Marsh Harbor to Little Harbor

 We left Hope Town on Monday, February 20. We were in need of provisions. Mainly Fuel for SHIFT and water for our main tanks. We carry 100 gallons of water and we had made it almost 3 weeks. We also wanted to restock some food items. We had heard from other cruisers, that Marsh Harbor was the best place to do all those things. Marsh is on the mainland of Great Abaco Island. They have much more infrastructure than the islands, so they get supplied more often. 

We came out of the Hope Town Harbor and unfurled our Genoa for the short trip south and back east about 8.3 nm to Marsh Harbor. 

The water was so clear and beautiful

You could see the shadow of our sail on the bottom. It was a very lazy sail. In a little over 2 hours we were dropping the anchor.

   We got the dinghy down and asked some other boats how to get on land. We found the dock and climbed up about 8 feet because it was low tide. It became obvious very quickly that this area has not recovered from Hurricane Dorian nearly as much as the islands. There are a few marinas that have been rebuilt and a few other buildings, but there are more that are in ruins. We made the half mile walk up to Maxwells Grocery. We walked in and were amazed. The store was just as big as an American supermarket and just as well stocked. The name brands were there, but they were about 1.5 times the cost of Florida. There were store brands that were close to the price of items in Florida for name brands. We ended up spending about $100, which is about all we could put on the cart we had brought for this type of trip. We also hit the ATM to restock our cash. We returned the following morning to do a second hit on the ATM. I was astonished when I got my bank statement at the end of the month and it only cost me $2.00 for the ATM fee and that came from my bank. We love Maxwells!

We had a nice sunset in Marsh Harbor. There were lots of other boats there doing exactly what we were doing.

Honestly, Marsh Harbor looked pretty depressed. I don't know what it will take to bring it back, but it obviously hasn't happened in the past 3.5 years. 

On February 21, we were ready to move along. I had been looking for weather windows to make the jump south to Eleuthera. That is an open ocean sail of about 50 miles and I wanted to do it in good weather. I was seeing a weather window for the 24th, so we started setting up for that plan. 

The first order of business was to go to a marina and get fuel and water. The wind had come up to about 15 knots and the current runs strong in the harbor. It was a bit tough to get us on the dock, but with the help of a great dock hand we got it done. We ended up taking over 100 gallons of water by the time we refilled some extra jugs. We were almost out of water. Fuel was $6.00 a gallon, but we only took on 9 gallons. We then left Marsh Harbor and headed south. We decided to stop at a spot just south of Hope Town called Tahiti Beach. It is a cool sand spit that uncovers at low tide. We arrived late enough in the day that we decided to stay on the boat and relax. 

A nice evening with a few other boats at Tahiti Beach

I tried to take a picture of the sand spit, but it does not show up in this shot. It is just the other side of those boats by that small island.

That boat just behind us is Skyler and Miranda on As You Wish

On the 22nd we motored down the Sea of Abaco, zig zagging through a number of reefs. It was a trip of about 12.6 nm to Little Harbor. We had to time our arrival to get in there at high tide. The entrance is very shallow. Our timing worked out well, and we went in and picked up a mooring ball. Little Harbor is a very cool place. It was founded back in the 1950's by an artist named Randolph Johnston. He did his sculptures in Bronze. He built a foundry and became quite famous in the art world. His son, Pete is there and runs the mooring field and a beach restaurant/bar called Pete's pub. It is a very cool place and a beautiful little harbor. We went to the restaurant and had a Mahi Mahi taco and a Wahoo Taco. It only took about 2 hours to get our food, but the setting was idyllic. We met another couple there named Sam and Jerri on a boat named Encore. We made plans to make the crossing together in two days on  the 24th. 

The approach to Little Harbor looked a bit tough, but turned out to be pretty easy. 

The view of the beach from the top of the restaurant was very nice.

Looking north to the tip of the island

Kim enjoyed the views

There are many of Johnston's Bronze sculptures around the island. This is a bird and a mahi mahi and some flying fish

An eagle, fish and cougar

Hammerhead shark, check out the background. 

We walked around the coast and enjoyed many views

The harbor is very protected and stays very calm. SHIFT is right behind all of those charter Cats

Legend has it that Johnston stayed in this cave when they first arrived on a wooden sailboat. They used the wood from the boat to build their first home. 

The harbor at sunset. That boat with the lights on is an interesting story. Karma's owners are John and Robin. They invited us over to talk about Eleuthera. They were leaving the next day and needed an early morning ride to shore. I was happy to help, but they gave us a bunch of fresh food that would have just gone bad while they were gone at their son's wedding. 

We left Little Harbor on the 23rd to get staged for an early departure south the following morning. We wanted to leave at first light and the tide restrictions in Little Harbor would not allow that to happen. We first took a long walk all over the area. which was very needed. High tide was at 10 AM, so we headed out and went two miles to Lynyrd Cay and anchored in front of a beautiful beach. I took a nice swim to shore and enjoyed the beautiful water before going to bed early. 

This huge ray swam under the boat right before we left Little harbor, this picture is not great, but that is what the black blob is.

At anchor at Lynyrd Cay. Encore is the Cat in front of us. 

Nice beach in clear water. I made the swim over and looked for Conch. I found one, but didn't keep it. 

Sunset at Lynyrd Cay

Encore and another boat that would join us named Bees Knees. Ann is a single handed woman. It is just her and her dog, a 13 year old Springer Spaniel. 

The beach became a party at sunset. We did not participate. We were all ready to depart.

Final sunset in the Abaco's. We loved it there. Thanks for teaching us the ropes in the Bahamas. Now it was on to another island group.

I checked the weather forecast again before going to bed and all looked good for the crossing the following day. We would be going though a section of the Atlantic Ocean that is over 15000 feet deep. That is three times as deep as the Grand Canyon. I will tell the story of the crossing, and what happened when we arrived, in my next entry.