Shopping, outer island style

 I have to admit that the new Maxwell's in Marsh Harbour is a great food store. It's a huge improvement over the Price Rite that existed there, and that store always seemed to have good product available. The produce section in the new Maxwell's was as good as or better than some of the stores we have in Kingston N.Y.. It's definitely a welcome addition to the growth of this area and I am sure that local folks as well as visitors like us will appreciate the investment made by the owners. They can't go wrong.
 Maxwell's is very similar to a ShopRite or Stop and Stop back in the States. Fortunately they have not taken on the role that Publix has in Florida. Publix seems to have quite a bit of product but their fish, meats and poultry are substandard compared to what is available here. We have always been and remained shocked at the difference in meat qualities between the two areas. Especially when high end markets like Adam's Fairacre Farms are included in the comparison.
 So it all sounds good right?
 Well not really. Consider a 5 mile ride in a 10 foot inflatable to get onto the main island and then a 1 or 2 mile walk to get to the store. Then there are the logistics of making sure any refrigerated goods survive the trip. I know, we should not complain. Especially when the environmental comparision includes -10 degrees F vs. what we have here. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and well, that works a heck of alot better than what is going on in the home region.
 But then we had to slog it back across the Sea of Abaco into about a foot and a half of chop to get it all back onto Freedom. Normally we would not venture out into this with the dink but the forecast included clocking winds that indicated we would be in a following sea on the way back. Not. Did not happen. We plowed into the water for about 1/2 an hour. It wasn't that bad. I mean, we kept the bow of the dink up and this diverted the spray to the sides. It took longer but we were in no danger. Will we do it again? Not if we can avoid it. But all in all it worked out well and we are better off with the new stores aboard Freedom. Consider the GPS tracks we did with our Avon 240 RIB going to Boat Harbour and that the wind was out of the South East. We around quite a bit until we were in the lee of Luber's.
 We knew all of this was going to happen, since we docked the dink at Boat Harbour and could observe the Sea of Abaco from their facility.  We had to pay 25 bucks for the rite of parking, however, this fee can be used as credit at the pool bar/grill. So after slogging all of the groceries back from Maxwell's to Boat Harbour we sat down by the pool side and had a burger and a beer before we set out in the dink against the wind. I have to admit it numbed the senses to the slamming we put up with.
 It's all good.