Made it to Marsh Harbor

Our stay in West End was nice but cold. Dirk did find the courage to done a wetsuit and hit the water in search of prey. Unfortunately he came up empty handed but at least we have the lobster from Lobster Man stashed in the freezer to share with his mom when she arrives on the 24th. The day before we left Ellie from FinniRish buzzed me on the radio to tell me the Bread Lady was here at the docks selling her bread. So lucky for me she was on our dock and Dirk and I went to acquire some of the wonderful Bahamian bread we have heard so much about. She offered white, cinnamon raisin, coconut, and banana all of which looked wonderful to us. We settled on the coconut and headed back to the boat to try a piece as it was still warm from the oven. Oooohhh so good and fresh, and I’m sure fattening as I tend to like butter. I mean, love butter. Thursday evening was spent topping off the water tanks and fuel and securing items on top in preparation for an early departure the next morning. The winds had finally died and pulling away from the docks was nice and uneventful like I like it. We were on our way to Great Sale Cay 47 miles away and as we turned to look behind us we found we had a line of boats following, all of which were heading to the same place. We had a full day of motoring as there was no wind to speak of and unfortunately no sun either which made for a chilly ride. We arrived at Great Sale with a couple hours to spare on daylight so we threw some dogs on the grill and sat back enjoying a sun downer waiting for dinner. It was an early evening as we had another early morning departure to head over to Crab Cay. What a beautiful calm morning we awoke to, the water was like glass and it was almost impossible to tell where the water ended and the sky began.

The sun came out and we had yet another day of motoring as we had about 3 knots of wind. The sun felt wonderful and we were finally able to put shorts on for the first time since our arrival into the Bahamas.
Our trip was shorter than the day before and we had time to put the dinghy into the water and explore a bit before sundown. Crab Cay is a beautiful anchorage, nice and quiet as FinnIrish and us were the only boats there till later in the evening when a power boat pulled in. The anchorage was nice with water clear enough to see the anchor sitting on the bottom and all sea urchins, sea cucumbers and star fish sitting about doing their own things. Dirk and I took the dinghy over to shore which was only a rocky shore line covered in old conch shells and drift wood. We waded through the water seeing what we could see and photograph.

On the way back to Tybee Time we managed to catch the sunset, yet another beautiful ending to another beautiful day in the Bahamas.

The following morning we awoke early again and checked with anyone on the radio about the conditions of the Whale. It's an area between the islands that opens up to the Atlantic ocean and can get nasty if the winds are bad. It would only take us about 30 minutes to get through it but we didn't want to kill ourselves. Lucky for us it was very doable and we got through with no problems what so ever. We entered Marsh Harbor and decided on a marina as the next day it was suppose to blow about 40 knots which never did appear, but no problem, we wanted to be on a dock for the arrival of Dirks mom anyway. Marsh Harbor Marina seems like a decent place, nice clean showers, pool, Internet, although a bit spotty at times. The price was good too at 65 cents a foot with water being 4.00 a day. We can top off our water and give the boat a good wash down. Laundry is expensive at 4.00 per wash & 4.00 per dry but it wasn't a shocker as I had been warned by other people that laundry in the Bahamas is expensive. I'm learning how many times I can wear something before it begins to wrestle with me trying to get to laundry on its own. Today we actually went snorkeling at Mermaid Reef and saw so much sea life. Unfortunately this is a no take zone as there were some lobsters so big they seemed the size of a small dog. Oh well, it was a great snorkel or dive site as like I said it is teaming with fish and other critters. Tomorrow we pick up Dirks mom from the airport and she will stay with us about 2 and a half weeks. Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit for her and we can show her many adventures. She has never seen our boat except in photos and has never been on a sail boat so it should be interesting. Hopefully I will find the time to update while she is here so I can keep you all posted.