Little Harbour, Great Abaco

We got up early (well, early for us) and still were the last boat to leave the anchorage this morning. It seems everybody was heading to Abaco today. The wind (less than 10 knots) was too light to sail, but we put the sails up and left one engine on and slowly passed all the boats who had left before us (Thanks, 40hp Volvo engine!). When we arrived at the anchorage area, we were kind of surprised to see about 10 or 12 boats all clumped together in one little spot. At the time, the wind was also blowing from the west so that they had land right behind them (in sailor parlance: a lee shore, something you try to avoid if possible). We looked at the charts and saw that there was plenty of water so we kept going and anchored about a quarter mile from everyone else. When we got settled in, we had another look at the charts and realized that all those boats were trying to anchor exactly where the anchor symbol is on the chartbooks. We watched in amazement as five or six more boats came in and wedged themselves in there among all the other boats.

Around 4pm we dinghied into the harbour (harbor? I guess after this trip I will forever be spelling that word the British way) and went to a beach pub that looked like an idyllic spot. Lots of picnic tables and benches in the shade -- it was the epitome of the perfect beach bar. Until we ordered beers and discovered that they were five dollars each. Five dollars?! That is the most expensive beer we've seen anywhere in this country. PLUS, it's a can not a bottle AND they don't even bother to open the can for you! Three beers each and thirty dollars later (for $6 more we could've bought a case of the stuff) we were contemplating ordering burgers for dinner when we had a glance at the menu -- $13 for a burger, $14 if you wanted cheese. We were already thirty dollars poorer, so we opted to have pasta and salad on the boat (total cost: $3.50 per person). Guess we'll be doing our eating and drinking on the boat while we're in this spot.

We did meet some interesting people while we were at the bar though. We finally introduced ourselves to the crews of several boats that we keep seeing wherever we go. And we met another young couple our age who have been living aboard their boat for seven years already. That means they moved aboard when they were in their mid-20's. Man, when I was in my mid-20's I could barely navigate my way through downtown Phoenix! Living on a boat was not even a blip on the radar.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 20.130'
Long: W 77 00.425'