We had a little bit of a restless night on the mooring ball in Man-O-War Cay. The wind picked up and changed directions throughout the night. The swinging room was tight. We bumped up against an unoccupied ball for a while in the night. When we awoke, we had swung around to the point where there was another boat directly behind us. We were so close I could have jumped from our stern onto its bow. Nevertheless, all was well. We slipped out of the harbour at Man-O-War Cay at low tide – around 9:30 a.m.

The boat within jumping distance from our stern (The picture does not do the proximity of the blue vessel)

Leaving Man-O-War Harbour

Exiting the cut at Man-O-War

The 3 or 4 mile trip across the Sea of Abaco to Marsh Harbour was a little choppy and bouncy, but tolerable. The wind was strong out of the ENE at 20 knots virtually all day. Rain intermittently fell throughout the day as well. Late in the morning, when we arrived at the Conch Inn Resort and Marina, we pulled up to the fuel dock. Since we were there, we filled the tanks with fuel, the first fill-up since Ft. Lauderdale. Sixty-seven gallons later (at over $5/gallon) we were set. The wind was pinning us against the dock, so rather than fight the wind to get off the dock and into a slip, we decided to stay put on the fuel dock for the night. We would be leaving the next day anyway.

Filling up the Gas Tanks in Marsh Harbour

Beatitude at the fuel dock at Conch Inn Marina, Marsh Harbour

A rainy day in the Abacos – Cindy on the docks at Conch Inn Marina

At 4:15, our taxi driver, Alex, a fine young man with a picture of his eight month old boy hanging from the rear view mirror, picked us up at the marina to drive us to the Marsh Harbour Airport. Julie and Tracy’s plane had been delayed slightly from Nassau due to weather, but they arrived shortly after 5 p.m. We were so excited to have them aboard again. They’ve cruised with us before in Florida and now they were able to meet up with us in the Bahamas.

Julie and Tracy arrive at Marsh Harbour Airport

That evening we walked to the “world famous” Snappa’s for dinner before returning to Beatitude for a game of Golf (dominated by Julie). We were all tired, Cindy and I from our restless night in Man-O-War, and Julie and Tracy from their full day of flying, so we all went to bed a little early.

First night dinner at Snappa’s