Marsh Harbor, Abacos

Hi to all, we left out of Spanish Wells last Friday, April 16th and made a short run to Royal Island and anchored there over nite... Left out the next morning for Marsh Harbor, Abacos.. It was about a 9 hr or so trip... The weather had improved and it was not a bad day.. and Dwayne caught a dolphin (mahi-mahi) along the way too!! Yummy! We made it into the harbor here around 5pm and proceeded to clean the SeaVeyor.. Mr. Dolphin was quite unhappy being caught and there was blood all over decks and then in the dinghy too.. finally got him into the cooler, but it looked like a major murder had transpired on the back of SV!! Fishing has not been as good as we expected here and the locals agree . Horrible winter and horrible fishing... But.. we aren't complaining... States had it worse!!!

Marsh Harbor is very modern! They even have one stop light in town and a KFC!!!!!!!! There's lots to see in this area and is only a short boat ride... to Hope Town, to Man of War Cay, to Green Turtle, Treasure Island.... Hope to make stops at all of these...

We caught up with some of our good friends here... Anastasia, GodSpeed, Blue Blazes, Paragon,KittyWake, and just missed Rolls Doc.. they are now north of us at Great Guana Cay..

As I write this blog, I here a voice calling me.... it's Pat and Lorrie from GodSpeed coming by in their dinghy with homemade breakfast biscuits!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pat makes the best "cowboy" biscuits I've ever had!!!!!!!!!! They are from Wyoming!! It's a wonder we are not 50 lbs overweight.. We eat so well.. Jen on Anastasia bakes all day too.. We all get together for potluck dinners and eat like Kings and Queens!! We share our fish, lobster, and all sorts of other goodies.. Jen even made me a tomato pie!!!!!!!!!!!!! along with the awesome Key Lime pie a few weeks ago...

We've only been here a few days, but have seen more rain than we have in weeks..but are thankful for it.. we use our collecting system on the SeaVeyor to catch the fresh rain water and fill our tanks. We've probably gotten at least 60 gallons or more just in two days, could have gotten more,but must wait till the water washes off the top first, and then start collecting.. When it rains we do boat chores, etc... Yesterday Pat and Lorrie came over and the boys worked on reels, we ( me and Lorrie) supervised this... and Pat even fixed our shop vac for us.. Whew.. I was so happy to have that running again... been without it for a few days and with 3 cats on board... well, you get the picture.. Furballs are us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday Lorrie and I found the most wonderful nursery... Yes, I know, you won't believe it, but I have herbs on board!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Captain finally gave in and I have my own little spot for a little herb garden!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He will only benefit from it and he know it!! Ha!! Anyway, back to the nursery.. We met the owner, Andree Aubrey.. He has 5 acres of almost every thing imaginable.. Peach trees, apple trees, vegetables growing everywhere, beautiful flowers... Lorrie and I were on our bikes and came back with herbs and a bag full of tomatoes, bananas, and fresh cut dill and garlic chives that Andree gave us... Lots of fun.... getting it back on the bike was interesting... but , made good use of the bungee cords..

Today looks like it's going to be beautiful... sun is up and wind is calm.. will go exploring some more... Yesterday evening, a few porpoises came by and "allowed" me a couple of pics!!!

Got together with the girls from Anastasia, GodSpeed and Paragon.. and we walked to the nursery!! We stopped first to buy some fresh baked goodies for Andree and Sunlee, as a thank you for the goodies the day before!! We bought some more herbs and Andree gave us some bananas, and tomatoes and a big smile... after that we hit the fabric store, which had lots of girl stuff in it too... our taxi drivers , the boys, picked us up on the dinghy dock..and all back to our vessels.... hope to get together again tonite before everyone heads in different directions ...

It's really cool to meet and truly bond with people in such a short time... I know that we will all stay in touch and especially in each other's hearts and prayers.... For the most part, cruisers are a different breed altogether...you must always think outside that box and take each day for what it brings.... I feel truly blessed to be able to do what we are doing...

Rock Sound to Governor's Harbor to the Glass Window to Spanish Wells

Hi guys, we left out of Rock Sound on Wednesday morning April 7th. Made it into Governor's Harbor around noon... dropped anchor and dinghyed ashore.. I did laundry and Dwayne worked on the SeaVeyor...Being low on water, we then dinghed water back and forth from the Government building there... ( they did not have water availabe at the Government docks, so one must take your jugs to bring it back and empty into your water tanks..) Hard work, but one must have water!! And we have found out that it is a precious (and sometimes expensive ) thing in the Bahamas! At sunset, had cruisers from Hampshire Rose, Easy Breezes, and Anastasia over for Sundowners.. fun evening, again.. We did not take time to see the settlement and pulled anchor the next morning... made a short run to the Glass Window area for our nite's anchorage..

The Glass Window is point in the rock spine in northern Eleuthera, once no more than a natural arch undermined by the ocean, which became a real break. It was named this because you can look thru the window formed by the arch. A road/bridge crosses it now...

After pulling up anchor at the glass window area, we headed for the Current Cut, which is called the Eleutheran Panama Canal... Very strong current here... but we made it thru fine and headed towards Spanish Wells.. We actually docked at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven just after lunch. Very nice, clean and accomodating marina and staff..... Spanish Wells is not really a tourist resort... it's all about fishing! These islanders produce about 75% of the nation's Spiny Lobsters that are exported worldwide....

Spanish Wells is by far the cleanest and most well maintained island that we have seen in our travels so far..Colorful gardens of flowers, fruit trees, roses,etc surrond the pastel shades of homes thruout the settlement.. they have community pride here.. We shared a golf cart with Maxwell and Jen from Anastasia and toured the settlement.. Had a blast and then stopped at the Anchor Snack bar for conch bites.. lots of fun..We all got together for a good evening dinner of grouper and dolphin (the fish, not the porpoise!) and Jen surpised me with a tomato pie!!!!!!!! I had told her earlier in the day how good they were , and she went back and made one!!

Anastasia and Paragon left out Sunday and headed to Marsh Harbor in the Abacos.. We elected to stay awhile longer and see more of the island and get some boat chores done..... We also got a chance to see the island's own manatee.. Her name is Rita and she is expecting her calf any day now.. hope to get to see her baby!!!

We will probably be here a couple of more days...waiting on winds/and direction to change... Take care... Linda And Dwayne... PS.. sorry about the duplicate pic of Rita... could not get the darn thing deleted/removed... so , there's two of them!!

Little San Salvador to Rock Sound Eleuthera

Hi to all, after leaving Little San Salvador on Good Friday morning, we arrived at Rock Sound, Eleuthera on Friday afternoon..... Rock Sound was celebrating it's annual Homecoming Festival.. where all the folks born here came back for several days of celebrating... Good Friday ,Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday are all observed as Holidays.. so nothing much open.. The music started Friday nite.... not far from our anchorage ( glad we were as far away as we were) and ended around 2:30am Saturday... Interesting, LOUD music it was!! Saturday we did chores on the boat and got together with our friends Maxwell and Jen on Anastasia and Harley and Janice on Blue Blazes... all on Anastasia's S/V, it is a Baba 35... then we all dinghyed over to shore to check out the festivities in town... They had little huts for food, jewelry, drinks, and kid stuff all lined up on the street.. and of course, their LOUD music... It was a very diverse crowd, though... Some kids from the Long Island area in New York were down on a week trip to visit their schools here... Everyone blended in and had more fun than I dare describe..... We had fritters and some really good BBQ... All towns folks were very friendly... Afterwards, we all made it back to our boats in hope of a good nite's sleep.... NOT.... Yep, music again, this time till 3:15am...

Ok it's now Easter Sunday... they got to give the music a rest, right?????? Not... it went on again till the wee hours of the morning.... Dwayne was fine.. he can sleep thru most anything, but I was just about to go postal...Finally, no music on Monday nite... still just doing boat chores since all business closed for the Easter Monday Holiday.....We did get together with Anastasia and Blue Blazes Sunday evening for a Potluck dinner... it was awesome.. Jen made a delicious Key Lime Pie that would give Key West guys a run for their money....

It's now Tuesday April 6th... Dwayne dinghyed into town for diesel oil, etc... Hoped to do laundry, but the laundrymats were no longer open... Oh well... We are waiting here for a part that we hope to come in on the mailboat on Thursday... Will be on our way heading North..

I've also attached a few pics of our short stay at Little San Salvador......Take care, Linda and Dwayne

The Hermitage, Cat Island (cont.)

And a few more pics from the Hermitage..on Cat Island...from here we traveled to Little San Salvador and then to Eleuthera..........

More Pics from Cat Island The Hermitage

Here's a few more pics from Father Jerome's Hermitage on Cat Island....