Marsh Harbor

Hey gang, We are here enjoying a windy day in Marsh Harbor in the Abacos. The wind is blowing about 20 knots with gusts up to 26. The weather report says there may be some squalls with winds up to 40 knots. We re anchored so that we are away from other boats. Everything is closed up although we have not seen rain yet.

I was thinking about why the Bahamas are so popular. There are several reasons. 1. They are easy to get reach from the US. If you are careful to cross the Gulf Stream when the wind is not blowing north it is an easy sail. It's a day sail. We Went over night to Nassau but we passed a bunch of islands where we could have stopped. Most sails are easy and within the sight of land. 2. The weather is fantastic. We are in the northern Abacos now. Today, even with the wind the temperature is 75 degrees. We get very little rain and the humidity is low. Last night I heard the first mosquito in over a month. 3. Everyone speaks English and the people are wonderful. Two major groups settled the Bahamas. Slaves who had either been freed or escaped and "Loyalists" who left the US during the revolution because they wanted to remain a part of England. They are very religious. Most of the islands or cays are Anglican. Some like Spanish Wells where John and Charles Wesley spent several months are Methodist. Spanish Wells is almost all white and it's against the law to sell alcohol. Most of the restaurants will allow you to bring your own. It's rare for a business to be open on Sunday. 4. There is almost no crime. In Annapolis, MD everyone is warned to lock up your dingy when you go to shore. No so in the Bahamas with the exception of Nassau. Routinely the large boats that brings supplies to shore will leave things on the dock to be picked up later buy local businesses. 5. The people are delightful and very polite. One of the things we have had to learn is when going into a business you need to take time to say hello and visit before telling them what you want. They are not in a hurry and appear to genuinely care about us. 6. They are in not hurry. Our windless is not working. I took it in to the local guy to fix it. He's had it three days and I have not heard from him. He will get to it.

People fly into the many resorts as well as come by boat. For the most part it's a 3rd world country. There are very few grocery stores like we have at home. It has been an adjustment. Tomorrow we will take our two 6 gallon water jugs in the dingy and start bringing water to the boat. We will add to our tanks and then get more on our next trip with Moose. We have to pay for water in most places. We pay from 15-45 cents a gallon. We have learned to taste it first so we know it's not salty. Most islands have desalination plants to turn drinking water from sea water. We are told here it is from wells. Although we haven't done it yet some people collect rain water for their boats. On our prior boat we would take our soap and go on deck in the rain to wash. Hopefully it wouldn't stop raining until we had rinse off.

Our plan is to return to Florida the first part of May and head back to the Chesapeake. We are hoping to sail most of the way in the Gulf Stream and avoid the Intra Coastal Waterway until we get to North Carolina.

We have had a couple of lazy days where we read and hang out. Yesterday I read a book from cover to cover. We have bags of books. I think this summer we will buy and Ipad and or a Kendal and download our books on to it. Most marinas have places where you can trade books.

Life continues to be good. We continue to meet and catch back up with some wonderful people. I think next week our friends on Fellowship will leave and return to Australia. Others we hope to catch up to along the way.

We love hearing from you about your life. You remain in our thoughts.

John, Elyse & Moose on Spunky