April 30, 2016 Black Point Settlement, Exumas

It looks like we are going to get another cold front this week with winds from the West.  All the anchorages in the Exumas are on the west side of the islands, unless you are in Georgetown.  So we spent some time discussing options and studying charts.  Always a concern on the boat. 

We started 2 more loads of laundry as long as the lines were up and we weren’t going anywhere today.

Dave contacted the boatyard in Spanish Wells to get some general information and get that ball rolling.  Then he sent them an e-mail with details of what we need and photos of the shaft log.  It is great to have free wifi at the boat that we can pick up from shore. 

I spent some time updating this blog, since we had free wifi.  Usually it is really slow on the boat, but I “went to town” while I could.  I also did some cleaning while I waited for pictures to upload.  Multitasking. 

I stopped around 4:00 to take down the laundry and go for a swim.  We had lost a couple of our precious clothes pins yesterday ($1 apiece), so I decided to snorkel to look for them, but no luck.  It was great to get in the water.  It is so clear here, like a swimming pool.  Yesterday, I saw a remora swim under our boat.  Since we had wifi, I googled whether they will try to suck onto humans (they usually attach to sharks).  And yes they will.  But I guess you can just bat them away without them attacking you.  If they do attach, they leave a hickey when you pull them off.  Of course, the first thing I did today was check under the boat for any remoras.  None there, whew!

Then about 5:00, we went into Black Point for dinner.  We were able to take our garbage into town, yay!  We walked the few blocks that made up their main street.  It was very clean and there were lots of locals in the streets, adults and kids.  Everyone was very friendly.  We ended up at Lorraine’s for dinner.  We had heard a lot about her and how she goes out of her way to make cruisers feel at home.  It wasn’t very busy.  We didn’t make reservation, but she said she could make anything that was on the lunch menu.  In the states, you need to make reservations to get a table.  In the Bahamas, you need to make reservations so they will have the food to prepare for you.  At least it’s that way in the smaller towns. 

After dinner we walked a little further though town and back to the dinghy dock.  I can see why so many people like it  here.  But we like it with less than 10 boats and can’t imagine what it would be like with 100 boats. 

our welcome at the dinghy dock, a shark and a stingray each about 6 feet long

Lorraine's mom sells home made bread at here house behind the restaurant.  She was sitting on the front porch and had me follow her into her house right into the kitchen.  we bought 2 loaves of cinnamon raisin coconut for $6 each

lots of boat building in this town, right in their yards

not sure what this fruit was.  the tree was less than 8 ft tall and the fruit were like big avocados with ridges

our boat in the huge bay

sapodilla tree

the local clinic with their own generator

Red Sky at night, Sailors delight.  Yes, that's our boat