One night at Tahiti Beach, off Elbow Cay and then back to Marsh Harbor

Monday morning, the wind was still pretty strong from the southeast so Resolve  and their trusty hunting guide decided against a visit to Snake Cay and suggested we join them at Tahiti Beach on the south end of Elbow Cay.  We headed up through the shallow draft entrance as it was almost high tide and made it through comfortably and were anchored in time for a Bloody Mary before venturing ashore.  Easter Monday is a big holiday around here and the place was packed. The beach was crowded and so was the anchorage. Mike and Debbie and a couple they had befriended came over for cocktails and snacks which were "heavy" enough that we didn't need dinner.  Debbie brought lobster pizza and I had made pull-apart cheesy bread with bruchetta sauce...not exactly a balanced meal, but yummy.  Once again, the sunset didn't disappoint.

We also had fun joking about the burning boat....   A group had a big bonfire on the beach, and from our vantage point it looked like the boat anchored off the beach was in flames.

The fire burned for more than an hour and really looked like it was on the boat!

 The weather reports this morning said light and variable winds in the morning followed by thunder storms in the afternoon, so we headed toward Marsh Harbor.  While on the way we stopped at one of my favorite reefs called Mermaid Reef.  It is just outside the harbor and I have seen a great variety of fish each time we stop.  Today was no exception.

I really got a kick out of the expression on this Midnight Parrotfish (top).  A Queen Angelfish and French Angelfish
are in the middle and a spotted ray, grunt and a doctorfish (vertical stripes) round out the group.

Top left is a Queen Triggerfish partially hidden by two Blue Tangs.  Ballyhoos on the right.
Middle is a mish mash of all kinds! and a Blue Parrotfish posed nicely.

I also got a picture of Resolve (left) and Brunelle  from the water ...AND if you look closely at the last shot you'll see the new propeller zinc in place.

Before we hauled up the anchor to head into the harbor it started to rain, not much just a light shower. It followed us into the harbor but stopped long enough for us to pick up fuel at the dock before taking a slip at the Marsh Harbour Marina, across the harbor from Harbor View where we stayed before. The rain picked up again as we were tying up but when we decided to dinghy across the harbor to have dinner at Snappas (we are out of just about everything...kids cleaned us out!!) it wasn't raining. 

 We picked up Mike and Debbie on the way across the harbor (they had anchored out) and had a great diner accented by thunder and occasional lightning, but no rain.  Just a we were finishing up the rain arrived, so it was a VERY wet ride back across the harbor, BUT nothing compared with the squall that hit around 9 pm.  We were rocking and rolling in the slip and turned on the VHF radio to see what chatter we could hear.  Those out in the anchorage were all asking just how much wind did we have, and did anyone drag?  Someone reported 47-48 knots of wind and Mike texted that he heard someone thought it was 140 knots!!  A window blew out of their bimini.  The word is more is on the way,,,  We are glad to be well tied up! ~~~_/)~~~ M&D