Home to the Abacos

A cold front welcomed us home to the Abacos.



The ocean sail back to the Abacos kept the crew busy at the helm; although steering is often the best place if you are feeling the least bit sea sick.



After our long day on the ocean we were happy to be in a safe and comfortable anchorage for the front that arrived the next day. We had quite the electrical storm and the view of the cloud formations provided our evening's entertainment. The storm spawned a tornado that hit the Freeport area and two people were killed when the crane they were working on at the boatyard was lifted by the force of the winds. Peter said that the wind speed on his indicator reached 33 knots and that was plenty.

The next morning we did a little beach exploring and picked up some more conch shells for Rob's bowl making and then left to head up to Boat Harbour. Boat Harbour is on the eastern side of Marsh Harbour and is a great place to anchor if the winds are from the north or west. The Tuesday before Easter Sunday marks the Jewish Passover and once again we were honoured to celebrate the Sedar with Peter and Lynn on First Edition. Lynn is amazing. She stores everything from matzah balls and the Sedar service books to jamachas (not sure of the spelling but I call them the little hats that the Jewish men wear.)



After our service we dined on roast beef, mashed potatoes and broccoli...it was quite the feast. Even Sea Bear came to the celebration and he doesn't get out much?





This morning we are on our way to Man O War to pick up Celebrian's summer cover from the sailmaker. Peter and Lynn decided to come to Man O War with us for the day and do a little browsing in the shops.

We had lunch at the Dock and Dine and wandered around the town. Man O War is another all white, very religious community on a dry island with no liquor. The island is well known for its wooden boat building and Rob enjoys chatting with the men. It is quaint and probably has no more than 200 citizens. The island is spotless and the people are very industrious. We picked up the cover and headed over to Marsh Harbour for the evening. Tomorrow would be a busy day of errands.

I spent two hours at Out Island Internet in Marsh Harbour trying to figure out what has gone wrong with the wifi. Rob had to take apart the system on the boat so that we could rule out any problem with the on board equipment. The good thing is there is nothing wrong with the on board equipment; however there is some concern that I don't have enough memory with this small netbook and that that is affecting getting a signal on the boat. If all it take is buying more memory then I am willing to go to Best Buy and buy another chip for this computer. For the time being I am very frustrated that I can not use the on board system but the good thing is that we are near the end of this year so I will have to make due with carrying the machine ashore.

After a busy day of errands we left for Fowl Cay Reserve, an underwater park near Man O War. We had hoped to stay the night but there was a surge so we moved to the lee of MAn O War for the night. The next day we met First Edition at Sandy Cay and went out to the reef snorkelling. The reef is quite pretty and we saw two green turtles which was just great. After lunch we left to go north to Manjack Cay where we are anchored for the week. Lynn and Peter will join us tomorrow for Easter dinner and then they will be heading north and looking for a window to sail across the Gulf Stream. We are going to spend the week getting the boat ready for storage. Today Rob has spent varnishing while I am cleaning lockers. The next week at anchor we will be in boat yard mode. Things would be so much easier if we weren't living in a salt water environment. The good thing is that we are anchored in our favourite spot at Manjack...Coconut Bay Beach. If you have to do boat yard work....this is the place to do it. We even shared our bay with First Edition for a couple of nights; however Lynn and Peter were anxious to get to Green Turtle Cay to pick up a mooring before the next front. By the time this next front gets here we will be safely at the dock at Abaco Yacht Services.