Underway Again#23: Marsh Harbour   (as seen above)

 

We anchored overnight at Tilloo Cay

 

 

and the next day on to Marsh Harbour, which is the largest town in the Abacos.  It has changed in the five years since we were there.  It is evident that an attempt has been made to spruce up the town.  It seems cleaner, with fresh paint on many of the homes and businesses.  Flowers were being planted along the edges of the road while we were there.

 

It was great to be back there and we walked and walked the first day and the second day, we got out our bikes and rode to a beach not far from town.  On the way, my tire went flat.  We filled it up with air and patched the tube.  By the time we got to the beach, it was flat again.  Maureen, Bill and I swam in the water while Roman biked back into town to repair my tire.  He could not find the right size of tube for the tire so he bought a new patch kit and that seems to be holding well.

Beach near Marsh harbour

What we do to keep cool.

It s really hard roughing it in the Bahamas!

 

Below Conky Joe's used to be just a outdoor conch salad shack.  Now it is a nice new building with a great bar and view but no conch salad.  We tried several times but always we were told: no conch!

 

 

One of the disappointments in Marsh harbour was that we could not find any fresh conch salad, not only at Conky Joe's but anywhere.  We were told that the conch grounds or beds are being overfished due to an increasing demand for conch and the fishermen are also dropping the shells where they get  the conch, so the conch are moving to deeper water.  Fishermen are capturing the juvenile conch as well so fewer conch are reaching maturity.  Conch salad is also very labour intensive and you can make more money with conch fritters, cracked conch, conch burgers etc. 

 

This young entrepreneur was selling conch in the shell for $2:00.  Unfortunately we were on our way to the beach.  On the way back he was gone!  We wondered where he had gone conch fishing.

 

 Marsh Harbour has many well-stocked stores of all kinds and good advertising signs, as seen above.

And a lot of great places to eat and drink.

 

 

Most places are open and overlooking the water.

 

These little companions are everywhere but fortunately, not on our boat.

 

Fortunately, our dinghy seems to be holding so we have not been looking for more glue.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will hold out for a few more weeks until we get back to the States.  We took advantage of the modern supermarket which rivals the ones at home in everything except price.  Everything is imported and duty is paid on imported things so prices are at least a third more.

 

 

Each sunset seems more beautiful than the last!