Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Blowin' In The Wind

We are currently in Marsh Harbor waiting out weather. It has been sooooo windy here lately which makes the seas/ocean very rough. Too many big waves out there to move. We heard on the radio the "the Whale cut".....which is the passage we did a few days ago has 12ft waves today. Marsh Harbor is by far the best place to reprovision supplies. They have the largest grocery store in the Bahamas, internet hook up at Betelco (phone company), craft store, airport, lots of restaurants, propane refill, marine stores, etc. It's a thriving metropolis of about 4500 people. There is one stop light in town. There should be more traffic lights, people drive crazy here. Pedestrians really have to stay alert. We have personally met 4 cruisers who have been hit by cars here. The problem with Marsh Harbor is there is not a lot to do here except run errands. There are no beaches, no diving. We get bored quickly here. However, it does provide great protection when there is bad weather so here we sit....probably a couple more days. We have over the years managed to find a couple small pieces of sand to take Jib to & the views are great.....it makes you feel like you're not in Marsh Harbor & Jib gets to run & swim.

 

Just before we got to Marsh, Scott's crown fell off his tooth while enjoying a caramel lollipop. Rut roh, now we need a dentist. No problem in Marsh. There are 2 & one office is within walking of the dinghy dock. So, our plan was to get him there while I do laundry & then go to Betelco to get internet service. We lug 3 weeks of laundry which, by the way, is heavy. It takes both of us to carry it when we have that much. Anyway, we get to the laundry mat only to find a sign that says "closed until further notice". Awesome. Every year I have some issue with this laundry mat. It's getting a little hilarious. One year I got stuck in the middle of a shouting match between Bahamian women & Hatian women....I just kept folding my clothes & pretended to not notice but it was intense. One woman even came over to me & whispered "don't worry lady. Sorry you had to hear this". Other years I have gone in only to find 3-4 machines ( out of like 20 machines) that work & women ahead of me with several LARGE bags of laundry. It can be a LONG wait. Anyway, no laundry. The only other laundry mat is in another town down the way which would be an expensive taxi trip. I'm going to see if one of the marinas will let me do laundry. It cost 2X more...$4.50 to wash, $4.50 to dry. I can hang our clothes on the boat so I'll skip the dryer. The problem is that most of the marinas won't let you use their facilities unless you are staying at the Marina...so, we'll see... Until then, I'll just wash the essentials myself with my trusty ammonia/water mix that I learned from another cruiser. The clothes aren't as clean as they would be with a washing machine but they smell better at least.

So...then we go to the dentist. She's not in on Mondays. So far we're batting zero on our errands. Scott made an appt for the next day which went very well & only cost $55 to put the crown back on. We thought it would be much more so that was a relief & Scott really liked the dentist.

 

Scott caught a mutton snapper right under our boat...with just a little line & small hook..he was so good.

Yesterday when the winds were really picking up...1 catamaran dragged into the other....
Look close...you can see our resident lizard we picked up along the way...he eats bugs . Love him
Laundry day

 

Yum....nothing like fresh coconut milk...

Love & miss everybody...

Xxxoooo

Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like fun! Me and joe are finally out of St. Augustine and headed south, you guys headed to eluethera next?
Adrian

Laura and Hans said...

We loved Marsh Harbor. I had to fly home for a week and we boarded Wilbur with a lady named Annie while Hans got some sanding and varnishing done. And it would appear laundry mats are magnets for women who love to fight; I never know what I'm going to witness at the one I go to.