Thursday April 17: Marsh Harbor

It was a really nice day when we pulled out of Green Turtle Marina about 8:30 – headed for Marsh Harbor. A short day of 25 miles.

But ….. we needed to travel through Whales Cut to get there. This cut takes us out onto the Atlantic, then runs two miles parallel to Whale Cay and then back into the shallow waters of the Sea of Abaco. The surge from the ocean waves can make this cut impassible for days at a time as the waves can be coming from who knows where in the Atlantic.

On the way out of White Sound, we passed this house that has to have some really nice views!

The sun was shinning brightly - Surona was a bit ahead of us on our port side. The plan was: if we see white caps, turn around and go back! And we kept seeing white caps but recognized them as the large waves breaking over rocks rather than the waves whitecapping.

Steve tried to get a picture of Surona as she dipped over a wave, entered the trough and then exit back up but it was really hard to get a good picture.

The waves would finally break as they hit Whale Cay to our right. Really amazing. Trying to determine how large the waves were was difficult as they were really LARGE swells rather than waves. Maybe 6 feet or so – maybe a bit larger every once in awhile.

Cheryl commented that at one time all they could see of us was our flybridge!!

Once across and headed back into shallower waters, we notice this shipwreck off to the side – stuck on a reef. Clearly it has been there for some time but still ….

Once in Marsh Harbor, we relaxed a bit and then did some riding around town. Marsh Harbor is the 3^rd largest settlement in the Bahamas (Nassau and Freeport are 1 and 2) with a population of about 5,000 people.

There is even a traffic light (only one though) here! Definitely the busiest place we've been since leaving Florida. Large grocery store, lots of places to eat, several marinas.

The harbor itself is full of sailboats (almost exclusively) anchored in the very well protected harbor.

We're at the Harbor View Marina – nice place but not really where we wanted. We tried to get into the Marsh Harbor Marina but sadly they had no room for us. No problem – we rode our bikes over to check it out.

Nice place for sure – loved the swings in the shade :-)

There is a reef over the hill from the Marsh Harbor Marina but the winds, once again, seem to not want us to be snorkeling..... but the view is still great!

I especially liked the humor of the homeowner who put this sign up :-)

Storm due in tomorrow so likely we'll stay put for a day or two. Ok by me. At a dock. Power. Water, Wifi – what more could I need??!!