Slowly Heading Home - to Green Turtle!

Green Turtle, Abacos

With Ivy Roberts, a Green Turtle
resident and our museum guide.

Ye Olde Gaol in Green Turtle

Miss Emily's - she makes a great
Goombay Smash!

After a great dinner with friends -
Can you tell we've been eating well?

After two weeks in Marsh Harbor, we finally got the engine repair done, so headed north to Green Turtle Cay. Its main settlement, New Plymouth, is among the best preserved of the original Loyalist settlements, and it hasn't been over-commercialized, so it's a great slice of Bahamian life. We met up with fellow Manta owners Tina and Scott from Annapolis yesterday, and had dinner at Sundowner's. Today, after a fierce thunderstorm this morning (including water spout and what felt like / looked like a microburst) we dinghied our bikes to shore, and spent the day riding through town, seeing the museum, and taking a long ride from Black Sound (where we are moored) to White Sound, at the north end of Green Turtle. White Sound has all the newer clubs / resorts, while Black Sound is closer to the Settlement of New Plymouth. Both are cool!

Getting a breath of air on the
foredeck, with interesting skies!

Stormy weather is predicted for the next few days, so we'll stay put here until it lifts. Enjoy the pix!

Stalled in Marsh Harbor (which ain't a bad thing!)

We limped into Marsh Harbor on one engine - a minor problem this time and purely a maintenance issue (a part that is now 16 years old gave way). We found an excellent mechanic who knows our engines / sail drives, and he came out last Thursday, poked around and knew what part to order. He also had a way to get the part here faster than is usual, so we thought we'd be on our way late last week. However, the part came in Thursday (a week from diagnosis) and our mechanic had to fly to Omaha that day for his daughter's college graduation, so here we still remain.

Abaco Inn for a great lunch overlooking
 the very calm Atlantic

Now here is where it makes so much sense that we have a dinghy with a 40 HP motor on it! The forecast for the weekend was very little wind, so Saturday we dinghied from Marsh Harbor to White Sound on Elbow Cay, to Tahiti Beach, to Lubbers Quarters for the Cracker P's Full Moon Party, and then back to Marsh Harbor. About a 20 mile round trip without a hitch. And lots of fun, so it really didn't matter where our boat was at the time.

An intentional grounding - the owner
cleaned the prop and hull in sand.

On Sunday we took the dinghy to Hope Town on Elbow Cay for one last Breakfast with the Benedicts at the Hope Town Harbor Lodge, then met up with friends on another Manta (Singaris, from Annapolis) for drinks and snacks on our boat. All in all, a great weekend.

Don't know if you can see the moon
coming up over the horizon at Cracker
P's Full Moon party.

Our mechanic was back today, and stopped by, but left to make a jig, so with luck we'll be fixed tomorrow and on our way. From here we'll start heading northeast through the less populated part of the Abaco chain, getting ready to make the crossing back to the US. We got our visas extended today for another 30 days just to give us a bit of breathing room getting back. All is well!

Back in Marsh Harbor for rest, rain and repairs

It's been awhile - Liz taught me how to put pictures directly on Facebook, so that's what I've been doing, but it's time for a little update. We had a great time with Liz and James - many games of Rummy, many Blasters and other island drinks, much good food, laughter and fun in the water. After a stop near Great Guana Cay for a last great swim, our port engine refused to go into forward gear (it's been slipping and getting steadily worse), so once again we limped into Marsh Harbor effectively on one engine. Fortunately our friends on New Moon (Paddy and John) had a recommendation of a mechanic who knows our engines, so he met us Thursday, just as Liz and James were heading to the airport.

Junkanoo at the Agriculture Expo

The good news is that it can be fixed without pulling the boat out of the water. Parts have been ordered and expedited, and with luck will be here sometime this next week. In the meantime we're enjoying being back in Marsh Harbor. Yesterday was opening day of the All Abaco Agra Expo, so we rode our bikes, and saw our first Junkanoo band. It was a high school group, but probably representative of what the Junkanoo bands are like. I tried to put a video on Facebook, but after 5 hours trying to upload it I gave up. Here's at least a picture of the percussion section. This Junkanoo band reminded me of New Orleans 'marching bands' - horns, drums of all sizes and shapes, and a slow, rambling shuffle as the band makes the rounds. The kids were great!

Some beautiful days with Liz and James

Welcome, Liz and James!

Getting ready to jump off the bimini
Yes, they did it, and so did Bill!

At Pete's Pub

After seeing the Vogels on their way back to Pennsylvania, we thought we would head down to White Sound, a part of Elbow Cay we haven't visited before. However, en route we had an engine alarm, and had to shut down the starboard engine. Fortunately, unlike the first time that engine failed, the alarms now work, so we shut it off before it ruined itself. We headed for Marsh Harbor and spent 4 days at the Harbor View Marina, trading calls with Deltaville Marina and Boat US (our insurance company) and then proceeding with the repair. Turns out although it was messy (oil everywhere) the engine was fine after an oil refill. Bill had to circumvent the oil pressure gauge (that same part that failed the first time failed again) but the alarm still works, so we're back in business.

Trying the tandem kayak - they
dumped it!

We explored a cave in Little Harbor.
No bats!

James's island

A friendly curlytail at Pete's

We anchored in Marsh Harbor for two days, had dinner with friends from Blue Moon, Paddy and John, then headed into the Conch Inn Marina on Monday, when Liz and James were due to arrive. Bill woke up with a stomach virus, so I ran a whole lot of errands, and we welcomed L&J to Deeper Season. The next day Bill was much better, so we headed to Lynyard Cay, a great anchorage close to Sandy Cay State Park (a great snorkeling location). Bill, Liz and James had a great day, but I woke up with the stomach virus that day, so I slept and read all day while they played. :( We spent another night there, then to Little Harbor and Pete's Pub, which suited Liz and James to a T. A great spot. This morning we came up to Hope Town and grabbed a mooring. Some bad weather expected in the next couple days, so we'll hunker down here for now. The pictures are just a little sample, but should tell the story!

A Great Week with the Vogel Family

Liv after visitng the Braid Lady
in Hope Town

Christine initiating the swim-up
 pool bar at Hope Town Marina

Trying the rope swing.

The week went by much too fast, and we had several days of rain and storms, but nothing got in the way of fun. Christine, Bob, Megan, Olivia and Jake Vogel were a joy to have on board, and they discovered things to do that we hadn't dreamed of! You've already seen the pictures of jumping from the bimini, and double kayaking on a single kayak. In the last several days, we rigged a rope jump off the boom, went snorkeling, and they said their last goodbye to the Bahamas with a perfect few hours in Treasure Cay. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

The tanning salon!

Bob and Jake at the beautiful
Treasure Cay beach



The Vogels enjoing a great sail!

Having Fun in Man Of War Cay



Megan was the first to jump

Christine takes the plunge

There is nothing like having teenagers on board for finding the fun things we never knew about our boat. After a great sail from Treasure Cay to Man Of War Cay, we moored and went into town to see the little shops (including Albury's Sail Shop, which was housed in a little 2-window house 25 years ago when we first visited, and is now in a large waterfront building). Back on the boat, the kids discovered two new things: jumping off the bimini, and dual kayaking. Jake had a lessons in running the dinghy, and proved himself a natural. They taught us Spades the first night, and last night we tried out a game we had on board called Nautical Trivia - it was in some ways excruciating, but we had lots of laughs, and even learned a few things. Our snorkeling adventure was postponed because the weather was bad - really choppy, very windy, with squalls coming through, but that didn't dim the fun.

Jake the Dinghy Captain!



The Deeper Season Hair Salon

Two on a single kayak - it can work!

In Treasure Cay with the Vogel Family



Left to right, Olivia, Megan and Jake getting into the swing of the boat!

Sorry for the long stretch of silence. We've been tooling around, getting the boat ready for visitors, and they are finally here! We docked at Treasure Cay to pick up Christine, Bob, Megan, Olivia and Jake Vogel - it's great to have them here!

The whole Vogel clan!