Bellatrix

15 December 2014

Marsh Harbor, Abacos

We spent a couple of days at Man-O-War Cay, a very religious settlement with a thriving boat building business. It was settled during the American Revolutionary War by settlers from North Carolina who were loyal to England. You cannot buy liquor or cigarettes there but you may bring a bottle to a restaurant for dinner. By Bahamian standards this is a very clean and well kept town. The boat building business occupies most of the waterfront. They build mostly skiffs and center consoles from 18’ to 38’, but also the ferry boats that travel from island to island about 40’. Most food and souvenirs are expensive.

We sailed to Marsh Harbor, the hub of the Abacos. A large town with just about anything you need, a very large grocery, marine supplies, marinas, propane, etc. We are waiting for our mail we requested from our UPS box 3 weeks ago.

Our new toilet arrived the same day we got here, Friday. I received a notice from FedEx the package was at the local FedEx office. After we tied the boat, and cleaned up a few things we took a cab to the FedEx store. We got there at 1230 and the sign on the door said “Open 830-1200 Mon - Fri”, sugar… we’ll have to wait till Monday. As we were about to get back in the cab someone in another car told us the FedEx guy was coming back in 5 minutes for him. Good News! He did come back, we told him why we were there and he told us he had 2 packages for us. I had ordered the toilet and when I didn’t see a confirmation the next day I called West Marine International and was told the first order didn’t go through, they would order it again and ensure the first order was cancelled. Wrong. I had later gotten confirmation on both and that they were in transit. I called West Marine again, and was told they would catch the first one in Miami and have it returned. Wrong. Two heads in Marsh Harbor. Two charges. The FedEx guy tells us how we can return one and tells us we have to pay duty on one. We thought you didn’t have to pay duty on repair items but apparently only on propulsion or navigation items. Duty will be $170, plus $25 for FedEx to clear it for us. You pay 45% on the cost of the item and shipping. We are now at around $565 for a $200 toilet. What choice do we have?

New manual head installed, wallet not as thick, butt is happy.

Our friend Kim from “Diesel Goose” has been here a few days and showed us around. We went to the grocery, had a propane bottle refilled, and did a little shopping. Bella had worms so we stopped at the Vet. She looked at Bella’s feces, gave Robin a pill and sent us on our way. No look at Bella, very few questions, $13. Not bad.

Sunday we watched the Ravens beat the Panthers, not many football fans here. After the game three guys were sitting at a nearby table, they appeared to be a father and two sons. Later the father played a mandolin, one son a guitar and the other a fiddle. They played lively celtic music. We believe they are Irish, and once they started playing they did not have to buy themselves drinks. I wish I could play.

Another acronym over the bar at “Snappa’s”, try this one Bill…

“IITYWYBTHAD”

Not many pictures today, the parts of Marsh harbor we’ve seen are not very picturesque.