Abaco, Marsh Harbour and Treasure CAy

So over to Abaco, 

March 30th Thursday
Looking forward to a protected anchorage and maybe catch up with some cruising buddies. We anchored in Crab Cay, our first stop in the Abaco, a large and very well protected place but theres nothing there just other boats.

Friday 31st March
Onto Marsh Harbour which is agin well protected and we can at least go ashore to re supply with fresh goodies. Anne and Jim on Impressionist were in one of the deep spots so we knew we could anchor pretty close to them, they were ashore when we arrived and it was so nice to see them when they returned. 

We had a few walks with Anne and Jim, Anne said theres a path we can take and it looks good so off we went.

Anne in the lead, this was a clear bit

We saw this strange looking place so Anne and I took a peek inside

Only the dog here to be seen 

Maybe this is the fella that was in the shop ?

Clever cover up for the "trash" 

A big whoopsie which could have been worse 

April 10th

As Don had some work to do in the engine room, he had the hatch open, which is between the salon and the galley, where I was working. I just happened to look up to see another small power boat coming pretty close.  I stepped forward, forgetting that the hatch was open and ended up falling through the opening.  Fortunately I did not go all the way down, which is a four feet drop.  My left leg folded in the second rung of the ladder taking all my weight, my right leg somehow hit some valves and my big toe and foot took a bashing.

So there I was, kind of holding on and stuck, with Don below me in the engine room.  He managed to untangle me and helped to get me out with what we thought, may have been a broken leg.  I can’t remember how, but he managed to get me into the shower to wash the blood away and clean the cuts and grazes.  As the pain in both legs, and my hip was beginning to kick in by then, and seeing that my leg seemed to be in a bit of a mess, I think I started to go into shock. Don put out a call on the radio asking where there was a medical centre with X-ray facilities.  This prompted quite a few people to call back offering help and advice.  Our friends Anne and Jim came over to our boat and it was decided we needed some professional medical help. So, an ambulance was called and Don, Anne and Jim docked the boat where the ambulance was waiting.  The paramedics came onboard to assess the damage and they also thought I may have broken my leg. Being strapped to a board and manoeuvred through a relatively small boat door, then over the side to the dock is not an experience I want to repeat.  As there is no hospital in Marsh Harbour I was taken to a local medical centre where my wounds were examined by a doctor.  The worst part of this was when the doctor decided to push a hypodermic needle under my big toe nail.  I was given a pain killing shot, which helped a lot.  As the medical centre did not have X-ray capability, it was back on the ambulance, still strapped to the board and taken to another location for X-ray of my legs and hip.  Thankfully there were no broken bones showing up.  If that had been the case, it would have been a medieval back to the states as there is no facilities to treat broken bones on the islands.  My wounds were dressed, the doctor prescribed antibiotics then Don Anne and me took a taxi back to the boat. For the following week or so I had to keep off my leg and couldn’t do too much, Don took great care of me, he cooked meals with instruction. 

Had visits from Anne and Jim and after time I managed to get off Pearl and go ashore. Lets just say I walked pretty slowly but I was quite please to be off the boat ashore by then.

Didn't think I would post the photos of the bruised backside though lol

April - 28th
We have been here now much longer than intended so its time to leave

Anne and Jim were working on Impressionist to get her ready to take her back to the UK, Anne had decided to do the crossing with a skipper they knew, Jim was’t going. We met the skipper Roy and went out for dinner it was the last time we saw them when we left Marsh Harbour.
It was only a couple of hours to reach Treasure Cay, as we approached our friends Glen and Marie on Gone for Good called us up, we had been in contact and they said they were coming here. It was so good to see them, we have known Glen and Marie for a few years now, the first time we met was in Fort Lauderdale in the laundry, such good company to be with and great sense of humour. 

Both picked up a mooring ball and had some fun with them ashore and on both of our boats.

Gone for Good behind us, its a beautiful very well equipped Nordhavn 50ft

We shared a few eats and drinks together on both of our boats and had lots of laughs.

Glen and Marie took us all for a ride up a creek, "Turtle Alley" they call it on their smashing dinghy, all was great until the rain started, lets just say we were all pretty wet by the time we returned. We saw lots of turtles, stingray and a nurse shark we think all of which scarpered as we got close. At one stage as we departed the creek the dinghy grounded and Don jumped out to push us off a shallow spot, well done Don!

Glen and Marie, oh did we have fun, wet but fun, this was the before picture, I didn't get the after one, pity

You can see it was windy by the palm trees bending

Tuesday May 2nd
We said BFN to Glen and Marie and off we go again.
A few hours later we were in Green Turtle Cay, is one of the barrier islands off mainland Great Abaco, we had tried one place for fuel Bluff Cay and were told they had run out and no more was expected for a couple of weeks. We did find fuel not too far away at Other Shore Dock, in fact we took his last diesel. I was cheeky and asked if we could stay on the dock overnight, the answer was yes so we stayed 2 nights here for a great price.

Although it wasn't a proper marina we enjoyed our stay, such a great little island, the bar very close by had the best conch fritters we have tasted, the rum punches were pretty good too.

It was this lovely ladys birthday she was such good fun

Nope this wasn't our dock

Not for us, don't do the church bit, it was locked anyway

Looking a little sorry for himself

We explored the island twice and bought 3 bags of colossal some stone crab claws for a silly cheap price.

I bet the whole crab was huge, fishermen break off the legs and throw them back, they then grow new legs

This is a smashing place, Plymouth is the village, there are around 450 people living on this island. Theres just a post office, church, customs office, small tourist shops and a liquor store. The island is pretty small 3 miles long and half a mile wide. Theres not many cars here, mainly golf carts. Theres a couple of boatyards and lots of fishing boats. A few small resorts here but not packed like some of the islands, mostly very low key. The locals make a living lobstering fishing, and tourism.
Thankfully my leg and foot are healing well, I still have pain in the leg and toe but the wounds are not pretty. Not sure if I will lose the nail or not. I may see someone when we reach the US.

So thats the last blog up to the end of the Bahamas. The next blog will be the crossing to the US and St Augustine.

BFN
Glenys and Don
M/Y Pearl