Good Friends and Bad Weather

February 7, 2016

We have been docked at Harbour View Marina in Marsh Harbour for a little over 2 weeks.

Our stay has been relatively uneventful, but can be summarized by Good Friends and Bad Weather.

First the bad weather.  January and continuing into February has been relatively cold and stormy. Some blame it on El Nino but, in my experience, January is always a tough month.  We have been having fronts come through almost every 3-5 days as opposed to the more 'normal' pattern of 7-10 days.  Each front ushers in a round of rain and strong clocking wind.  Although we are relatively well protected here, a West to Northwest wind can still build up a chop in the harbour that makes it a bit uncomfortable on the boat.

However, many comments over the years about how it is 'Too cold to go to Abaco early in the year - stay in the Keys until March or later" sparked my curiosity.  Although it is definitely not 'swimming weather', we have typically found the temperatures here to be quite comfortable.  Over the years, we have experienced our coldest weather in South Florida and the Florida Keys.  These events are memorable, because we break out our little propane heater (The Little Buddy) to help stave off the chill.   This is our only source of heat unless we are docked with shore power.

The Little Buddy heater

So I kept a record of temperatures in Marathon and where we were located in the northern Bahamas. In January, the Bahamas averaged 2 degrees warmer at almost 70 degrees,  Not exactly a scientific study, but it kind of bears out our experience.

Now on to friends.  The biggest reason that we stay as long as we do in Marsh Harbour is the great Bahamian friends that we developed through Grace Baptist Church.  They are like family to us!

In addition to great times of worship and bible study at the church.  Shawn and Jackie Robins joined us for a Chicken Roti  dinner (one of my specialties) on the boat, and Shawn joined us for a great car trip 'down north' to Fox Town and Crown Haven at the far northern tip of mainland Abaco. And we have also renewed friendships with many others from the church too numerous to mention!

Pastor Shawn at last year's Family Day

Elder Jackie at last year's Family Day

It is always hard to leave Marsh Harbour because of these friends, but tentatively we plan to leave late this week and head to Eleuthera.


Tom
Docked at Harbour View Marina
Marsh Harbour, Abaco