January 7 - BIG BLOW!

Yesterday Chris and I borrowed our boat neighbors' bikes and rode to Plymouth, a small settlement on Black Sound (we are in White Sound - a bit deeper). It was surprisingly hilly and the roads here are a bit "rustic" - some are paved, some are dirt but it's usually a combination of the two. We found Angie's Bakery and bought a brownie goody, went into the local hardware store (actually very well equipped) and into the local marine store (very pricey!). We tried to visit the library to donate our used books, but they were closed yesterday so we'll have to wait until we get to Marsh Harbour.

Today our adventure was a L-O-N-G walk. We started down a dirt road that appeared to be going in the direction of the beach and it wandered up and down hills but eventually we came across this lovely deserted white sandy beach which started out as sand, ended up as rock (and I had on flip-flops). We finally found a house and wandered up their lawn and driveway, ending up on a dirt road and had no idea where we were. We walked a few more miles and finally spotted a gentleman walking so we asked directions. For such a small island, there are lots of little dirt roads!

We had a late lunch at the Green Turtle Club today. Chris had a blackened grouper sandwich and I had grouper fingers and fries and both entrees were excellent! We certainly have taken advantage of our boat dollars here for sure! Happy hour begins here at 4 pm in the Lounge which is decorated with every kind of yacht club flag you could ever imagine!

This morning we listened to our first Marsh Harbour cruisers net at 8:15 am to 9:00 am on VHF channel 68. Patti gives weather, stock prices, headline news, there's an open mike section where all "new" boats into Abaco are to introduce themselves (and we did) and then the "contributors" call in from all the outer cays to report passage conditions that day. Nobody was crossing the Great Whale Cay Passage today as seas were forecasted to be 8-11 ft. Yikes - NO THANKS! We're hoping that this front dies down by Friday so we can again be on the move as there is another front right in back of this one forecasted for Saturday. All the waypoints are in for Marsh Harbour and it's a short jump - only about 30 miles or so. Unfortunately part of that is through the Great Whale - so cross your fingers for us!