Friday, March 21 through Friday, March 28
Meeks Patch, Eleuthera to Marsh Harbor, Abaco
84 nautical miles (97 statute miles)
Friday and Saturday
We woke up Friday to begin our short hop across the bay (2 miles) to Spanish Wells. We wanted to leave early so we would have plenty of time to finally fill the subscription for my eye. The stove would not light this morning, and I knew immediately what the issue was. I had noticed a few months ago that the gas solenoid for our stove was looking worn and rusty and knew it was not long for this world. Since we had a spare in the wings, I just waited for it to fail. I differed changing it out for later and made coffee in the microwave for today.
We anchored outside of the main channel of Spanish Wells and went into town. It was immediately apparent that this settlement was much more developed with a distinct expat vibe. We walked the town, successfully obtained some items I had been looking for at the hardware store, ate lunch at Budda’s snack shack, went to a bakery and reprovisioned at a very nice grocery store. The store also had a pharmacy, and I quickly got my prescription filled at a very reasonable price without insurance.
When we got back to the boat, I changed out the gas solenoid and we were back in business in the food preparation business.
On Saturday we continued our exploration of Spanish Wells with a visit to a farmers’ market and a long walk up and down the island. Since Spanish Wells is land locked most of the vehicles are via golf carts (and there are a lot of them). Spanish Wells also has a sizable boat work industry and would be a good spot to work on your boat if you happen to have issues in the Bahamas. We did some more reprovisioning along with lunch in town. We intended to go to a local grocery store (Pinders) in addition to the larger one (that has normal US operation hours). Unfortunately the smaller one was closed for lunch.
Sunday
Monday we will be leaving for the Abacos in the dark (i.e. 4 am), so we wanted to stage out to Egg Island about 10 miles to the west. This anchorage is commonly used as a staging area for other boats since it is a very straightforward spot to leave from in the dark since deep, open water is right behind the boat. After leaving the Spanish Wells anchorage we sailed slowly towards Egg Island. As a reminder you can look at our tracks (present and past) on our Garmin tracker in the links section of this website.
Once we got to our anchorage, we dropped the anchor and did a short walk on shore. Sondra snorkeled the anchor chain and found that even though we dropped the anchor in sand it was hooked to a rock and the chain itself was draped over more rocks. Since the wind was not supposed to shift, and we appeared to be holding well, we did not fret over it. We did hold well but we heard the chain dragging across the rocks all night.
Monday
The alarm went off at 3 am and we were moving through the surprisingly crowded anchorage at 4 am. We prepped the boat the night before and was able to quickly finish our normal check list to weigh anchor quickly. The reason we were leaving at 4 am was this was going to be a 60 mile plus day, and we did not want to arrive at at the Abacos in the dark. It's better to leave an anchorage than navigating a new cut when darkness is a factor.
As we worked our way out of the anchorage, dodging anchor lights, we could see other boats that had had just left, or work preparing to leave. Once we were free of all the other boats and in deep water, we raised the sails and cut the motor. The conditions were 13-16 knots from behind. Utopia was going deep-down wind, and our speed was about 5 knots over ground which was great. We had rigged up our whisker pole the night before since we knew the jib would have a hard time staying full due to the conditions. It was pretty rolly too, so it was a good decision. It goes without saying we had our preventer out for the main to avoid an uncontrolled gybe while sailing.
We sailed for 5 hours under sail alone but as expected, the winds started to drop off. During that time, we were sailing with our buddy boat Alboe and were within 0.5 miles of them for many hours. Utopia sails well downwind until the true wind gets down to about 11-12 knots and then her speed drops off quickly. Eventually we motor sailed to make sure we got to our anchorage before dark. We saw a couple of waterspouts in the distance during our sail. The weather was fine, so it was a bit odd to have several fair-weather spouts.
We dropped anchor in the afternoon in a nice spot near Tilloo Cut at Hope Town after a 12-hour day, completing 72 miles (63 nautical miles).
Tuesday
We tend to not want to move every day, especially after a long day, so we stayed put for a day, dinghying to Tahiti Beach in the Hope Town area and went on a long walk. Tahiti Beach is known for its large beach that uncovers for a few hours around low tide.
Like Spanish Wells, there was a large expat community (or US/Canadian Vacation home community). In addition, it was apparent that there was a lot of money in this area since it was highly rebuilt after Hurricane Dorian with some very nice houses and resorts. It was a lovely walk, and we ended up having a second breakfast at the Abaco Inn.
When we got back to the dinghy we went to walk on Tahiti Beach until I stepped on a conch shell and cut my foot. Dr. Sondra immediately inspected the foot and ordered me back to the boat so she could patch it up. Not a big deal but walking barefoot with an injured foot did not sound good since I am still getting over another infection in my eye. No need to tempt fate.
Once back on Utopia I continued with my troubleshooting of our water maker. I did a flow test as per the request of the Spectra technician and I think I have it narrowed down to a bad pump (one of three for the system). I think I might have a spare part that might fix it so I will need to dig into the bowels of the boat in the next few days. Meanwhile we can still make water just at half capacity.
Sondra then cut my hair, and we eased into our normal evening routine.
Wednesday
Since we have some wind coming in late Thursday and Friday, and we desperately need to do laundry and reprovision we decided to move the 12 miles to Marsh Harbour. It’s a very protected bay at the third largest town in the Bahamas. We arrived around lunch and went on a little walkabout to scope out the area. Ended up at a cool little spot called “Colors” where we had their nicely priced drinks and snacks.
Thursday
Spent the day finally doing laundry (Bubble’s Laundry) and going to the best and fully stocked grocery (Maxwell’s Grocery) and hardware store (Maxwell’s Hardware) we have found thus far during our trip to the Bahamas. The grocery store was priced comparable to the states. We got a dozen eggs for $3.50! We will keep this in mind for future trips.
We ended up going over to another boat (Bright Ayes) for happy hour which happened to be a Caliber 47. It was very familiar compared to our boat but had much more room. We have some ideas for our boat for the future.
Friday
Still in Marsh Harbor due to weather. Sondra logged into work for a few hours while I tackled some boat chores (water maker trouble shooting) and other household administration. Because of strong winds, we stayed on the boat, and I cooked a delicious meal.
Comments