We made plans to head to Green Turtle Cay, but based on the weather we opted to make the passage through Whale Cut and head straight to Marsh Harbour.

5.7 – Tuesday

We’ve had spotty internet at Manjack Cay (so far GoogleFI has done pretty well, we were completely out of range at Great Sale Cay but ever since then we’ve had great signal), so when we woke up to stormy weather and couldn’t get the radar to load, we had to make some decisions.

We planned on transiting Whale Cut today, which sounds like the only passage in the Abacos that we’ll truly have to weather-plan. So far we’ve stayed in between Great Abaco and the chain of barrier islands, but due to shallow water, most boats need to go out into the open ocean through Whale Cut in order to get to the southern barrier islands. A steep ocean swell can build up in that area, and breaking waves in the cut can pose a big danger to boats. That’s why we’re going through today – the wind is flat, the swell should be small, and at slack tide we shouldn’t be dealing with any strong currents. But now we can’t check the weather.

In reality, it’s not a big deal, we’ll head towards the cut and if we feel like it’s not doable, we’ll just turn back and anchor at Green Turtle Cay.

The 30 other boats doing the same passage told us that there was nothing to worry about except traffic. As we got out into the ocean the depths plunged down to about 45’ and I could still see the bottom.

The deepness of the blue here is constantly amazing. Also, the only swell we had was big, gentle rollers. That is my absolute favorite sea state, I love the gentle rocking. It’s the kind of swell that puts me to sleep.

The wind was almost flat today, we rolled the genoa out but it really didn’t do anything other than give Kyle an opportunity to replace the genoa sheets. The old port sheet had a big chafe spot, and the old starboard sheet had a chafe repair.

It was an uneventful trip, after 5 hours of motoring we dropped anchor in Marsh Harbour. This is considered a “big city” here, it’s also the home of a couple charter catamaran companies, and it’s known for having the cheapest groceries in the Bahamas, so the harbor is usually full. I slalomed my way through the anchorage until I found enough space for us to drop the anchor.

5.8 – Wednesday

Marsh Harbour is incredibly walkable. We first went to Maxwell’s for groceries. We’ve heard it’s like Walmart, it’s big and it has everything. Plus it’s a 10-15 minute walk from the Union Jack dinghy dock. There are plenty of signs to make sure you don’t take a wrong turn on your way there!

As a real testament to our provisioning, we didn’t need anything besides fresh vegetables, so while I was steeling myself for a huge grocery bill, we only spent $50. Prices were 2-3x what we pay in the US, specialty items were an even higher multiple. The prices we paid will seem really reasonable, we looked at the avocados for $3.75 each and said “pass.” It looks like tax is included in the prices listed, the greens were listed as $6/package on the shelf.

We brought the groceries home and then went back ashore to run our other errands. First we stopped at a chandlery to pick up the right Bahamian courtesy flag. I’ve seen a couple other boats flying the same flag that we have right now, but ours is already starting to shred a little bit so we’re going to need a new one anyway. For comparison, I reference our old flag in this post.

On the boat we have a nice breeze, on shore it feels 10-20° hotter, so after the chandlery we asked where the nearest ice cream was. I swear it was the best ice cream I’ve had in my life, mostly because it’s been so long since I’ve had some, plus it was so hot. I got guava cheesecake, Kyle got coconut. Both were very good. We had to pay cash here, so this is where I’ll tell you that USD and Bahamian dollars are at parity, I gave them $20 US for the ice cream and in change they gave me a mix of USD and Bahamian currency, including one 10-cent piece from each country. One more interesting fact: mine (2-scoops) came in a special compostable cup, while Kyle’s (1-scoop) came in a styrofoam cup.

Now it was time for the real errand: rum. We ended up at three different liquor stores, we bought some good dark rum, some local rum, and some coconut rum for mixed drinks. Unspiced dark rum is hard to find in the US, so we stocked up. For reference, the chandlery, the ice cream place, and all the liquor stores were closer to the boat than Maxwell’s. Like I said, Marsh Harbour is very walkable.

Laden with our rum burden, we headed back to the boat for the hottest hours of the day. Then we loaded back into the dinghy to go ashore for happy hour. We ended up at one of the most touristy places, Snappas, for happy hour drinks and conch fritters. The beers were $4.36 (one dollar off for happy hour).

Now, I already know I’m not a huge fan of shellfish, but I did not expect the conch fritters to be…gooey inside? The texture was pretty off-putting, and occasionally there was a bitter flavor that I assume comes from the less savory parts of a conch. I’m not saying our conch fritters weren’t good, I’m saying that I don’t care for them no matter how well made they are.

After Snappas we went for a walk just to check out more of the town. We were stopped by three schoolgirls who were looking for sponsors for track and field. I was trying to figure out exactly what they wanted and read the paperwork they had, so I completely missed the exchange Kyle saw. Apparently one of the girls had spotted a police car, hissed “police” at the other girls and then ran and hid. Now, the paperwork looked pretty standard for fundraising, but it’s a little shady if one of them feels they have to hide from the police, right? I guess we’ll never know, because it was about that time when I realized I hadn’t taken ANY cash ashore with me.

I should point out that all of our exchanges with the locals today were very positive and extremely friendly. This exchange wasn’t negative either, even if it did have some scammy vibes. We were surprised by the number of Americans working in Marsh Harbour, but as a tourist town I’m sure that influences the demographic.

We went back to the boat for sundowners, tonight’s sunset was beautiful and the rum was pretty good too.