Compass Cay to Black Point , The Bahamas
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Since the winds have returned to “normal” (SE 10-15), we decided that today is the day to begin heading back south with Black Point as our destination. Sandy got in a quick walk before leaving.
Since we needed water, gas and diesel, we decided to stop at the nearby Sampson Cay Club. It was a beautiful place, all new and well manicured. The owner, who also has a marina in Maine, must have put tons of money into this resort. It is definitely upscale with lovely landscaping, a nice marina and several houses and villas for rent. If you want to get away from everything, this is a place to do so. We had lunch at their restaurant before heading on to Black Point.
Sailing, for once, was delightful and we sailed all the way into the anchorage. It was a very calm evening. We had Joe and Michele (Simple Life) over for drinks. Then it was gazpacho for dinner with ham salad and sliced oranges. Tasty!
Black Point, the Bahamas
Wednesday – Thursday, February 11 – 12, 2004
Wednesday promised to be hot with light SE wind and temperatures in the mid 80s.
First order of business was dropping our laundry off a Lorraine’s Mom’s house. Afterwards, Bill spent a couple of hours at the school computers updating our little web site while Sandy took a long walk toward the south end of the island on the sound side. The road was paved for the first mile and then turned to packed sand and rock. The area along the road was very rocky while other areas adjacent areas were lush green with palms, grape and succulent-looking plants.
We had lunch aboard and then spent a couple of hours walking north to the sound beach to explore. After the walk we picked up a loaf of whole wheat bread and our laundry from Lorraine’s Mom. That evening we had drinks on board Simple Life with Liberty and Seldom Seen.
Thursday, 2/12
We considered heading south to Georgetown today but the SE winds at 10-15 would have been mostly on our nose and there were left-over 6-8 ft seas on sound. (It was hot, too, again, with temps in mid-80s. Besides, reports from other boats already out on the sound indicated that it was really uncomfortable out there and some boats were turning back. We and Simple Life decided to stay in our comfortable anchorage.
With Joe and Michele, we walked south to the proposed new marina and housing development south of town, exploring the sound-side beach along the way. Like much in the Bahamas, that new marina and resort home development is “coming soon”. There had been much dirt moved and you could see the outline of a marina basin, yet to be dug, but moving that much dirt was probably cheap. It will take deep pockets and lots of experience in Bahamas-style development to make the development a reality. All in all, Sandy lead the group on five miles of walking and left Joe and Michele lagging behind. It felt good to settle in on our boat an wait for the mail boat to arrive for fresh veggies.
By early afternoon wind had shifted to SW and we were rolling a little. Fortunately, it calmed down by evening. We had dinner aboard … grilled pork tenderloin, basin carrots and roasted potatoes. Tough life!