"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in
its net of wonder forever."—Jacques Cousteau

Mar. 25 – Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island

Marsh Harbour – Anchorage

“One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much.” —Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Our plan today was to move to a marina in Marsh Harbour so we could provision, wash clothes, wash the boat and fill our water tanks, but the marinas were full. The wind has picked up and rain is predicted for the next few days, so I guess a lot of other people had the same idea. No one wants to give up a good day to take care of necessities. Since there was no room at the "Inn" we anchored in the harbor with another 50 boats.

The dinghy dock is pretty close to the two large grocery stores and laundromat, so our first run to town was to buy groceries and check out exactly where the laundromat was. Marsh Harbour is the third largest city in the Bahamas and Abaco's commercial hub. It definitely doesn't have the same cuteness and charm as the small settlements, but it does have everything a cruiser needs. Maxwell's is the nicest grocery store and we felt like we were back in the States. The prices were very comparable to those in Florida with meat prices cheaper than we pay at home.

We returned to the boat with fresh meat and vegetables...our first since leaving Marathon. We actually have been doing well on most items. We just ran out of a few things this week. Our next job was to wash clothes. Something else we haven't done in 3 1/2 weeks. We loaded the dinghy and then lugged everything about half a mile to the laundromat. While I did the laundry Stan went to the bank and ran a few other errands. He returned to the laundromat just as the skies opened up and it began to pour. The rain took care of job #3...washing the boat, but we were stuck at the laundromat as the streets began to flood.

About two hours later when the rain lightened up a little we wadded through puddles and made our way back to the dinghy dock. As we headed back to the boat it began to rain AGAIN. We took care of two normally routine jobs today, jobs that we take for granted when we're home, but getting them done here took most of our day. Most days the cruising life is fun, but it's not always glamorous.

The street in front of the laundromat when the rain started
The street after a little rain

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