New Years Day found us underway at 0630! It was a wonderful way to begin 2019. Black
Point, Exuma via Dotham Cut was our planned route but we came in at Galliot Cut
instead. Lost 2 more lures fishing, no
fresh fish for us that night. There were
a few changes in Black Point. Ida has
put in a new dock for her Laundromat as has Lorraine for her Cafe and the
Regatta Site building has become a new
restaurant.
We decided to go to Lee Stocking Island only
because we had not been in awhile. The
Perry Institute of Marine Science has long been closed but something may be
coming as there was work progressing.
From there we went to George Town Exuma because the
market has free RO water. After a few
days we went on to Salt Pond/ Thompson Bay Long Island and arrived for Tiger's
(Tyrone) birthday at Sou'Side. He really
liked his Pineapple Upside Down Rhum Cake from us.
One afternoon
we had a "dink & drink".
Tie a bunch of dinks in a circle while each brings their own beverage
& a snack to share. Great fun!
The ocean side beaches on Long Island are
spectacular! We took a walk to pole 109 and
the path to the ocean side.
At the far end what was a path had been widened as
in preparation for a road. I thought it
may be an easier path back to the Queens Highway but boy, was I wrong! There was a salt pond we had to walk
around. According to the pedometer we
walked 4.5 miles that day. It would not
have been bad had we brought more water.
We were expecting our friend from Florida to arrive
late in the month so back to George Town we went. It was a fantastic sail only taking 6hours
from anchor up to anchor down. We
averaged better than 6.5 knots! For our
barely 5 knot boat that was fast.
We had been having problems with our outboard &
had even talk to the folks on Long Island about the cost & availability of
a 2 stroke. We arrived in GT and Rob was
in the dink ready to go for water & the outboard died. Oil coming out where oil should not be. Water was not critical so we removed the
motor & rowed in after calling a place that was recommended to us. They never called back. While walking thru town a friend suggested
Minn's Water Sports. They had 1 in
stock. A bit bigger that what we really
wanted but....it was better than rowing our company around! We are now the proud parents of a 15hp 2
stroke Yamaha! Next....a bigger dink.
Since we knew the fishermen would not be going out due
to weather we went to Styles Seafood to see what was in stock. This is where I got a fantastic haircut and
we purchased lobster, conch & fish in preparation of our buddy's
arrival. Tranee, the owner &
fisherman's wife agreed to keep it frozen until he arrived.
Since we needed to put at least 10hrs on the new
motor we did a lot of dink exploring around Elizabeth Harbour. Last year we had gone to Lumina Point &
really enjoyed it. We had been told that
the folks who had run Blu at Exuma Yacht Club had now taken over the restaurant
at Lumina Point. Sounded like a good way
to put time on the motor so off we went!
They no longer put fresh Cassava Chips out but the
food is wonderful. We split an order of
Fish Tacos and it was almost too much. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Also went to see the old resort at Crab Cay.
Well you know what is said about the best laid
plans..... Our friend got sick and had to postpone his visit. This is where we were to meet. Island Boy Cafe next to Exuma Market
So we had to suffer through all that seafood!
I did not take a photo but we did our take on BBQ
Conch. Marinated it overnight in a
mixture of Coconut Rum & a specialty bbq sauce. It was fantastic!
The 10hr check up on the engine went well. It is not very often you see a dink up on a
lift.
We topped of our water, took off the engine (a LOT
heavier), put the dink in the davits and heading back to Long Island. We had considered Club Washington for the
Wednesday Happy Hour/Dinner but it was late when we arrived. A wonderful sail, but not as fast as the one
over.
Let us see what February may bring!
