Still at Marsh Harbour Marina

4-15-2014, Tuesday: Basil, our mechanic, came early this morning and it took several hours for him to get the transmission oil cooler core out.  He took it, along with 2 older ones we found in the boat, back to his shop to pressure test them all.   Our friends from Wind Warrior came in this afternoon.  Their company is flying out of Marsh Harbour tomorrow morning.  Wind Warrior and Casey Dee are kinda like our friends from Roy El; they know every body!  There were several other sail boaters here at the marina and we had a big get together at the pool, drinking “Bilge Burners” and having a good time.  It was good for the CO to try and forget our boat problems.  Basil, our mechanic called back later and said that all 3 oil coolers had leaks.  He is going to try to fix them and will get back to us.

4-15-2014:  Jan and Ron from Wind Warrior

4-15-2014:  Semper Fi; Mike from Casey Dee and Keith

4-15-2014:   CO and XO


4-16-2014, Wednesday: Rib Night at Marsh Harbour Marina.  Several boaters got together again to enjoy the ribs and the entertainment.  Most are winding down and preparing to return to the US and/or Canada as soon as the weather permits. 

Bad news on our transmission oil cooler core unit. After conversing with a company in the states it was decided it can’t be fixed. We have to send the old one to a company in the State of Washington to have a new one built. Contrary to what we were told last November by the company who sold it to us, we did not get a new one installed at that time; it was rebuilt. Very frustrating.

4-16-2014: Enjoying Rib Night at Marsh Harbour Marina, Jib Room as well as the live entertainment.
.

4-17-2014, Thursday: Everyone at the marina had a get together at the Jib Room for "Happy Hours" from 17:00 to 19:00. There was a special on some bar drinks and we all brought hors d’oeuvres. There was a big turn out. After we went over to Jan and Ron’s sail boat for a quiet, enjoyable evening.

4-18-2014, Friday: Couldn’t get a car for today so we went for a sail with Mike, Sherry, Bob and Charles (Sherry’s dog) over to Guana Cay and had lunch at Nippers. It was a nice enough day with just the right amount of wind so we sailed all the way over there without the engine running; Mike had two sails up. If was very peaceful and quiet ride. It was awesome. We got over 5 knots with just the sails and that made Mike very happy. We had a good lunch, took some pictures, checked out some of the shops and headed back to Marsh Harbour. We had stronger winds on the way back so we only had the small sail up and also the engine running; I am told it is called "motor sailing". When we returned we had drinks on Bob and Sherry’s sail boat.  My first sail and it was a great day.

4-18-2014:  Bobbie with her new friend, Charles

4-18-2014: On the Casey Dee with sails up.

 4-18-2014:  Mike and his crew; Keith and Bob

4-18-2014: Keith and Bob up on the bow of the Casey Dee with sails up.

4-18-2014: Lunch at Nippers on the beach.

4-18-2014: Sherry, Charles, Bob and Mike enjoying the ocean view.

4-18-2014:  Bob and Sherry from Wind Song II

4-18-2014: Nippers at the beach on Atlantic Ocean; a Post Card compliments of Sherry.


4-19-2014, Saturday: Rain and thunderstorms all day. I didn’t even leave the boat.


4-20-2014, Sunday: Happy Easter! We are still here and will be for a while.

4-14-2014, Back at Marsh Harbour Marina

Monday: 
Got going by 07:30 on our way to Treasure Cay. About one half hour out our oil pressure dropped on our port transmission so the CO turned the port engine off. When he went down to the engine room and checked there was no transmission oil in the port transmission cooler. We called Marsh Harbour Marina to see if they had a mechanic and a slip for us and they did. We limped into the marina on the starboard engine and they tied us up at the far end of the gas dock. The mechanic can not come until tomorrow. This is very frustrating because this is the same transmission oil cooler core that we replaced, new, last November.

Later in the afternoon we went down to the bar for a while. We met this guy from Canada who made his own sail boat. It is 55' long, very wide, all welded steel, and very heavy. He had 10 ton of lead in his keel alone but we can’t remember how much it weighed overall. He was very interesting to talk with and he also had a great sense of humor. Also ran into Mike from Casey D, the marine, and talked with him about our boat problem. He said he knows of the mechanic and heard he is very good.

N26.54939
W77.05520

4-14-2014:  Leaving Elbow Cay

4-14-2014: Sail boat from Canada; he made it himself and it was a labor of love.

4-10 thru 13-2014; Hope Town Inn and Marina

4-10-2014, Thursday: Lazy morning.  Rained off and on during the day.   We got a pump-out this morning.  It is probably the best kept secret in the Abaco and we didn’t find out about it until we got here.  It is the only pump-out in the Abaco that we know of.  Took a walk over to the Lighthouse Liquor store to replenish our wine and rum supply.

4-10-2014: Painted our new anchor so we can see it better in the clear water.

4-10-2014: They have short fingers here so we have room for the dinghy.  The CO would rather have a longer finger.


4-11 through 4-13-2014, Friday through Sunday:

Friday:  Happy Birthday Don!

More lazy days with intermittent sun and rain.  We took the shuttle over to Hope Town Settlement and did some shopping around and picked up a few groceries.  This will probably be the last place to buy groceries until we get back to the US. 

Michael, the Shuttle Boat driver and all around dock hand, told us about a local fisherman.   Friday afternoon the local fisherman came into the marina with his catch for the day.  He fishes for all the local restaurants in the area but he let us buy a fillet of Mahi Mahi.  When we cut it up it made 5 meals for the two of us.  Can hardly wait to try it.

Our friends from “Wind Warrior 1” got here Thursday with their company from Nova Scotia.  We got together for drinks on our boat Friday evening and had a very enjoyable visit.

On Saturday it really stormed hard from 14:00 to 17:00 with very high winds at least 25 knots with higher gusts.  Then it stopped raining and the winds calmed down to almost their norm. This was the worst storm we have had since we have been in the Bahamas.

Sunday we woke up to the sun and winds a little stronger than normal. The weather forecast doesn’t look good for the next week. There does look like a little break on Monday and Tuesday with thunder storms only predicted for part of the days so we are going to try and boat over to Treasure Cay.

CO comments: I told Michael that I was going to apply for his job driving the shuttle.  He said fine, go ahead, but you will be on the night shift because I am not giving up my day shift and I have seniority.  He is a good guy and likes to kid around.  All the locals here are very nice and helpful.

4-12-2014:  Hope Town Inn and Marina.

4-12-2014:  Marina slips with Lighthouse in background.

4-12-2014:  Hope Town Inn and Marina main dock.

4-12-2014:  Hope Town Inn and Marina main pool with waterside bar.

4-12-2014:  Hope Town Inn and Marina Bar, Restaurant, and play area.

4-12-2014:  Hope Town Inn and Marina second pool and hot tub located in back of the resort.

4-12-2014:  Michael driving the shuttle that takes us from the marina to the other side of the harbour to Hope Town Settlement.

4-12-2014:  Resident kitty napping in the bird bath.

4-12-2014:  Storm coming in.

4-13:014: CO really knows how to relax.

4-13-2013: When you have a problem on your mast, you have to fix it, even in 20 knot winds.

4-13-2014: Our friends from Ontario are here and plan on staying for 6 months.

Hope Town Inn and Marina, 4-5 through 9, 2014

4-6-2014, Sunday: 
Another beautiful day in the Bahamas; 80 degrees, sunny, and a little breeze.  Took the dinghy out again today; went to the north end of Elbow Cay this time.  In order to get on shore we had to go around the point on the Atlantic side.  The waves coming off the reef in the Atlantic were too big and if we did get ashore we would not be able to get back off, so we decided to go back down towards the south side.  We ended up by a little unnamed Cay just on the inside of Tahiti Beach in the Sea of Abaco.  We tried snorkeling for the first time.  It was fun and the water was very warm.  Saw a star fish and several small fish, yellow and black in color, and almost transparent.  We will definitely do some more snorkeling.  When we got back we went to the second pool.  This one is behind the marina and it also has a hot tub.  Felt good to be in a hot tub again.  Very enjoyable afternoon.

4-6-2014:  Dolphins playing in the harbour just behind our boat.  Two adults and two small ones.

4-6-2014:  Snorkeling in crystal clear water.  It is awesome watching fish swim right underneath you.

4-7-2014, Monday:
Another beautiful day.  We enjoyed today and took in the sun shine because a big storm is headed our way starting tomorrow afternoon and evening.  You can tell because several boats come into the harbour for safety that were anchored out in the Sea of Abaco.  Today was a  lazy day.  We took the fairy over to Hope Town Settlement this afternoon and bought a few groceries.  Hate to .buy too much as every thing here is at least twice what we pay in the states but there are some things you just have to buy.  They do not have as varied a selection as the US has either.  I sure am glad we stocked up before crossing over.

4-8-2014, Tuesday:
Very windy when we woke up this morning or should I say winder than usual.  We rented a golf cart for the day and explored Elbow Cay by road.  We went to the hardware store, the liquor store, and to the beach.  We had lunch at "Firefly Sunset Resort Bar and Grill", good food, and then went to look at boats in other marinas.  We met 2 very nice couples from Texas who are vacationing here who knew the area pretty good and they helped us find the road down to Tahiti Beach.

It started to rain a little so we stopped at "Da Beach Bar and Grill" to wait out the weather (very unique bar) and finally ended up at the "Abaco Inn" in the south part of the Cay for dinner.  We are told it is a must stop here and they were right, we had a delicious meal.  On our way back to town our golf cart stopped; wouldn't go forward or in reverse. Right when this happened the 2 couples who we had met earlier from Texas came by and offered to help.  We told them we had already called the owner on Channel 16 and he was on his way.  They insisted on waiting with us until help arrived.  Very nice people.  The golf cart owner picked us up and moved the cart to the side of the road until he could come back for it.  We caught the fairy back to our marina. It was a good but exhausting day. Awesome waves in the Atlantic due to the storm. They had to be 8 feet high.

 4-8-2014:  Firefly Sunset Resort Bar and Grill

4-8-2014:  Keith eating his Conch Chowder with lunch.

4-8-2014:  Da Beach Bar and Grill, right on the Atlantic Ocean

 

 4-8-2014:  View of the waves at Da Beach Bar and Grill.  I can't believe those girls went in swimming with such high waves.

4-8-2014:  View from the Abaco Inn of the Atlantic Ocean and the huge waves.

CO's comments:  I had Bahama craw fish for dinner.  It was bigger than the average lobster tails in the US.  For lunch  I had conch chowder and it was delicious. 

4-9-2014, Wednesday: 
It rained during the night and off and on during the day with cooler winds than usual.  It was a good day to get caught up on things around the boat and prepare for our next journey.  After checking the weather on several sights we decided to stay here for the next few days or so.  We planned on anchoring out for a week and don't want to get caught in bad weather without a marina to get into.