Life on Great Abaco Island – Bahamas
I
got back to Marsh Harbour mid-October, spent 2 weeks living on board in Marsh Harbour
Boat Yard with 10,000,000 little biting bastards that left almost no skin
unbitten anywhere on my body; noseeums – worse itch than most mosquitos.
Its
always tough living on board in a boat yard but its bound to be as that’s not
where boats are supposed to be – on land.
But of course it’s the necessary
evil – boats cannot be submerged in water without protection from all of the
little underwater critters who will embed themselves in the fiberglass, not to
mention just the water getting in, so we haul our boats out regularly and spend
lots of money painting the soon to be submerged part.
And
then of course while its out of the water there are all of the other projects
to
get done. So me and the little bastards
lived together for 2 weeks, every evening felt like torture, but I got the work
done and was out of there much poorer but feeling pretty good about
MoondancerX.
The
Bahamas is basically a 20,000 square mile sand bar with some bits of land above
the water, the rest of it about 6 feet below the water. I don’t
have the right boat for the Bahamas.
Though I have just met a very nice couple who have a Beneteau First
which draws 8 feet. They sailed their
boat from Milwaukee via the ICW and
never touched bottom. So they are pretty
confident that Tumultuous Uproar can get
around here. I’ve actually never been so
conscious of the tides as I am now. If I’m
on the move I want it to be on a rising tide, so at least I’ll float off if I
get stuck. Have touched bottom a few
times but not stuck yet. It is funny to
get in the water and snorkel around the boat to see just a few inches below her
keel.
MoondancerX’s
been in the water now since the
beginning of November, haven’t gone far but so far I know where the good
holding is, the good snorkeling is, and
I need to find more of that. I also know
where to get the best price on rum, where I’ll find good vegetables – almost nowhere
– good cheese – nowhere. I so miss good
cheese. One could build their whole
cruising itinerary around things like that – who’s got good cheese. But much more important with the Canadian
Dollar being so weak at present, just go
to the countries where our dollar can actually buy some cheese.
Another
anomally in this country - When you get
money from the bank they charge 7 ½% VAT
on top for the privilege of allowing you to get your own money out of the
bank. Not just visitors – everyone, and
if you are a visitor you are going to pay another percentage to your own
bank.
OK
enough about that. I’m on Guana Cay as I
write – I’ve been here a few times now,
what I like about it is Fisher’s Bay which is a fairly protected
anchorage with a couple of nice snorkeling spots and clear water. On the other side of the Cay is the wild
Atlantic Ocean with forever beach when the tide is out. A couple of good watering holes.
Last
night I went to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony which was attended by the
official dignitaries of the Abacos. It
was so casual compared to anything I have experienced before. Myself and Russ and Lisa from Uproar, of 8’
draught were the only visitors. There
were maybe 60 – 80 people there, many of whom were born and have grown old on
this tiny cay. They all know each other,
and many are related. Having moved
around most of my life and born of mixed nationalities I cannot fathom what
that must be like, perhaps very comforting to always know all of the people around
you.
They
were welcoming, we joined in with their Christmas Pot Luck supper. It was cold – I wore my foul weather jacket
all evening and long pants. The long
pants were mostly a noseeum deterrant.
Tomorrow
gotta get outa this marina and go back to Marsh Harbour which is the hub of the
Abacos, it has an international airport, an excellent anchorage with about 5 marinas all housing
Charter Companies who I’m sure will all be doing a roaring trade when the season gets going – this isn’t
it. I think its going to take another
month or so before the hoards that I keep hearing about will be here.
What
they need in Marsh Harbour is a good deli where they sell really good cheese.
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