Tahiti Beach to Guana to Marsh Harbour

Monday March 13th, 2017

We anchored at Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay and I think that’s the last time we talked. Woody has recovered and disappeared since we are back in Marsh Harbour. He disappeared again as we entered the harbour and we have not seen him since. Last night the chickens were quite vocal from shore so I assume he is slumming with the chickens.

Saturday we moved from Elbow Cay over to Guana Cay as reflected in the pics below. We had a good night Friday into Saturday but eh weather changed pretty abruptly on Saturday morning just after we finished our water fill up in Hope Town.

Hope Town is nice and quaint and worth a visit but the harbour is not managed in an way. There may be available mooring balls but they are often protected by the local old and stationary sailors who inhabit this inbred harbour. Mango was cruising through the mooring field and spotted an available ball but a ‘local’ stationary old sailor jumped in his dinghy and raced over to hang a reserved bottle on it. Seems like he was hording mooring balls. We got the message and moved on. There are other places to go just as nice and more accommodating.

As we came off the dock at Lighthouse marina the squall hit and the wind shifted NE and was a consistent 23 to 26 KTS. We were behind Mango at this point and headed over to Man O War to get into the lee shore for a smoother ride. By the time we got to Scotland Cay the wind had dropped to 15 and down and we popped some sails to finish our trip to Guana under sail alone. It was nice.

We anchored in Fisher Bay off of Grabbers. The notes mention that holding is tricky with weeds. We failed our first attempt to set our anchor and when it did grab and set we put out extra rode for comfort. When we left, the anchor broke free when the rode was at 50 feet coming out of 8 feet of water so our set was tentative but we made the night.

We had pizza for dinner at Grabbers on Saturday night, breakfast Sunday and lunch Sunday as well. It was pretty good each time. We throw it in the frying pan and cover it until warm…

The slop was coming around the corner and we were bouncing on a tentative hook. Further, the weather is uncertain for the next week around here. Possible South Wind or West wind. Both of these directions are problematic in the Abacos as it is difficult to find a good secure anchorage protecting from this direction.

We decided to go to Marsh Harbour where the holding is good. We  may look for a dock for a few days so we are not trapped aboard if the weather craps out. Last evening it rained. We just got to Mango for dinner and the rain started. It rained for about 90 minutes and rained very hard. I dinghied back to FRACAS to ride her in the squall as there were wind shifts but nothing over 20 KTS. She held but it rained so hard that the water on deck was ahead of the scuppers and was over flowing the gunnals.

The night following to this morning was very quiet and settled weather. The weather will start to go bad later today. more later

 

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