Week 22:
Wed. Feb. 27,
2013—Day 148:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: SW to NM 5-8K
Weather: partly sunny & cloudy, dark threatening
rain clouds passing overhead
Even though we weren’t moving we listened to SSB weather
followed by Abaco Net; strong north & westerlies are coming Sat. night,
Sun. into Mon. On our way to shore with
Terri & Bill to the new dinghy dock at Union Jack, we dropped in to say
hello to Janet & David Moore (Whiski Mak- met in 2008-09). We gave the grand tour of the commercial
& downtown area of Marsh Harbour, meeting Barb & Ken for lunch at
Juvenia, then onto Maxwell’s Supermarket.
While the Ellis’ picked up their newly purchased internet booster antenna
& router from Out Island Inter.Net &
received all instructions from Chris & Crystal, & Graeme purchased yet
more booze, I got my hair trimmed at Katherine’s ($10.00); once again the lower
back was shaved too short, I think the rest is O.K. Black rain clouds to the SW mostly passed us
as we only received a short sprinkling.
We brought drinks only over to ‘Second Option’ as all of us we stuffed
from lunch & chatted about a myriad of topics, including whether to go
elsewhere for a couple of days before the blow this weekend then return; since
we were in a good location amongst the big fleet of boats here, the anchor
secured for several days before the weekend & the possible lack of space at
Treasure Cay &/or Hopetown, it was unanimously to stay put. A clouded
sunset, some pink sky followed & light cloud cover in the night sky with clearing periods
& a full moon that was quite visible.
What was more evident was the mass of anchor lights again tonight.
Thurs. Feb. 28,
2013—Day 149:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: NW light & variable strength during the
day to max. 10K
Weather: mainly cloudy with few sunny periods, dryer
& cooler air
Some rain fell in the middle of the night but otherwise calm. The weather predictions for the coming days were much the same. We did not listen to the Cruisers Net at 0815 hrs. as we tied up the dinghies at Tubbs dinghy dock & went to Mangoes for a croissant & coffee breakfast with ‘Plumpuppet’ & ‘Second Option’. Most of the shops on Restaurant Row open at 1000 hrs. so we dropped into Out Island Inter.Net for Terri & Bill to ask their few questions & then to the hardware store for PVC pipe to raise their internet antenna. Then it was browsing in & out of the shops along Restaurant Row, stopping for a beer to quench our thirst at midtime. Once the window shopping was done, I fast walked to the Post Office on Don MacKay Blvd. to post a birthday card for my sister, then rejoined the group at Mangoes. It was already 1530 hrs.; as small bite to eat for lunch back home. Then we were off to visit ‘Whiski Mak’ at Marsh Harbour Yacht Club as they had taken a slip for the blow; the Jib Room hosted a cruisers’ potluck happy hour. ‘Plumpuppet’ had filled their water & diesel tanks & reanchored close to the west side of the harbour. Some pink sky after sunset. A dark night with stars & some cloud but no moon till much later.
Fri. Mar. 1, 2013—Day 150:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: WNW 10-12K
Weather: cloudy, cool, with light rainy period after
sunset
Hours, days, weeks & months have not marched but
galloped by--- this is March! The north
& westerly winds continued today & are to continue, but seem to have
been downgraded some in strength for the weekend; but a secondary stronger
front (aftermath) is predicted on Wed. according to Chris. He believes this to be the last persistent
front X 2 weeks with lots of cold air, then strong winds in April returning to
the more normal northerly & easterly trades. A banana pancake breakfast for a nice change. We dinghied to ‘Second Option’ with computer
since I was unable to connect from the distance between our boats &
definitely had no problem to connect to their router on their boat. Onshore we walked to a couple of shops on
Restaurant Row (Tupps & Iggy Biggy) then to see the Laundromat (still only
cold water but working on it & fewer number of machines), next door to
Save-A –Lot, followed by BTC (no English phone instructions & no charge for
receiving text messages, but for sending a text message=$0.15/ international
text & $0.05 for local) & Maxwells Supermarket; Graeme was on his
own. Back on the boat I started prepping
for the dinner party we were hosting with ‘Plumpuppet’ & ‘Second
Option’. Graeme had made arrangements
with Mangoes Marina for storing & locking my bike, replenishing water jugs,
internet privileges & possibly laundry for a fee. Thus we were off to shore with bike &
computer. We had difficulty for some
reason connecting to the internet, yet on the boat we had no problems; I left
Graeme to ask for assistance & work on his emails while I cycled to BTC to
register my Bahamian phone so that I may purchase time online, even $1.00, at
the end of current service date before the end of every 3 mons. to keep my
phone activated & not have to purchase a new SIM card ($14.95) & maintain the same number. When I returned a RESET had been activated on
my computer; I lost my taskbar (lower right corner icons), my homepage & my
toolbar; I was thoroughly pissed off!
A RESTORE was tried that retrieved my taskbar only; more assistance
required tomorrow. We scrambled back to
the boat as it was now 1630 hrs. & dinner guests were arriving after 1700
hrs. A great evening! Thank you Terri & Bill for the broccoli
to accompany the Thai Coconut Chicken
& rice I prepared & Barb & Ken for the brownies for
dessert! A clouded sunset, but there was
a conch blowing competition across the harbour between Marsh Harbour Yacht Club
& Mangoes; MHYC were clear winners; in fact they were spectacular. A clouded night sky—no stars, no moon, just
illumination of bright anchor lights.
Sat. Mar. 2, 2013—Day 151:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: W 10K, increasing 15-20K Seas: 1 ft. waves, white caps
Weather: cloudy, cold, periodic rain showers
especially in the afternoon, H= 68F & L=58F
This is a typical picture of cruisers coming & going from shore |
Grey, miserable & nasty—words of the day. My long sleeve T’s & sweat pants were all
packed away. Locals were walking about
all bundled up wearing tuques. According
to Chris, what you see is what you get for the next 36 hrs. On a positive note, there will be relief Mon.
& Tues. then again Fri. & onwards.
No sun today, therefore the wind generator was called upon to do it’s
magic especially with the strong winds—not too bad a job. Another new host of the Cruisers’ Net again
this am; it is wonderful that several people have stepped up & take turns
& thus reduce the workload; it is a terrific service to the cruising
world. Mid morning to Mangoes, where
Graeme rode my bike to the Yamaha shop a few miles away for a new anode for the
dinghy engine, but the shop was closed. I worked with the help of Ryan to
restore my homepage, delete some of the start-up programs, uninstall &
reinstall Google Chrome; not many emails so I was able to edit Week 21 & 22
of my blog & insert pictures. Back
on the boat we sat around reading, finishing yet another novel & starting
another & doing suduko, pulling on socks & wrapping a blanket around my
feet & legs trying to keep warm; I even thought of making some hot
chocolate. The temperature was steadily
decreasing from 20C to 16C. It has been
months since we have had the boat totally closed up to preserve warmth. No sunset, no stars, no moon this evening.
Sun. Mar. 3, 2013— Day 152:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: NW 20K +/- Seas:
1 to 1-1/2ft. waves, white caps
Weather: cloudy to start & not as grey as
yesterday, then sunny periods, H= 66F & L= mid 50’sF
Yup, we had to throw the
duvet over us last night! The howling
winds increased to 20K+. A cold shower,
no SSB weather as it was Sunday & no Cruisers net as Graeme dinghied me to
shore to catch the bus about 0830 hrs. going to St. Francis de Sales R.C.
Church (0900 hrs) via RMHYC & the Haitian community known as the Mudd. Graeme filled 2 jerry cans of water. A slightly wet dinghy ride home (full fowl
weather gear) against a cold wind. The
sun showed it’s face much more than yesterday, therefore the solar panels took
the lead today as far as charging the batteries but in conjunction with the
wind generator the results were better today.
Most establishments ie shops are closed on Sundays; Maxwells is open
0900-1200 hrs. I decided to bake some
blueberry muffins to add some warmth to the cabin. A lazy afternoon of reading, napping &
more reading in the cockpit as the sun warmed the cockpit nicely. Terri & Bill worked on their income tax
returns. But feeling some cabin fever +
butt sores from sitting too long, we invited ourselves over to ‘Second Option’
enjoying a couple of hours in their sun warmed cockpit. Graeme pointed out to us the cold weather
clouds passing us by. Candles were light
for their slight warming effect. There
was clearly sunset tonight but it occurred behind land; a lovely orangey sky
followed. We were certainly back to the
much to customary rocking motion of the boat, the tugging sound of the anchor
especially during the late night hours & the howling winds. I must say when I get on land I have waves of
unsteadiness, mild fuzziness in the head & an almost dizziness of
vision. It was a clear dark night,
stars+++ in the sky, no moon until after midnight & a ½ moon at that.
Mon. Mar. 4, 2013— Day 153:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: NNW to N 15K, decreasing to 10K Seas: 1 ft. waves & white caps to minimum waves
Weather: sun, blue sky with few clouds during the day
Although cold, the sun
shone in the blue sky & it’s warming effect was felt in the enclosure &
the cabin. Graeme rode the bike to Marsh
Harbour Boatyard (about 3 mi.) & purchased his water pump fan belt
(M19—bought 2= $33.00). After connecting
up my computers to electricity to charge, Terri, Bill & I walked to &
all around Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club; the Sea of Abaco on this side was
quite calm. We carried on to Scaggs
& split the purchase of 4 individually wrapped lobster tails ($19.00). Up the hill passed the beach, lovely homes
& rental housing & the snorkeling site called Mermaid Reef we could see
the rough & trubulent Sea of Abaco with 4 ft. waves from this north
westerly direction. We arrived &
checked out Marsh Harbour Marina & The Jib Room; Bill checked for the availability
of slips ($0.80 for 2 days or longer but full) & ability for diesel &
water fill up. Finally the long walk
back to Mangoes for a well deserved Kalik.
Bill & I inquired at Harbourview Marina price of diesel ($5.72)
water ($0.20/gal.) & ease of accessibility.
I then worked on the internet & posting a bit more of my blog. The wind & waves had died & a few new
boats had arrived in the anchorage, one that anchored too close for the
upcoming blow; wonder if they move? Not!
We called a gathering of friends for a
drink at The Jib Room—‘Plumpuppet’, ‘Second Option’ & ‘Whiski Mak’. A lovely sun set behind the land, then a
brilliant orangey red sky filled the clear sky.
The night sky was clear & filled of stars & anchor lights & there
was a distinct fresh smell to the air; a late rising ½ moon.
Tues. Mar. 5, 2013— Day 154:
Destination: Marsh Harbour
Winds: S to N to E to ESE to S to SSW 10K to calm
Weather: mainly sunny & warmer than last 3 days
What a difference a day
makes! No howling winds, only calm
waters! A simple glorious, stupendous
day! And everyone came out of the
woodwork to do laundry. In our case it
was simply because there was no fear of clean laundry getting wet with sea
water. Unfortunately this was to be the
one day of reprieve; Chris re-confirmed that a fast moving cold front would
come through Wed. & Thurs., but this would be the last strong westerly
& extended cold front for a while.
The laundry was organized, garbage, computer, 1 empty water jerry can
were loaded into the dinghy; of course at the last minute Graeme decided to add
diesel from the jerry can to the boat tank.
Thankfully we didn’t arrive at Mangoes a minute later, so I was able to
grab the 2 washers before others, followed by 1 more wash load, then 2-55
minute dryers; 5 loads X $3.50 = $17.50 (tokens from office). While doing laundry I was able to work on the
internet under the gazebo. What a waste
of another super fantastic day doing laundry!
Afterwards Graeme worked on his emails & I cycled to Maxwells for a
few groceries in anticipation of a Thurs. departure to explore other areas of
the Sea of Abaco. No bananas, no bread,
& so I stopped at Island Bakery & purchased a raisin cinnamon & a
coconut bread, which we split with the Ellis’ ($3.20/ loaf). The Mailboat for Marsh Harbour arrives &
the shelves are stocked every Wednesday.
Quickly as I held the bow & stern lines of the dinghy, Graeme
scrubbed the boat’s water line—lots of dirty & green slime. Dixie & Rex (Wonderland—Dolphin 46) had
us over for a lovely evening; a gorgeous & spacious catamaran, decorated
with simplistic class. Rex admitted
their proximity to us especially when facing east, but were very congenial
about the situation & will monitor & move accordingly. A phenomenal sunset, red sky with contrasting
cold weather clouds, then a clear dark night illuminated with zillions of stars
& anchor lights. A 1/3 moon visible
near dawn.