The laundry was beginning to ferment, which meant it was time to weigh anchor and head for Black Point, the best little laundromat in the Exumas. On Sunday and Monday, about 25 boats had left Big Majors, and we knew the laundromat would be busy, so we waited a day. On Tuesday SeaTryst and Tanden went the 6 miles south to Black Point. As usual the weather forecast said the wind would be out of the east, perfect for sailing. But as usual they were wrong and the wind was on the nose, making for a short 6 mile beat. We had the laundromat to ourselves.
It was nice to be back in Black Point, seeing familiar faces from last year - Lorraine, her mother, Ida at the laundromat, the lady selling her straw baskets. Maggie and Jennifer volunteered at the after-school homework program. The children are eager to learn and wait patiently for a tutor to be available for math, reading, phonics. It was rewarding to participate in the community.
We got our coconut bread from Lorraine's mother and some produce at Adderly's Market. In the store, who did we come across, but Luther's father, Lamar - we had to reunite them and decided we must bring Lamar back to the boat. Lamar loved SeaTryst so much that he has decided to stay on as crew.
Bob was happy to hear that Ida who owns the Laundry is also a hairdresser. We jumped in the back of her truck, and she brought us to her salon, where Bob got his much-needed haircut. Ida is quite and entrepreneur and because of her laundromat Black Point is a popular stop for cruisers.
Walking through the village, we noticed a Bahamian sloop under construction. Every island has their boats and a lot of pride goes into the building and painting of these sloops. It is almost a national past time racing them in various island regattas. A completed one under repair is below.
Traveling with Tanden, on Thursday we weighed anchor and went another 5 miles south to White Point, and anchored together in a spot protected from either SE or NE. We're finding the forecasts are not accurate for wind direction or velocity. While snorkeling some nice coral heads, Maggie saw the biggest crab she's ever seen which escaped Al's spear; the thing was h-u-g-e! We then enjoyed a peaceful night with little wind. We watched AFS (another sunset) hoping to see the green flash. Bob has never seen one and thinks they fall in the same category as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Friday morning after watching a gorgeous sunrise, we got in the dinghy for an early-morning ride around the point. It was beautiful, not even a ripple in the water. We got a picture of a starfish next to our buried anchor, which we could see so clearly 8' down. Anchoring on the beach on the south side of White Point, we walked up the hill to get a view of the surrounding area. We had the whole beach to ourselves (about 2 miles long). Just what we have been looking for, a beach all to ourselves.
Underway about noon, we put up both sails (rare these days!) and went to Cave Cay for the night. Al and Jennifer came to SeaTryst for dinner, and we enjoyed a starfilled night in the cockpit. About 5:00a we were awakened with rocking and rolling as the current shifted. This is the place with a well-protected marina under construction, and we heard the generator all day and all night. We think we'll go some other place next time.
With our two Bahamian policemen on board, and Rosie the watch-cat, SeaTryst is well protected.
We got going early Saturday morning, sailing in Exuma Sound to Lee Stocking Island. Going through a cut is the best place to catch fish, so Bob got prepared - all the gear out and ready for the big one with his name on it. Well, it escaped us once more.
We arrived Lee Stocking at 11:40a with calm breezes, and enjoyed napping and relaxing all afternoon. We then dinghied around this beautiful island. One of the rock formations is called Tug and Barge - doesn't it look like it's underway? Bob had to take down the hammock to get ready to leave the next morning.
The only
problem, Lee Stocking is a research area and they do not allow people to walk on
the island. Since Henry the dog (Henry is on Al and Jennifer's
boat) needs to walk on the beach, we needed to leave. We thought we might
go check out a few of the nearby islands and if possible duck out into
Exuma Sound to see what the sea state was like. If good we
would head to GeorgeTown, and if that didn't work, we'd go to Rat Cay
(much prettier than it sounds). Again, the forecast was wrong, and we slammed, crashed and banged our way through the cut fighting
7-8 foot seas with 3-4 second periods. Well, needless to say we didn't go to
far before we turned back. Rosie and Henry were very happy we did,
as well as Bob, Maggie and Jennifer. Al thought it would get better
as we moved away from the cuts. We could not find good
protection at Rat because of rolling seas, so went to more remote and less
traveled area of the Brigantine islands - we found out why these are less traveled.
Barren, shallow and desolate. We dropped our hooks, Henry and Al went to the
only beach in sight, and then we waited for the tide to change so we
could go back to Lee Stocking.
Inching our way through the shallow passage, sometimes seeing less than our 5' draft, we arrived at a beautiful cove on Williams Bay about 5:00p, near some beaches hidden from the Lee Stocking anchorage. The first night we were the only two boats; the second we were joined by four more including others with dogs who also went to the beach.
Tuesday ... what a difference two days make! We weighed anchor at 9:00a to head through the cut again, to go to GeorgeTown. Al and Jennifer were out of wine so we needed to get there quickly to reprovision. With no wind and no seas, it was a calm and uneventful (no fish) 4-hour motor trip.
We are anchored in Kidd Cove, just outside of town. At night, the anchor lights of the boats across the harbor looked like a city. We're back in the community, with over 200 boats anchored nearby! Its nice to see so many familiar names and friends we've met along the way. even if it is a little too populated.
