March 27, 2015 Marsh Harbor Tour, Bahamas

This morning, we took the dinghy to shore to explore the town.  First we found the public dumpster for our garbage, yeah!  Next we found the only restaurant on the island that served breakfast, or so it seemed.  Then Dave found a tackle shop and picked up some new anchor rode for the dinghy (the rope to tie to the anchor).  The shop was part tackle and part marine supply in a little space above the restaurant. 

Then we found the dive shop and had all our questions answered about lining up diving for our friend, Cheryl, who arrives April 5 for a week.  First of all, Captain Keith asked if my friend was from Canada, because they don’t allow Canadians on their boats.  When I told him she was from South Dakota, then he asked if that was where I was from, too.  Because he thought I was Canadian by my “accent” and was giving me a hard time. 

As we were heading into more of the “downtown” area, we went past the tourist info office.  We picked up a couple maps and found out where the Catholic church was and time of mass (she thought).  Then we found the Mercury dealer and Dave was able to find the CORRECT impeller for the dinghy motor, so he bought two.  Next was the hardware store that refills propane.  We didn’t bring the tank with us, just checking.  I wanted to check out the laundromat.  The washing machines were either $2.50 for normal size and $6.00 for the large machines.  The dryers were $0.75 to start it for 2 minutes and $0.25 for each additional 2 minutes.  So 20 minutes would be about $3.00.   Plus you would have to haul it about 6 blocks from the dock.  So washing by hand on the boat doesn’t look so bad.  But we haven’t tried sheets yet.  Hanging them may be a challenge.  Besides, someone told Dave that the dryers are heated with propane and sometimes they run out of propane, possibly in the middle of drying your load. 

I checked out the Price Right grocery store.  They had a lot of items in bulk, similar to Sam’s Club.  But many individual items.  And a nice produce section.  We may return if we need to restock.  And the prices seemed OK.

We separated at the hardware store.  I went to check out the laundry and the grocery store.  But we weren’t real specific about where we would meet.  Was I to return to the hardware store, or was Dave going to follow me?  We used to rely on our cell phones to find each other.  So after each looking and waiting for the other, we decided we better come up with an actual plan for meeting in the future.  We do have walkie talkies that we may start using. 

for our biker friends and family

We returned to the boat by about 1:00 and were hot and dehydrated.  We didn’t plan to be gone that long.  So it was a lazy afternoon. 

Tonight, we went for a dinghy ride around the harbor to check it out.  We went to the marinas and looked at boats.  We saw 3 dolphins frolicking.   A little one was playing in our bubbles from our motor for a little while.  It was so close that Dave even got hit by it’s spray from it’s spout.  Then we circled the harbor checking out the boats at anchor.

Dave's new friend

About 10:00, the wind kicked up, like we had been expecting.  There were a couple boats sounding air horns and resetting anchors.  Dave watched several people out on their decks checking their boats.  Even if you feel good about your anchor, you never know about your neighbor’s.  If their anchor drags, they could hit your boat.  So if the wind stays strong, it may be a sleepless night. 

Our home at anchor