Author: Phil

We’ve spent the last few days in Marsh Harbour with some high winds and rain. Our good friend Peggy Saylor arrived for a visit on the 15th. We all jumped into a rental car and headed to Pete’s Pub in Little Harbour for lunch, followed by a later tour of Marsh Harbour. Monday we stayed put in the morning and later braved a driving heavy rainfall and arrived, soaked to the bone, at a colorful Bahamian grill and bar for a tasty lunch and the mandatory goombay smashes.

Tuesday we headed for Hope Town on Elbow Cay – a short 8-mile ride. BenjOllie handled the 3-foot seas smoothly. Safely tied up by noon, then lunch at Hope Town Inn and Marina then off for a golf cart tour of Elbow Cay. A very nice day showing Peggy the sights of this gem of the Abacos and the boasters’ favorite spot. It has a growing vibrant community of US expats that mirror Colonial Beach’s very own come-heres, lending time, energy and cash flow to this historical and lovely settlement. For a good glance at the history of Hope Town that speaks to the settling of the entire Abacos, google “Hope Town, Abacos” ,,, an interesting read. Some pictures of the day.

Wednesday, we had another day of running around. Starting at 9 AM at Capt Jack’s for breakfast we then walked around Hope Town village a bit. Afterwards we fired up the golf cart and started a round trip of Elbow Cay. “At Da Beach” grill stop lead further south to Seaspray Marina. It was closed so we proceeded to Tahiti Beach, a great place to enjoy the sand and sea. Peggy and Carey found some shells and walked the surf while I enjoyed time with a good book. On the way back we found Seaspray’s waterfront bar ready for us. After an appropriate [?] amount of time, we carted away to Fire Fly, the next establishment on the Sea of Abaco. Great stop, goombays and all. Biding time until our dinner reservations, we further wasted – or, rather enjoyed, our time and libations again At Da Beach, where we initially began the afternoon. We bad. Finally, time for dinner at the Abaco Inn that sits mere yards from the Atlantic Ocean. The food was fabulous. The day was great. Some pictures of this day below.

Loving life at Harbour View Marina. We’ve enjoyed a few beautiful days of 75 degree weather and light winds and met some seasoned boaters, had great meals, and libations. We’ve checked out the dinghy and completed necessary maintenance so we’re ready to roll. We are planning our Abaco tour for Peggy who is arriving Sunday. Looking forward to her visit. Loving it.

Super Bowl Sunday, but we’re getting some touring in before the game starts with boating friends Jeff and Melissa who are moored next to us on their 52′ Beneteau Sailboat. We headed out in the rental car at noon for Little Harbour and Pete’s Pub at the bottom of the Sea of Abaco.

The four of us had a good half hour ride down a pothole-filled road to get to the Harbour for lunch and exploring the Gallery. Always a great visit. Makes you want to relocate there! Some pictures below.

Made it back in time to stop by the Jib Room for Super Bowl food and visit with the owner of the Jib Room – Marsh Harbour Marina. He bought the marina just 2 years before hurricane Dorian destroyed it and is still in the mist of rebuilding but has a solid facility now with over 60 boat slips. It’s amazing the enthusiasm you see among these middle-aged adults take on rebuilding from the devastation Dorian dumped on this area.

Five days at Harbour View Marina in Marsh Harbour, after our 2 Feb arrival. The winds are high and keeping us in port. Besides some time for maintenance and relaxing we rented a car on the 7th and began touring the area to check on the restorations following hurricane Dorian. Progress has been slow as all building materials are shipped in and contractors and labor are not plentiful. But, the rebuilds are well done and attractive. Surprisingly, there’s a substantial boom in home new-builds throughout the cays … and, they are not small residences or condo communities. Mainly offshore folks and many American citizens that are drawn to the community atmospheres in the Abacos versus primarily resort layouts of many Caribbean destinations. Tomorrow we’ll visit outlying locations by car like Little Harbour with Pete’s Pub and Cherokee in the more southern end of Abaco Cay. Also, the docks are becoming pretty full of boats and we’re enjoying the company of the other boaters and trash talking the weather. The forecast calls for calm seas, light winds and sunshine all next week, so we’ll be moving around and anchoring. The pictures below show the bay from Colors Restaurant and a snapshot of a nearby neighborhood in Marsh Harbour.

This is our second day at Harbour View Marina in Marsh Harbour, the place we often used as home base on past trips when weather prevented us from traveling on to Eleuthera and the Exumas. The last reported population was 6,283 people. In 2019 it was directly hit by category 5 Hurricane Dorian, severely damaging or destroying most of its structures. It’s still rebuilding. It’s the commercial center of the Abacos, hosting the larger of two international airports and has the only stop light to be found in the Bahamas out islands.

We arrived just before a major wind event with winds of 40 mph over an extended 10-hour period. We managed to get in a great meal at Wally’s across from the marina and check out one of our old haunts, Snappas Bar and Grill, that was rebuilt up the block after Dorian destroyed the older site. Then we were head’s down, with all the other boaters at the marina, preparing for the gale winds. And, as the standard routine before heavy winds, many of the anchored boats in the bay moved to slips. We were in good position with our bow pointing into the forecast winds so we handled the 3-foot seas that slammed in the marina as well as could be expected. It was a long bouncy ride through the night. The 10 lines and 6 fenders we put out kept us safely in the slip. Today the winds are still above 20 mph with a 1-foot chop, but it’s comfortable. Tomorrow we’re back to low winds and 75 degree days. I tried to get good pictures of the waves at the marina, but it was too dark most of the time the winds were up.