After withstanding a very windy night and strong currents all night Jan and I had put in a very long night standing watches while on the mooring ball.
You see, earlier in the day I dove on the two inch line that was pinned on the bottom and all looked well .... Until I checked the area where it passed through the ball and had chafed down to two strands of nylon....NOT GOOD!!
So, off I go again with dock line in hand and swim down the mooring line to a place that had a knot in it and tied our line tightly below it so it wouldn't slip up. At least that gave us some hope that the 5-6 knot current wouldn't set us adrift during the night.
The next morning, Sunday, we departed for Black Point Settlement in 7 foot on the beam seas until we rounded Harvey Cay and headed south. Now we were on a broad reach with half a jib and racing down the cays at 7 knots. As we passed Black Point Settlement a call to Costello told us that they had 1-2 ft waves in there so we made the decision to bypass and scoot down to the next cove at Little Harbour where we had more protection from northerly seas.
WE FOUND PARADISE!!!! What a fantastic cresent beach and teh anchorage area was flat calm.
The sand was pure white and the water colour was amazing. I couldn't believe that there were only four other boats in there with us. The entrance to the cove was guarded by a castle belonging to Doug and Mary Spencer of California. It just didn't suit the landscape ..... But that's another story.
Only one house stood on our perfect beach and it was owned by Frank and Meg O'Brian. Both were very wonderful people.
That night, as we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets yet, Meg and Frank joined us at our bonfire.
As you can see, the tide had fallen quite a bit as my anchor was in the water when we got there.
Monday, the winds died down and we made the 30 minute run back up to Black Point Settlement. It's become one of our favourite spots and we certainly plan to return.
The main street is very small and is lined by quaint houses. At each house the folks are weaving palm fronds into long strands for shipment to the Nassau straw market to be made into hats, purses, etc. What an art.
Corrine, at left, also backed the best home made bread yet.
As I said, the street is small with a couple bars, a very small police station, school, clinic and restaurant.
The pink building is the clinic and the small green one further up is the police station.
I had the pleasure of attending classes at the small school for an hour and had a great time. The school is quite small but has 5 separate classrooms.
Most classes only had 5-6 people but this one was full and they loved getting their picture taken.
These more senior girls were studying Religious studies.
Oh yeah ... The school ???? Here you go.
All the kids were very polite.
Back at the dingy dock, the water was so clear it looked like the boats were floating in the air.
Last night for Valentines Day Supper a large number of cruisers got together at Loraine's Restaurant for a delicious meal and a great time. The women were all given small stuffed valentines day gifts after supper.
Today, we spent the day swimming at the beach ..... oh, did I say swimming? ...well sort of. We took the dingy to the beautiful beach and when the tide went out we had to walk a quarter mile with dingy in tow until we had enough water to put the motor down. A new way of navigating .... hang your leg over the side and when your foot touches the bottom, STOP.... Get out .... and walk with dingy in tow.
Here Jan has found her own private spot under a palm tree ..... with no coconuts to drop on her head.
You can see where the beach ends and the blue, deeper water begins.
Sometimes, you just have to remember what all this is about and just how truly lucky we both are to be experiencing it together.
Tomorrow morning, we leave this wonderful village for out next anchorage at Lee Stocking Island, enroute for Emerald Bay Marina then on to Georgetown after the weekend.
It's a great retirement trip.
See you in a few days!
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