On Sunday Lance did a fantastic job of getting us out of our hemmed in position in Staniel Cay Marina and as you know we headed south to Black Point. We spent two very uncomfortable days and nights in a very bumpy anchorage – neither of us really getting a good night’s sleep. Not that the wind was strong – there was just a lot of swell that somehow found its way in from the banks or from the Exuma Sound.
But Black Point was necessary as there is a wonderful laundromat there – and after all the visitors, we were in desperate need of one of those. We loaded up the dinghy with three
big bags of dirty clothes, linen and swimming towels and headed for the dinghy
dock right outside the laundry.
Now this is not just a laundromat – it offers free wi-fi, a small store, token showers, haircuts, rooms to rent , coffee and a restroom. Amazing really when seen in the context of the Black Point Settlement.
The anchorage was pretty full and of course so was the laundromat – all the machines (probably 12) were already busy! So we decided to opt for the drop off system and after using the free wi-fi on our i-pad, we carried on for a walk around the settlement.
All these islands seem to have very little in the way of arable soil – it mostly appears to be rock of some sort – so there is very little homegrown produce. Everything is
brought in by the ‘mail boats’. However we did see a few gardens where there was an odd mielie (corn) growing under what seemed impossible circumstances. One of the stores did have lovely shrubs and trees in his garden and back at Staniel Cay Yacht Club the colourful bougainvillea were wonderful – they really took me back to Africa.
We stopped in at a local restaurant, Lorraines Café (also an internet café with satellite TV) for a cooldrink and to ask about their famous coconut bread. Now Lance is no fan of coconut but was willing to give it a try. It turns out that Lorraine’s mother is the baker so we put in an order for collection later in the afternoon.
With a quick stop at the laundromat to see how the laundry was progressing we decided to head back to the boat. (The laundry was not yet underway – Ida had been distracted by some braids she was putting in a young girl’s hair – so we said we’d come back around 4pm)
Well that was when we had the fateful dingy ride back to the boat. We were trying another approach to tying the dinghy up to the boat and with the bouncy swells it made it a little more interesting. So there I was standing up in the dinghy attempting to hook the rope around the cleat when I leaned over a little too far. The dinghy moved a little away and there I was kind of suspended between the two! You know the classical picture – feet in the
dinghy and hands on the boat and the two slowly separating. The inevitable would happen!!! The easiest option seemed to be a quick dip. Of course I didn’t bargain on the backpack on my back – it was quick, fast and easy to climb up the ladder to the swim platform but by then the backpack was already filling up with water.
Bad, bad news for our i-pad and Bahamas phone!! Although I hurriedly rescued them – they were already wet. The i-pad cover only seemed to have a little water on it but obviously enough to cause it to cough, splutter and die! The calamity is that we use the iPad as our main source of navigation because of its simplicity and ease of use. So, no more iPad navigation!!!
And so with that, Lance’s plan of redundancies came into
play. We do have a Raymarine chart plotter on board (on the flybridge and at
the bottom helm station), with brand new charts that we bought in Baltimore and
we also have the full set of charts on both lap tops. So we can still find our
way – they are just so cumbersome as opposed to the i-pad. When underway this
is usually mounted on the flybridge and it is so easy to plan a course and of
course so easy to zoom in and out with the touch screen.
We have no redundancies for the phone though, but we’ll see
if we can get any kind of cheap phone in George Town. It has been quite useful
having the phone to be able to call marinas etc if we were still out of VHF
range. Although we’ve been unable to send or receive texts from NZ we’ve been
able to send messages via my brother in the USA who we can contact with no
problem.
So for now it’s email access only.
The camera and video camera survived the dunking – probably
somewhat protected by their individual zip bags (although the camera is itself
waterproof although it did have a few issues in the Thunderball Grotto).
The hand-held VHF also survived – but I guess it is
waterproof and floats!
The money in my wallet of course dried quickly although the sea
water had quite an effect on discolouring the coins.
I have put the whole episode down to our sleep deprived
states – interestingly enough when we chatted to Mario from Schmetterling he
also was feeling sleep deprived and wished he could just get a good night’s
sleep – even one in every three would be good he said!
But this is the Bahamas, with the wind, the strong currents
and the surge into even what we would expect to be calm anchorages.
Anyway when we collected the laundry later only two of the
bags had been done – the last one had been missed so I ended up doing it
myself. It wasn’t all bad though as Lance was then able to get a haircut. I
wish I’d had the camera with us. Picture Lance sitting on a chair in the sun outside the laudromat, looking down and across the anchorage. I bet it’s the best view he’s ever had while getting a hair cut! 
The coconut bread was wonderful too – Lance even liked it as the fresh coconut was just a seam along the length of the loaf rather than mixed through the dough.
Oh yes – in case you’re wondering – we made sure that all the clean laundry was securely tied in big black bags – we’d had enough dunkings for one day.
The next day we moved only a few miles to a lovely quiet anchorage – well mooring field actually – in Little Farmers Cay. There was a strong current and the boat swung slowly around at each turn of the tide but it wasn’t bumpy at all. Sleep still eludes me though.
As the mooring buoy belonged to a restaurant and bar called Ocean Cabin we dinghied over to the shore to go and pay our dues for that. As we landed there we spoke to some local people who were cleaning some lobster on the docks and asked if we could buy some. They directed us to the green house along the road – so we decided to stop there on our way back
We proceeded to Ocean Cabin where we were able to get wi-fi (the lap top we took ashore was well wrapped up in double layers of plastic bags!) and a couple of beers. Terry the owner was very friendly and amazingly knowledgeable. He knew that Amanzi was Zulu but he did go on a little about why we were no longer in South Africa helping to rebuild the country.
On knocking at the front door of the green house we asked about lobster and yes indeed, this was Jeff and he went to the back of his ‘store’ and into a large freezer and
promptly brought out a big bag of lobster tails. We bought two – $12 each and so
had a great dinner that night.
We’re hoping that we’ll still be able to hunt and gather our own lobsters at some point, but meanwhile we’re more than happy to enjoy them the easy way. In fact we wish now that
we’d bought a few more for the freezer!
PS I’ve included a photo of the clinic in Black Point. This was a quite a large building compared to others we’ve seen. The books say there is a nurse on duty – but just remember when we sing the woes of our own healthcare systems we can’t really complain.
I am so sorry to hear about the dramas with the IPAD and phone!
But I do have to laugh at the picture that comes into my brain of mum suspended between two mobile objects! I have to laugh because there were a couple of occassions where the same picture materialised into my brain when I was there and we were trying to “snag” the boat. 
Would have ben a sight to see!
Love you heaps. Get Estelle and Alastiar to buy an IPAD – it certainly seemed to maeke things easier.