Project-ville, Marsh Harbour

February 20, 2007

Internet connections leave much to be desired in Marsh Harbour. There are many different places to go online, however most of the free ones have poor reception and the local wireless service costs $20/day or $40/week. Thus, the reason for our blog being updated less frequently than usual.

We dropped off the cracked chainplate with CJ Welding yesterday morning and are crossing our fingers that he’ll have it repaired and strengthened by this afternoon. Meanwhile, we’re taking advantage of being stuck in Marsh Harbour and are working on some boat projects. Kristen has been varnishing handholds, hatchboards and other trim pieces while Hans is tackling the cockpit sole. Before leaving Fort Lauderdale, he constructed a wooden floor for the cockpit which not only looks nice, but also serves to keep our feet dry while sailing as the water flows underneath the wood and doesn’t slosh over our feet. Currently, Hans is constructing brackets for the wooden floor which will allow the floor to be raised flush with the cockpit seats and, with the addition of cushions, will create a double-bed for comfortable, outdoor sleeping.

This part of the Abacos is an interesting place. It appears to be owned and operated by one family, the Alburys. The story is something like this: Back in the day, Nellie Archer farmed a plot of land with her family on Man-o-War Cay. One day she heard voices from the beach and found several survivors from a wreck on a reef, including 16 year old Ben Albury. The majority of the residents of Man-o-War Cay can trace their roots back to Nellie and Ben. The local ferry service which shuttles people between the nearby cays is the “Albury Ferry Service”, there is an Albury taxi company as well as CJ’s Welding, the company working on our chainplate, which is owned by Charles Albury.

We biked to the Marsh Harbor Boat Yard to drop off the chainplate and bumped into an elderly gentleman on his daily walk. He was eager to show us a nearby beach where odd shells and pieces of shellfish wash up. Neither of us are very interested in beachcombing as we don’t have anywhere on the boat to keep bits of flotsam and jetsam, but we tagged along anyways. He was right; we were able to find quite a few interesting shells, vertebrae and even a piece of a jaw. We left the “treasures” but took a picture instead.


Hans looking for shells and potential lobstering spots.


The shells, etc. that we found.