We’ve spent the past couple of weeks travelling around the beautiful Exumas. We typically spend a couple of days exploring one place then tuck ourselves into a protected anchorage somewhere else for a little while a cold front passes. We only ever travel a few miles at a time, and the sailing down here is very pleasant. I’m in Black Point right now, taking advantage of the Internet access at a local restaurant called Lorraine’s Café.
Our days on the uninhabited islands are mostly spent swimming, snorkeling, and hiking around with friends. It is a pretty nice life, I must say. We’ve spent a lot of time at Cambridge Cay, a spectacular island with lots of lovely beaches, a nice little hiking trail, an abundance of coral around it to dive on. The Exuma Land and Sea Park has about a dozen well-maintained moorings there that can be rented for $15 per night. White Seal spent two cold fronts moored there, protected by the islands from the waves.
We’ve also spent a few days in Staniel Cay and a few in Black Point, both of which are friendly, small communities with small grocery stores and other important amenities. We get fresh fruits and vegetables whenever possible from these little stores, even though their selection is extremely limited. Also, we got to do a load (eight loads, actually) of laundry at the Black Point Laundromat, a chore that had been ignored for FAR too long. You become very, very grateful for things like clean T-Shirts when you live in a salt-water environment and every garment you own becomes encrusted with a damp, crisp layer of salt.
These towns are different from any settlement I’ve ever been to. The buildings are a lot more modest than those in the States and many give off an appearance that would be considered disheveled by American standards. No one has grassy lawns and no one has landscaping, other than perhaps a flowering bush and some conch shells lining the driveway. A lot of people use golf carts as means of transportation around the island since it’s cheaper and keeping a car running when you’re an ocean away from NAPA is a challenge at best.
Also, Bahamian grocery stores are very, very different from the Winn-Dixies and Stop& Shops that I have become used to. They’re extremely small and have barely more food than we would ordinarily keep stored in our house at any given time. The sell the essentials, but when we tried to get Parmesan cheese and chocolate chips, there were none to be found. Also, everything is vastly overpriced. An average sized box of Fruit Loops would set you back almost $8.00. We are very glad that we stocked up on food while we were in the States!
There are actually more kids here too! There are fourteen of us boat kids in Black Point now, split between five boats. We all met up yesterday for an exciting game of Ultimate Frisbee on the beach. (It was girls vs. boys and we tied- just in case you were interested.) We will all probably spend a few more days here in Black Point playing football on the beach, splashing in the water, and feasting on candy bar’s from Adderly’s Friendly Grocery Store. It is so, so nice to hang out with people under fifty when you’ve been associating with older cruisers all the time. I am very grateful that I can share the adventure with these other kids and I hope that we can all get along and have fun together.
We’ll be continuing south after we leave Black Point, probably arriving at Georgetown within a couple of weeks. Georgetown is the final destination for many cruisers and the large harbor will undoubtedly be choked with hundreds of cruising boats when we get there. I have heard rumors of constant parties, bonfires, and lots and lots of other boating kids, so I am rather excited about getting to Georgetown.
This lifestyle is great, I am really, truly loving it. Hope all you readers are doing well! I'll post again whenever I get the chance!
I read you saw Kathleen and Will on S/V Wings on your way South toward Georgetown. Have you seen S/V Coquina?
ReplyDeleteFair Winds & Smooth Sailing,
Lawrence Leonard S/V Elle & I
Hello,
ReplyDeleteYes we did get to spend a couple of days with Will and Kathleen in Farmer's Cay during their annual festival. It was a lot of fun to see them. Will actually got to crew on the winning Bahamian boat there, which he was quite proud of.
We saw John and Mindy from Coquina briefly in Warderick Wells a few weeks ago. It's very fun to run into other Vermonters two thousand miles from little old Lake Champlain. There are a surprising number of them down here.
I hope that all is well in the 802 and that the snow isn't too bad!
-Mary