Days 133 to 138--Marsh Harbour

Days 133 to 138- Taking Care of Things in Marsh Harbour

Tuesday, April 14th to Sunday, April 19th, 2009
After all that partying in Great Guana, we sailed over to March Harbour to pick up our mail from the states and get some work done. The weather surprised us with two nights of thunder storms— lots of rain and lightening. This was the first time in five months of sailing the Bahamas, we have had rain storms! We were anchored safely in Marsh Harbour and the fresh rain water provided a welcome wash down for our salt encrusted boat.
We got our mail from home on Wednesday and it included the Home Land Security/Customs decal we needed to facilitate re-entering the US. Also, there were a few old bills that will have to be settled when we get home and newsletters from church, etc. and some Christmas Cards, Birthday Cards and Valentines—Thanks everyone! And, a special thanks goes to Mom/Jean for sorting and sending mail as well as negotiating with the hospital billing department for us!
Marsh Harbour provided what we needed to get a number of things done. John repaired our refrigerator and was able to replace the fan with a new one from an electronics shop here. Penny found the little foam brushes she needed to re-varnish the teak rail around the deck. Additionally, there were lots of provisions in the local grocery, lots of free internet at Curly Tails Bar & Grill, and—most important of all—hot showers in air-conditioned bathrooms! Ah—so civilized!
The only exciting story we have from our stay in Marsh Harbour happened Thursday evening as we treated ourselves to dinner at Snappa’s Bar and Grill. We had just finished eating and were waiting for the guys down the bar from us to pay so we could settle up our bill too. The bar’s VHF had been squawking about something, but we didn’t pay much attention. Suddenly, John realized that someone out in the harbour was calling all the bars around the harbour trying to find the people for s/v Always Saturday and anyone anchored near it. Yikes!! Always Saturday was dragging anchor with no one on board and s/v Caribbean Soul was anchored nearby. The guys paying their bill ahead of us were the crew of Always Saturday! We all paid up, jumped in our dinghies, and sped off to rescue our boats—just like they do in the movies! Our boat was not in the way of Always Saturday but a neighbor boat was right in its path. They had tried to pull up their anchor and get out of the way, but their anchor snagged on something and wouldn’t come up. When we arrived, this boat—s/v Conch Clipper— had put out its bumpers and was going to try to fend off Always Saturday as best they could. Fortunately, the missing crew showed up in time to motor Always Saturday out of the way and re-set the anchor. The crisis was not over for Conch Clipper with the fouled anchor. A number of captains in dinghies were offering Conch Clipper lots of complex advice; however, it seemed to Capt. John that the solution was pretty straight forward— somebody needed to dive down and untangle the anchor. Remembering how Michael on s/v Chusan had helped us, John pulled on his snorkel and fins to help these folks. It took a couple of dives and some help from above water to get Conch Clipper’s anchor free. A heavy chain of unknown origin had snagged it. Good job John! And, we got to meet some more nice folks—Ron and Sonja Hensel aboard Conch Clipper.
Sorry no pictures. We will get that camera going again. Also, we eagerly await Finley’s visit (April 27) and we wish Karen a successful run in the Boston Marathon Monday (April 20) and dissertation defense on Wednesday (April 22).
Our friend Ken Herman is constantly in our thoughts and prayers, as are Mary Jon, Gladys and Jennifer too.