Getting Used to Boat Life
After about a week, we are starting to get settled into our new boat life but, alas, we have yet to sail anywhere! It’s a good idea to acclimate to marina life considering only about one-third of our trip is at sea anyhow.
The Abacos are located in the northeast of the Bahamian archipelago (175 miles east of Palm Beach) in a 140-mile curve around the east of Grand Bahama. The population of the Abacos is 11,000, and Marsh Harbour (located on a north-facing cove about midway down Great Abaco) is the third largest town in the Bahamas (after Freeport and Nassau). A popular area with sailors, the Abacos are home to about half of the 60 marinas in the Bahamas. Many of the cays in the surrounding area were settled by Loyalists after the American Revolution. In 1973, the Abacos launched a fairly strong, but ultimately unsuccessful, movement to remain part of Britain rather than declaring independence with the rest of the Bahamas.
Marsh Harbour has been an excellent place to begin our journey. The town is just big enough to have a lot of resources and services. For instance, the eight restaurants within walking or short cab ride distance have been consistently pretty good (Andy begins the full-fledged restaurant reviews shortly). We visited two different grocery stores to investigate the eventual boat provisioning opportunities, and we were pleasantly surprised both in availability and affordability. One of the two stores is a Costco-type warehouse situation where we purchased gobs of non-perishables, soda, and paper products for about $350. And I’m talking gobs of stuff … an avalanche of pancake mix, a dozen batches of brownie
mix, granola bars, a dozen boxes of mac n’ cheese, etc. The other store is a proper grocery store with produce, butcher, deli, bakery, the whole shebang – it could be a Ralphs in Pasadena. The decent restaurants and proper grocery stores have been quite comforting for me since I can be quite finicky about food (for those who know me well, stop snickering).
The Conch Inn Marina has been a welcome first stop as well. The facilities are clean and well managed … also a comforting revelation for me … and of course, there’s the spectacular view.