As I’ve previously mentioned, we returned to Marsh Harbour last Friday for a weekend event titled “Art for the Parks,” at the Abaco Beach Resort. This was an event that we had heard about for awhile, but debated whether or not to attend, and in the end, we were very glad that we did.  It all started over 3 weeks ago….

When my parents visited us they stayed at the Abaco Beach Resort, and as we walked in and out to visit them we couldn’t help but notice a large banner advertising, what I thought was “Art in the Park.” We checked out the pamphlets discussing some of the things that would be going on, and we thought it sounded cool. As the event neared, the Cruiser’s Net (they provide community announcements every morning on the VHF radio) talked about all the artists participating and the local art to be seen. I couldn’t help but shake this nagging feeling that it was going to be a cheap street fair/tourist trap with bad local arts and crafts and over-priced goods.  We were anchored down in Lynyard Cay when we decided that it wasn’t worth going back.  We decided that with the weather, and the 25 nautical mile trip, we couldn’t help but be disappointed when we arrived.

Later in the week the Cruiser’s Net started mentioning a field trip to Abaco National Park that was being offered by the Bahamas National Trust.  The next day, I started to listen closer to the VHF and realized that the event was titled “Art for the Parks” and was a fundraiser for the Bahamas National Trust.  We called for more information about the field trip and found out it was $15/person and would go to the National Park.  I’ve been itching to see some of the interior of the islands and this was cheaper than renting a car, so we figured, “Why, not?”  At the bare minimum we would get to see the island, even if the event was a bust and the parrots didn’t show.

Since I’m writing this story, you’ve probably deduced that we had a blast. Our field trip was a small group made up of cruisers, full-time residents, and visitors that flew in from other Bahamian islands solely for this field trip. The first thing to surprise us was that also in attendance on our trip were several BNT representatives, including the Executive Director, Eric Carey. BNT had lined up an expert on the Abaco Parrot named Caroline from Florida State, who is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on the Abaco Parrot. She filled us in on many facts, dutifully answered questions, and obviously had a real passion for the parrots. I think she said she’s been working with them for 8 years.

The Abaco Parrot is distinct because the entire population of only 3,000 birds resides solely on Great Abaco Island, it is closely related to the Cuban Parrot, but is a separate species. As Caroline explained, they don’t really like to fly over water, and therefore don’t venture to the other islands. The Abaco National Park was set aside to protect their breeding grounds, which consist of pine forest over the limestone of the island.  The birds actually nest underground in abscesses within the limestone that provide them shelter from the frequent fires in the forest (every 3-4 years) but leaves them exposed to predators such as cats or raccoons.

I was not anticipating actually seeing an Abaco Parrot on our field trip, but being the expert, Caroline knew where they would be feeding outside of the park. She then led us right to them after listening for their calls. The whole group got a chance to snap photos, listen to the parrots, and photograph other birds along the way.

While many of the other attendees were serious birders (telephoto lenses, birding books, binoculars, etc.), Sabrina and I were obviously just along for the experience.  But then Eric mentioned that along with us on the trip was Krista who was a marine biologist for the land and sea park. That’s more up our alley! We had a great time talking with Krista about the marine parks and the many reefs to explore while we walked along following the parrots. We found out that she was giving a talk that afternoon at “Art for the Parks” on how to clean lionfish and told her that we planned to attend, and I had a chance to get some of my questions answered by a true expert.

After returning to the resort after the field trip we grabbed some lunch and walked through the art exhibits. This wasn’t a tourist trap, but accomplished artists displaying original pieces. It seemed like all mediums were represented: oil on canvas, watercolors, photography, underwater photography, jewelry, wood and one gentleman who had some fantastic work with a layered effect of ceramic paints on plexi-glass.

In addition to the artists there were several different booths talking about boat building in the islands and one booth focused on the blue holes. We spent a long time there talking with the local museum curator and geologist about the blue holes in the region and a recent National Geographic feature on the topic.

We attended Krista’s demonstration on how to clean and fillet lionfish where she also talked about the many issues affecting the reefs.  The lionfish she brought for her demonstration were HUGE and it gave me something to shoot for (literally.)

After our fantastic day of wonderful experiences, we decided to join the “Support Fleet” for the Exuma Cays to donate to the national park system. Our membership also provides us with free moorings in the Exuma Cay Park and priority on the waiting list for moorings.  It also grants us a year’s membership to the BNT, the quarterly newsletter and free admittance to the national parks.  One of our goals is to get to Inagua National Park one of the world’s largest breeding grounds for the West Indian flamingo. We mentioned that we wanted to get down there while talking with Eric and he gave me his card, told me to email him and he’d contact the game warden to get us a tour of the park.  I hope we can make that happen, Eric’s eyes lit up as he told us of the 50,000 flamingoes that will be in the area when we would be down there.  As he described it, they’re no longer pink, they’re “blood-red” getting ready to breed.  I’m sure it’s a sight to behold.

Bahamas National Trust manages the 27 national parks in the Bahamas, much like our National Park Service oversees the U.S. park system.  They established the first land and sea park in the world at Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park back in 1958, and it became a no-take marine reserve in 1986, the first one in the Caribbean.  I encourage all visitors to the Bahamas to visit the parks and consider supporting them and for cruisers that will be going to the Exumas to consider joining the “Support Fleet.” In addition to protecting the Cays for conservation, there are the aforementioned perks provided to “Support Fleet” members.

At the end of the day we ran into Krista again and we told her that we enjoyed her talk. We talked for awhile longer about the health of the reefs and things that can be done. We’re hoping that we can stay in touch and maybe help the BNT with their various marine efforts in and around their parks. I’m hoping that we can meet up with Krista sometime in the future, she knows where the big lionfish lurk!

* Side note: While walking around Boat Harbor we saw an old friend, readers of the blog might remember P48.

A front is moving through the Bahamas over the first part of this week, so yesterday we tried to get an early start out of Marsh Harbour.  That didn’t work out so well, apparently none of the marinas open until 11:00 on Sunday, which we would have known if any business on the island actually posted operating hours.  No worries, we hung out on the fuel dock at Harbourview Marina until they opened and talked to some of the other boaters on the dock.

After we were able to get diesel and water we departed at noon and made a quick 25 nm motor down to Lynyard Cay to a nice anchorage that we knew was protected from the north and northeast winds that were predicted.  We came back to Lynyard because we assumed that with the weather, it would be deserted, and we were right.  Looks like most folks hunkered down in Hope Town or the marinas for the blow. We’ll be hanging out here for a couple of days while the front passes and getting things ready for our jump to Eleuthera next week.

In other news there is no truth to the rumor that the only reason we’re hanging out in the Abacos until next week is that I want to see the Superbowl….

Close followers of our Spot tracker will realize that we’re back in Marsh Harbour.  No, it is not because we like Marsh Harbour.  No, it is not because the boat broke down. No, it is not because we couldn’t stand the quiet serenity of Lynyard Cay….

We came back to Marsh Harbour for a festival today titled “Art for the Parks” put on by the Bahamas National Trust (BNT manages the national parks of the Bahamas, comparable to the National Park Service for the U.S.)  We had an amazing day, and there will be much more on that tomorrow, but for now I wanted to fill you in on what we’ve been doing since we last “talked.”

While down in Lynyard Cay we didn’t have internet, but we did have fishing spears.  We snorkeled many small reefs and rock structures that were protected from the prevailing winds. I continued to harvest lionfish and I’m up to 10 confirmed kills, protecting the reef one shot at a time!  

Before we departed Marsh Harbour last week we had purchased a new Hawaiian Sling. On Monday the 23rd, Sabrina used our brand new purchase to harvest a Bermuda Chub, and we ate him for lunch.  After lunch we headed to a remote bight and finally found what I was looking for….lobster.  This time there was no photography, no discussion, and no hesitation, in a matter of seconds this large lobster was safely in our mesh bag and hanging at my side.  We also found HUGE conch and brought four back to the boat. These conch made a phenomenal conch salad (like ceviche from conch) and we had conch salad, lobster tail, baked potatoes and salad for dinner.  Our anniversary dinner was only two days late. 🙂

Tuesday and Wednesday we went snorkeling again in the morning, and I speared a hogfish for our lunch.  On Thursday we put the spears away and headed to the Pelican Cay Land and Sea Park (no hunting or lobstering.)  The snorkeling there was amazing, and we’ll be heading back to blow some bubbles with the Scuba gear this week.

On Friday we surfed north almost dead down-wind, breaking 7 knots under genoa alone when the gusts hit.  It was a fantastic sail and we made it north a lot faster than we moved south.  It was nice to move fast, because as I said, we had to get back to Marsh Harbour for “Art for the Parks,” but that’s another entry….

Yesterday was our 6^th Anniversary, so we headed out of Marsh Harbour to enjoy some remote anchorages and had a nice sail to Tilloo Cay where we decided to spend the night. It was a gorgeous sail, we started only doing 2 knots in light breezes, but as the day progressed the wind picked up and we moved along at about 6 knots.  I told Sabrina we should spend every anniversary sailing in the islands. Who knows?

Unfortunately we didn’t enjoy our night as much as we did our sail. It was a strange night, we picked the Tilloo Cay anchorage for the predicted south-east winds, which of course turned into west winds and then north winds this morning.  But that is par for the course, the weird part was that I woke up to the boat stern-to the wind as the current held us off the anchor at a 45 degree angle. To better explain, the anchor was off our aft-quarter at 45 degrees behind us, while a decent breeze kicked up waves into our transom!  It was weird.  Especially since the current seemed to be coming from the Tilloo Cay which was 500’ away.  I would assume that an island would tend to block current?

After my sleepless night, it was time to have some fun and do some snorkeling, it didn’t matter that it was raining, we were going to get wet anyway.  So we headed over to Buckaroon Bay (doesn’t that sound like a theme park in the Mid-West?) where some friends of friends said they have had some luck finding lobster.  While snorkeling along in less than 5’ of water, we didn’t find any lobster, but happened upon two conch!  And they were legal size and everything!  It was a surprise to us too! They were just hanging out in the middle of this little bay with several other ones that weren’t quite big enough to harvest.  The conch is such a worthy adversary that we carefully placed them near a rock and kept swimming around looking for lobsters.  When we came back, they were still there and we took them back to the dinghy.

Once we left our conch deposit, we headed towards some rocks, where I got excited because I thought I saw antennae! Unfortunately, upon further inspection they weren’t antennae, but the dangerous spines of lionfish.  Luckily, Sabrina and I have hunted lionfish before off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, and without a thought I shot the biggest one with my pole spear. Two others were hiding under the rocks and we weren’t able to get those out, hopefully we killed them though.  (For those of you that don’t know about the lionfish, it is an invasive species here in the Caribbean, it’s a danger to the ecosystem, and has no natural predators.  Many dive companies and nature conservancies sponsor “Lionfish Derbies” or “Reef Clean-Up Days” to try to control the population, in fact there’s one here in the Abacos that I was thinking about trying to attend.)

From there, we crossed back across the small bay and circled around another big rock and found the biggest lionfish I’ve ever seen hanging out in the shallow water.  He too was soon headed back to the dinghy on the tip of my spear, and we picked up the conch on our way.

When we got back to JV, things got interesting, while conch and lionfish are delicious, they aren’t exactly ready-to-eat meals.  We had planned ahead and downloaded all the info for cleaning them safely and brushed up on that info before we began. See the photos below to see how we did it.  We already cooked up the lionfish, it’s a small fillet, about the size of a perch or bluegill, and it tastes like a yellow perch, sweet, delicate, and mild.  Too bad it’s such a pain (quite literally if you get stung) to clean them, or it could make a great fish fry.  Regarding the conch, what sounded very difficult was actually pretty easy to figure out once I followed the steps as Sabrina read them off.  Those are saved for dinner tonight, we’re going to try our own version of cracked conch on the boat this evening.

Now we’re anchored at the very south end of the Sea of Abaco off of Lynyard Cay.  Tomorrow we’re going to continue our quest for lobster, I’ve still refrained from purchasing lobster at a restaurant or grocery and I REALLY want it.  Hopefully the crawfish will cooperate in the same way that our conch did today!

After we enjoyed the festivities on Wednesday night, Thursday morning Sabrina had to climb the mast to finish hooking up our whisker pole lift line. (I had a messenger run, but it got stuck and we couldn’t free it.) It was a calm morning, and Sabrina was able to snap some photos while she was up there.

Located here at Marsh Harbour Marina, the Jib Room restaurant has an interesting operating schedule. They’re open from Wednesday till Sunday for lunch, and only open on Wednesday and Saturday night for dinner.  Every week they have “Rib Night” on Wednesday and “Steak Night” on Saturday, and it’s something that a lot of cruisers swear you have to experience. Unfortunately, the price is $25 a plate, and Sabrina and I thought that “Steak Night” sounded better than “Rib Night” so we didn’t attend on Wednesday night. ($25 is a great price for the islands, but still a little more than we wanted to pay when we had food on the boat.) If we’re around some Saturday night we’ll swing up and experience “Steak Night” and provide a full report.

After a long day of waxing and sewing on Wednesday we enjoyed dinner on the boat and then decided to head up to the Jib Room for a drink and to see the limbo contest.  We were very glad we went! It wasn’t really a “contest” so much as a one man exhibition, and the gentleman was quite the showman. He was a few inches over 6′ tall and looked to be somewhere in his 30’s, he messed around for awhile before we got the camera, doing the limbo while holding onlookers and warming up for before he moved into his act.

Warming Up

Setting the stage

After a few rounds of limbo, the performer lowered the bar to a little over a foot off the floor, lower than the picture above.  Needless to say, he was the only one to attempt it.  He seemed to more walk on his ankles as he shimmied under the bar.

Almost There

Way Back

Once the applause ended he started to soak the bar with lighter fluid to the amazement of the audience.

Element of Danger

Light Up

While he crossed under the bar, extremely close to the flames and very close to lighting his beard on fire, he stopped to light his cigarette.  When he came out the other side, the applause was tremendous, he bowed deeply and motioned to his tip jar which by this time was almost full.

It was a fun evening, we experienced a great show at a fun restaurant on the other side of Marsh Harbour from all the craziness of town.  The Marsh Harbour Marina is a great place and we highly recommend it to people looking for someplace to stay in Marsh Harbour.

For those of you that didn’t witness the madness first hand, our last 3 months in Maryland were a whirlwind of activity.  I fully resigned from work on September 9th after cutting back to part-time on Memorial Day to work on the boat.  Sabrina’s last day of work was November 4th and we both worked like crazy right up till our departure on December 13th, then we sailed like crazy to get down to the Bahamas on Christmas Day.  I think we both missed our office jobs as we did hard labor for long hours right up till we departed.

Throughout this whole preparation time we put aside “Abacos Projects” that were things that could wait till we arrived in the Bahamas and enjoyed some sunshine and warmth. Now that we’ve waved goodbye to our visitors, it’s time to make the to-do list shorter, and not longer, for a change.  The Abacos and Marsh Harbour is a great place to get these things done since we have access to hardware, parts, water, and fuel. Once we have the list under control, it’s time to venture south to the remote islands where we may not have ready access to these things.

So yesterday I broke out my old friend, the Dewalt Power Buffer, to compound some stains off the transom and erase the dirt and grime from the first 1,200 miles of our voyage.  I cleaned off the few spots we had on the hull from the dinghy while bar jacks swam around my toes. While I was busy with that, Sabrina waxed the stainless steel to remove the salt and rust stains, and today Sabrina will get re-acquainted with her old friend, the sewing machine. We were also able to fill our propane tank in town and this morning Sabrina ran into the grocery to get some things for breakfast.

No photos now, but I’ll post some photos of the glistening hull once we finish cleaning her up.

Sunday afternoon the winds picked up while we were watching football, we returned to the boat to find that two other boats had anchored close by.  They weren’t too close, they were just closer than all the other boats in the anchorage.  Everyone else had spread out and was evenly spaced, and then there were the two boats nestled up to JV. Maybe they heard that we had the football games on and they thought they could pick up the signal? Regardless of the reason, we didn’t get much sleep on Sunday night when the wind shifted and put the three of us all in a row, I was worried about the boat in front dragging into us, and worried about dragging into the boat behind us.

To compound our problems we ran out of water late on Sunday, so after doing some things in town on Monday morning we decided to move over to the Marsh Harbour Marina, home of the Jib Room.  The dock master, Steven, is very nice and helpful (he also tends bar,) and they have great rates and a flat fee for water.  We’re staying two nights (atleast) because the price drops from $1.05/ft. for one night to $0.85/ft. for two nights, and water is only $15.00 and that covers your first 3 days of dockage.  So, those of you unsure of the math… our second night will only increase our bill by $25, well worth it to get the boat washed and some chores done.

On Sunday morning we had walked around Marsh Harbour to see the stores we needed to go to on Monday, and when we went back Monday it seemed like a completely different world.  Cars and people were everywhere, I didn’t realize this area held that much population! It was kind of unsettling to see security guards outside of many of the stores, and even more unsettling to see guards with bulletproof vests outside the banks we planned to visit…. We headed to the coin laundry in town to wash some clothes with the locals, and while Sabrina tended to that I walked around to the hardware stores price checking various items we need to purchase. I was distracted by the fishing lures at one large store, (40% off if you paid cash!) but I eventually made it back to help Sabrina get the laundry and dinghy back to the boat so we could then move over here to Marsh Harbour Marina.

Cruiser’s notes:  The coin laundry in town is the local’s place to do laundry. Most of the marinas charge $4 for a token to wash or dry, and they are small machines and you sometimes need to use the dryer two, or even three, times. The coin laundry has $2 washers, and $6 triple load washers, the dryers are commercial size and dry clothes quickly and cheaply.  It is well worth the walk if you have more than a load of laundry to do.  Also, the prices in the stores seem to drop as you get farther away from the marinas, I was able to pick up two fresh-baked muffins and two cups of coffee for $3.50 while we did laundry.

Today I’m taking advantage of the water at the dock to get the boat back in order after a few weeks of salt-water.  Sabrina is getting to work on some of her sewing projects and we’re doing some more shopping for parts in town. The weather isn’t too great right now, so we’re preparing to enjoy it when it turns back around.

It was a little cooler yesterday but today the sun is out and there’s a nice breeze blowing through Marsh Harbour.  We’re hanging out at Snappa’s Restaurant after watching the Raven’s game with our friends from Havre de Grace. It was a great time to catch up on our travels and our future plans.

Yesterday I was able to pick up both NFL games using our Shakespeare 2025 digital TV Antenna. I think Marsh Harbour relays the Miami broadcasts for the locals here? Regardless, it was pretty cool to catch some news and the games, even though both teams I wanted to win ended up losing.

Tomorrow we’re pulling into a marina to do some laundry, fill our water tanks, fuel up and go to some stores in town. (Stores aren’t open on Sunday, and the hardware stores were already closed for the weekend when we stopped by on Friday afternoon.)  We have some items to get and then we’re going to visit some of the anchorages in the southern portion of the Sea of Abaco for a couple of weeks.  We want to get the bimini sewn, some jerry jug covers made, and I have some re-wiring to do on the engine blowers, (not to mention snorkeling, diving and fishing.) After we cross some items off the to-do list we’ll swing back to Marsh Harbour and then head south.

Yesterday morning I poured over all our charts, researching places we wanted to go and things we wanted to see. The plan for now is that we’re going to head south past the Tropic of Cancer but stay in the Bahamas. (Turks and Caicos looks a little too commercialized for us.) This area is known as the “Far Bahamas” and will provide us a chance to sail, fish, scuba, and help us prepare for our extended travels next winter. Nermal was especially helpful and would continuously lay down on the charts every time I opened to a new page.

The Navigator

Plans are very tough to make on a cruising sailboat, but for now there seem to be some really cool places in the “Far Bahamas.”  I’d like to see where Columbus landed, there is a huge nature preserve on Great Inagua, and the promise of excellent off-shore sailing and fishing.  Follow along to see where we end up!

Just in case you were thinking that our lives were all “rum drink wishes and wahoo dreams…”

Last night the power went out here in Marsh Harbour and Sabrina and I dinghied out to JV in murky darkness under cover of a clouded sky, guided to JV by our super-bright LED anchor light.  (It’s cool, we know which boat is ours when we leave the dinghy dock by the light signature.)  I checked the deck, secured the dink, read a little bit and went to sleep.

Today is Friday the 13^th, so I should have been prepared for a rude awakening; I originally thought that someone was shining a spotlight on our boat when I awoke at 4 a.m.?  Shortly thereafter I shook off the sleep and realized it was lightening.  It was still to the north of us, but it wouldn’t be long till we were hit with the storms that they had been predicting for the last couple days.  At about 4:10 I was watching from under the dodger when the front of the storm moved through, just enough wind to straighten all the boats on their anchor chain (maybe 15 knots), I wasn’t concerned about JV, but I kept looking upwind to make sure that no boats were dragging down on us.  One of our upwind neighbors drifted and then caught, I think he just had a long length of chain straightening on the harbor bottom.  The squall came on us fast and left us fast, I watched it till 5:00 and then crawled back in bed to get some sleep.

Our plan today was to catch the 10:30 ferry to Hope Town with my parents.  Sabrina woke up around 8:00, and I awoke about 8:15 to the sound of the Cruiser’s Net.  Sabrina informed me that we were out of propane, and after my night vigil I knew I needed coffee. (We heat water on the propane range to use in our Aeropress coffee maker.) I woke up, took a look outside at the clouds and realized we needed to fire up the engine to charge the batteries if we wanted to keep the freezer frozen. (Clouds mean that our solar won’t charge enough during the day.)

So I fired up the engine and started charging the batteries.  Shortly thereafter the circuit breaker blew on the engine ignition feed.  I reset it.  It blew again. I reset it.  It blew again.  Hmmmm…… This is the same problem I had with my dad while we were fishing.  I decided that the blowers were drawing too much power and I’ll need to rewire them to come straight off the batteries. But without the blowers on the alternator was overheating and wouldn’t charge.  Quite the conundrum, so I opened all the engine hatches and turned fans on the engine to try to keep it cool while I tried to keep us on our timeline for the ferry at 10:30.

Back to the propane, we carry two 10 lb.  tanks aboard, so when one runs out we know we are halfway through our propane.  So, no problem, I’d switch tanks, turn on a valve and hot coffee would help erase my morning adventures.  But there was a problem, the o-ring for our full tank was gone, and the o-ring for our empty tank was permanently affixed to the valve.  But luckily I had bought extra o-rings before we left Maryland!

Hmmm….now where were they?

When we departed a lot of spare parts, tools, fabric, epoxy, gel-coat, engine oil, cat food, etc. got stowed in the boat.  We TRIED to keep track of where it all went, but finding an o-ring this morning was a proverbial needle in a haystack.  On our 4^th attempt at where they ABSOLUTELY HAD TO be, we found them!  Of course we had to rip apart half the boat – all while the engine is running – and don’t forget that all the engine access panels are removed to provide ventilation.

It’s noisy.  It’s hot.  I’m tired.

I install the o-ring, Sabrina makes coffee, I grab a shower, the batteries get a little charged, and I jump in the dink to make sure we can meet my parents in time to catch the ferry.  There’s a bunch of rainwater in the dink, so I use the hand bilge pump to pump it out really quick.  When I’m done I watch as the hose from the pump falls overboard and sinks to the bottom of Marsh Harbour.  Argh.  I figure we’re late enough and the hose will be safe laying on the bottom, we’ll get it tomorrow afternoon when the sun is shining, that’s the nice thing about crystal clear water.

Luckily after that rocky start to this Friday the 13^th we had a wonderful day in Hope Town.  We made the 10:30 ferry, had a great lunch, and toured the town.  We ran into some other friends from Havre de Grace on the street and saw the lighthouse from afar.  Sabrina and I found a place to rent surfboards and we’ll be back to the harbor when the surf is breaking. All in all it was a nice way to spend the last full day in the Bahamas with my parents.

Then we got back to the dinghy dock to find the tide was out and the dink high and dry.  Enough was enough and Sabrina and I proceeded to do some window shopping in Marsh Harbour and enjoy happy hour at Snappa’s Grill and Chill.  We headed back at sunset after the tide had returned a little bit and we were able to push the dinghy into deep enough water to run back to JV.

We headed back into the resort tonight to meet up with my parents and enjoy an authentic “Rake n’ Scrape” at the resort by local musician “Brown Tip.”  While today wasn’t perfect, I can deal with these annoyances to enjoy experiencing this beautiful area. I’d much rather be losing sleep during a tropical rainstorm than shoveling snow during a blizzard at home. As I’ve jokingly taken to remarking to Sabrina when something goes awry, “It’s better in the Bahamas!”