January 19, 2010

This week has seen two very rare occurrences in our cruising time here in the Bahamas.

The first was our three day stay at The Marina at Emerald Bay, as we seldom stay in marinas in the islands. This one is a first class operation. The dockhand, once he has you tied securely to a floating concrete dock, lays out a rug, decorated with the marina’s logo, on the dock. They have golf carts available to whisk you off to the beach, pools or shopping areas. The bathroom/showers are individual rooms with toilet, sink and shower. By the sink are bottles of hand soap, lotion, mouthwash and sunscreen. In the shower area, there are containers of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and shaving soap. These are all in bottles with the marina logo.

The laundry area has 3 washer and 3 dryers, all high-end front loaders. And these do not have a coin slot as they are free for marina guests. The office has two lounges, one downstairs and one up. The downstairs one is smaller but has a desk, some comfortable furniture and books and magazines. Upstairs was the exclusive club for members but is now open to marina guests. There you will find washrooms, a bar ( not operating ), a pool table and a large lounge with 50 inch flat screen TV, two or three desks, a large couch and several tables and chairs. The wireless internet access is also free but gave us some difficulty from time to time. Not far down the road was a well stocked grocery store where we were able to re-provision with fresh fruits and vegetables. The best part of this stay? It only cost us 0.50/ft on an un-serviced dock.

We departed the marina on Monday morning, into what was predicted to be a 5 – 10 knot breeze from the south. Huh! It was blowing at least 20 and we had to motor right into it. Not a comfy ride and we were glad to drop the hook in George Town for the night.

On Monday, we rose early and departed for the long trip down to Water Cay in the Jumentos. The wind had died and thus it was a hot motorboat ride. Murray had both fishing lines out with nary a hit. Once we entered the shallow Comer Channel, we were behind a trawler headed the same way. But shortly thereafter, he disappeared into a fog bank! Fog! In the Bahamas! We traveled in the fog for four hours with the trawler ahead appearing and disappearing. Talking to the captain of the trawler, he said that in thirty years cruising the Bahamas, he had never seen fog.

Luckily, it cleared out and we motored into the anchorage at Water Cay near 4 pm after a 60 mile day. The wind picked up just as we climbed into bed. The bed rose and fell about a foot or more as the waves built around us. Eventually we did sleep some and the wind died again as dawn approached.

Today we are headed on further into the Jumentos, planning to anchor at Buenavista Cay for a few days. We have spent time here on previous visits and dove on the reefs in the anchorage with Doug & Connie on High Stepper. They were unable to travel this winter due to medical issues and we miss their company very much.

Hugs to all up north and stay warm,
Heather & Murray

PS As I send this out, we are safely anchored at Buenavista and the water temp is 82F!