Marsh Harbour, Abacos. 7 - 11 May

Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Fri 11 May 2012 00:23

26:32.86N 077:03.49W

 

We wiggled our way into Marsh Harbour expecting to ground at any moment there was so little water under the keel, a very narrow channel and completely confusing channel markers.  We made it and dropped anchor among other yachts gathering there preparing to make the crossing to the States.

 

Richard and Claire on Phalarope arrived the following day as did Steven and Marja on Motu, fellow Ocean Cruising Club members who we had spoken to on the radio but not met before.  We invited all for a drink and before long were joined by Dana and Myron who had dropped by to deliver a chicken to Motu, seen their dingy tied to Tashi Delek and come over.  Another spontaneous and entertaining evening where we learnt more from other experiences.

 

Marsh Harbour stands out as somewhere we were finally able to buy fresh fish.  There was a small store where it seems the sport fishing boats, (of which there are many, even the police launch had six rod holders) take their fish.  The lady there packs it into Ziplock bags and sells them from a rickety old fridge.  She makes up ice blocks in recycled poly bags so that you can keep your fish cold while doing the rest of your shopping.  They also had fresh conch; removed from the shell but not prepared so we bought some and asked for a quick lesson in what to do.

 

First put it into a large poly bag and smash it hard to flatten it and tenderise it…..

 

 

 

Then toss in flour and deep fry (not sensible on a boat) or cook in sauce of some kind (eminently sensible on a boat)  We used a Thai red curry recipe (Jamie Oliver’s) and it was fantastic.

 

There was much chatter on the radio and much visiting of each other’s boats going on as people discussed the weather forecast and tried to decide when to leave.  The forecast was not at all conducive to the crossing in any direction but especially not for those of us wanting to go round Cape Hatteras and into Chesapeake Bay.  We have been listening to a weather forecaster called Chris Parker who broadcasts from Florida every morning on the long range radio.  He covers different areas at different times from 7.30 am and covers everything a sailor needs to know.  If you subscribe to his service you are then able to speak to him after the forecast and ask for specific advice so we have done that for this month.  Fantastic.  We discussed our plans and he can then give really specific information about wind direction and speed, squalls, wave height and times.  We have a deadline so it became clear that we would have to leave on the high tide the morning after Ross and Loren arrived.   We had planned to have a couple of days bumbling around sandy beaches, getting them used to the boat again and generally catching a bit of sun.  If we had done that we would have missed the window and been stuck for a week or more.

 

We were good to go but we knew that it wasn’t going to be a great crossing and we may have to head directly north and tuck in to Beaufort, North Carolina rather than go round the Cape.