the fellow boaters we knew and suddenly we have 6 people coming to our boat for dessert. Will really have to hit the grocery store tomorrow!!
Was fun to have all aboard and share stories and provide information to others for their future travels. Should have taken a picture but forgot!!
Day 28
Slept in and woke to another blustery day. Wind has shifted more east so going to shore in the dinghy is easier.
We gathered all our bags and our wheeled cart and loaded up the dinghy for our trip to the grocery!
The docks are quite low and require a bit of juggling to get loaded and unloaded.
The grocery store is about .5 miles away and it is quite massive. Maxwell's grocery is the largest in the Abacos.
We enjoyed looking at the regional foods and picking up the few supplies we needed for the next two weeks. Good to have fresh vegetables and fruit on board again!
On the way back we walked a bit slower with our cart and bags loaded!
We stopped at the local hardware store to check to see if they had a shackle. I held down the sidewalk and guarded the groceries while Bill went inside.
Returning to the boat we unloaded and stowed the food away. Carol and Gary went by in their dinghy to the grocery store so we shared our adventure at the store and loaned them our rolling cart.
Next we tackled researching the weather to plan for the next week. Looks like the winds out of the east will continue for the next week. So will have to adjust our plans, because we need the winds to shift and waves to die down before we make the crossing to Eleuthera. Right now the waves are 6 feet - too big for us to travel in!!
Mid afternoon we splashed the dinghy again to visit shore to find Snappas Bar and Grill (recommended by E McKinley who used to live here in the Bahamas)
Met our Looper friends at Wally's Restaurant- had to get dressed up for that occasion! The restaurant was in a home like setting with a beautiful bougainvillea covered arch. Had cracked conch, their speciality, and enjoyed the company.
Finished dinner late so we had to find our boat in the harbor in the dark. We searched and found Crustacean just where we left her!
