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

Lunch at Pete's Pub in Little Harbor and then back to LynyardO

OK here they are...but in bronze.  These flying fish are at the base of one of Pete Johnson's wonderful sculptures. 

We planned to head back toward the Little Harbor Inlet to have lunch at Pete's Pub, but weren't sure we wanted to take such a long dinghy ride, so after a leisurely breakfast and a trip ashore for Dory we pulled the anchor and headed down to Pete's. 

Dory's morning routine.

One of our new friends from Spanish Wells said he was heading into the harbor and would give us a report of what depths he encountered.  We knew we needed high tide to get in and were worried about getting stuck in there, so we were glad to hear (after we had dropped the hook outside the harbor) that he had run  across 6'2" on the way in....to close a call for us.  The dinghy ride in was pretty wild and we were thankful we weren't going any further than around the corner!  

We met up with the crew of both boats we had crossed from Spanish Wells and had lively tale swapping and a delicious Easter lunch, no ham, just mahi mahi!  After lunch we visited the museum quality gift shop displaying lots of bronze sculptures and walked to the windward beach where we saw an amazing amount of plastic JUNK!! 

We really like the works Pete Johnson and his son create.  You can see the flying fish at the bottom of the tall one.

The wind didn't seem to be that much stronger than yesterday, but the windward (ocean) side of both Lynyard  Cay and at Pete's (bottom right) was plenty roiled.

 

The anchorage outside Little Harbor was pretty rolly so we headed back to Lynyard Cay to anchor for the night.  We were just settling in when one of the couples from yesterday's trip and today's lunch came by and invited us for cocktails.  We took them up on it and headed over to their new "home". They had bought a 49' Leopard Catamaran from the Moorings in Tortola three months ago and sailed it to Miami and then straight back south to Key West to be part of the race committee for Key West Race Week and then headed over here to the Bahamas.  They are headed to Marion, Mass to spend the summer racing J-24's.  The other couple we crossed with came for cocktails also.  They are on a Caliber 40.  They carry 220 gallons of fuel, and 200 of water!!  Don't know where they put it.  

On our trip ashore with Dory this afternoon we were back at the beach where I had found so many sea biscuits and I found tons more.  While I was looking I disturbed a little crab who kindly didn't bite me, just scuttled away, but not before leading me to one of the sea biscuits!

We got a text this evening from Debbie and Mike inviting us to join them for some hunting at Snake Cay.  We were intrigued.  It took a while to find Snake Cay on the chart.  It's right next to Great Abaco Island and they say they plan to hunt for conch and bugs (which I assume refers to Bahamian lobsters.)  Time will tell, and so will I.   ~~~_/)~~~M&D