Marsh Harbor, Abacos

Saturday, June 17, 2006

026-32.820 N
077-3.480 W

June 17, 2006

Ahoy from Marsh Harbor in the Abacos!

Marsh Harbor is a great place to pull in to when you need to restock, repair or hide from an upcoming storm. It's a real city with traffic light, lots of stores and lots of boats, but it doesn't have a lot of attraction for us. We basically stopped here to do laundry, pick up some supplies and to get a general feel for what's available.

The anchorage can probably hold 200+ boats and is very well protected from all directions. The holding was great in sand. Most of the harbor seems to have 6-7 feet at MLW, but the chart shows a 10' section. The biggest issue is that boats coming from the marinas tend to fly through the anchorage. We anchored near the public dock (which was very well maintained) and were happy to find that the 2 large grocery stores were located very close by.

We first went to Solomon's which is like a current US grocery store. It was well lit and nicely stocked. Later we went to Price Smart and Sue said that it had better selection and the produce was better. It was more of a warehouse type store. Don't expect US pricing on US goods. Most things carry a 35% duty and then there's shipping, etc.

Next to the Price Smart you'll find a laundry that has lots of machines. Normal sized washers were $2 and it took about $3 to dry a load. There's also a NAPA a block N where I got fuses and oil. You can recycle used oil at the Shell station next to the NAPA.

For lunch we went to Jamie's which is clearly a place that the locals enjoy. It had good food and good prices. It's past the Conch Inn and is well worth the walk.

I signed up for wireless Internet access through Out Island Internet (www.AbacoInet.com) and coverage at Marsh Harbor was very good. It's expensive...$20/day or $40/week. They have coverage at about a dozen locations, but you definately need to be close to the routers.

-- Geoff & Sue
Log ID: 869