Stay Over Days in Emerald Bay

—Blogpost written by Bob

Feb 24 thru Feb 27

This was the beginning of our second week of our month-long stay in Emerald Bay Marina on Great Exuma Island.  Lately, my blogposts seem to be a collection of colorful photographs and early morning thoughts.

Monday, February 24

It was certainly perfect weather for sleeping last night—70 degrees and a moderate breeze out of the east blowing straight into our open hatches. Thankfully, the wind was not as strong as it was during the day.

In the middle of the night our shore power cord somehow became disconnected—when I got up to use the head I noticed that the blue dial face for the onboard battery charger was not lit up. The 50-foot long shore power cord simply disconnected from the 12-foot extension that connects to the boat. (We carry the 12-foot extension cable for cases like this where we are in a slip that is much longer than our boat or when the pedestal is further away from the slip than normal.)

I’ve been thinking about our trip northward and next season. I’m kind of looking forward to a winter in cold weather next season, maybe staying in Baltimore. I don’t know how long this feeling will last—maybe only until morning or until I get my first taste of the cold temperature again. I know that I’m certainly tired of getting beat up by the high winds related to frontal systems here in the Exumas.

The wind has shifted from the northeast to the east southeast this morning which is a lot better in terms of boat motion in this marina. Tomorrow it is expected to shift further to the south which would be better yet.

Removing the worn out leather chafe guard
that I installed on our port bow
 line two days ago

I worked for more than an hour cutting the worn areas out of two dock lines, making them shorter, and whipping the new ends. Unfortunately, I now have a couple of short 5/8” lines and no immediate use for them.

I spent time in the afternoon, doing some online research for some of my summer boat projects.

In the evening, Maggie and I talked about our plans for next season and we boiled it down to two possibilities: (1) we go to Eleuthera in the Bahamas but don’t cross the Gulf Stream until about mid-February or early-March after the frontal systems are over, or (2) we spend the season in New Bern NC and fly back and return with our car. We decided to stop at New Bern NC on our way north and check it out. (We have friends that spend winters there.) There is also a possibility of doing both I guess where we stay in New Bern until the end of January and then proceed further south and cross over to Eleuthera. (Staying in Baltimore for the winter was not a mutually acceptable possibility when we came to our senses and actually thought about snow.)

Tuesday, February 25

Our BTC cell phone ran out of minutes and gigabytes late yesterday—so, this morning I tried to “top up” as they call it here. I kept getting to the point in the process (using the phones keypad) where it asked for my “voucher number” and I got stuck there.  I figured this out a month ago (after a couple days of trying) when we were anchored in Elizabeth Harbour but I have since forgot what I input for “voucher number.” 

I finally went into the marina’s lounge and used their WiFi and topped up online—it was much easier. This problem was solved for now, at least--I'm sure that my next "top up" (in another month, probably our last one) will be equally as frustrating. (I think the online "top up" was the method I used a month ago too. The last time I used our BTC cell phone prior to this trip was 2 years ago--anyway, that's my excuse!)

Accessing the internet from
the marina's lounge.

I was so focused on the "top up" of our BTC cell phone that I didn't even notice how beautiful the day was turning out to be--the sun was shining brightly and the temperature was in the low 70's.  The wind was a steady 16 knots blowing out of the southeast.

Even though Emerald Bay Marina is beautiful, luxurious, and quite a reprieve from anchorages, strong northeast winds make for rough boat motion in the slips.  (I'm glad we had extra chafe guards and additional dock lines onboard.) 

The following images were captured around this marina in the afternoon:

A lion fish was hanging around the bulkhead
waiting for an easy prey. (This is the
first time I ever saw a lion
fish in the wild!)

A very creative boat name!

The unmistakeable design
aspects of a Hinckley.

You can't have too many fenders.

My messy, but colorful, navigation
station desktop.

The evenings in the marina are somewhat magical
in the colors of the water and the palm trees.

Wednesday, February 26

One thing that stands out above anything else this morning—the wind has calmed down! Of course, it’s sunny and clear as usual. In fact, there’s not a cloud in the sky, but the biggest (welcome) change is the lack of very high wind. (A nice 12-knot breeze was blowing out of the southeast.)

We had arranged to have a rental car today since (we thought) Wednesday was the best day for grocery shopping (freshest veggies, etc.). We showed up to pick up our rental car in the marina parking lot at 9 AM sharp but the car wasn’t delivered until 10:30 AM (that’s the Bahamas!).  With our prepared grocery list on Maggie’s iPhone, we drove to Exuma Markets in George Town, about 25 minutes away. 

Queen's Highway on our way south
to Exuma Markets--it's just a 
two-lane country road.

Exuma Markets in George
Town, Exuma.

The stocking of the shelves with newly arrived grocery items was slow to materialize, however, we made an important haul of six one-liter bottles of DIET tonic water and a bottle of sugar-free pancake syrup. 

After shopping at Exuma Markets in George Town, we stopped at Island Prime Meats & Grocery (located several miles north of George Town) on the way back to the boat to pick up some additional items (pepperoni slices, ground beef, and beef cubes plus a few others) that we couldn’t get at Exuma Markets. (We spent a total of $240 on a week’s groceries today plus $100 on the rental car!) We dropped off and stowed most of our newly acquired provisions at the boat by 30 minutes past noon.

We drove northward on Queen’s Highway to Lighthouse Cafe & Ice Cream Parlour, where we had a delicious lunch by the sea—probably the best tasting lunch we’ve had in the Bahamas so far.

The sign along Queen's Highway for
the Lighthouse Cafe & Ice 
Cream Parlour.

The colorful restaurant is situated between
the so-called highway and the ocean.

The scenery from our table on the sea-side
porch.  The passing clouds made for
interesting darker bands of
turquoise water.

I had coconut shrimp, mac-n-cheese, peas and rice, and fried plantains, and of course, ice cream for dessert. Maggie had grilled tuna, mac-n-cheese, peas and rice, and coleslaw as well as ice cream for dessert. (This may sound like a big lunch, and it is, but we don’t usually have a meal in the evening.)

After lunch we continued to drive northward on Queen’s Highway which became narrower and rougher until it ended by the sea. Some of the beautiful images I captured of the northern end of Great Exuma are included in tomorrow’s posting.

We were both beat after the road trip—Maggie, from all the attention required for driving on the left side of the road while dodging potholes and me, from holding on for dear life while she drove.

Thursday, February 27

We had a rain shower (accompanied by high wind) very early in the morning while we were still asleep. It was the most rain we’ve experienced so far in the Exumas and it only lasted about 15 minutes (I think)—it caused a one-inch accumulation in the lowest part of the dinghy. By the time we were fully awake, the clouds were in the process of clearing up and the beautiful blue sky was being exposed. There was very little wind (a condition that normally brings out the “no-see-ums.”).

At mid-morning, we drove to the nearby gas station (one of only two north of George Town) and filled up the fuel tank so that we could turn in our rental car.

An open-air car wash along Queen's Highway.  (This
was difficult to photograph because of the
intensity of the sun and the
dark shadows.)

Topping up our fuel tank
in our rental car just
before turn in.

Continuing with the highlights of yesterday’s road trip to the northern end of Great Exuma, the following images tell our day's story:

A group of young men having lunch at a picnic
table along Queen's Highway.

A colorful skiff tied to a pier along
Queen's Highway.

A scenic area long the northwest side of
Great Exuma at low tide.

An abandoned pier on the northeast
side of Great Exuma. There
may have been a resort
here at one time.

Casuarina trees seem to grow freely 
near the ocean.  They are very
similar to pine trees.

A beautiful small beach area near the
northeast corner of Great Exuma.

The rugged coastline of the northeast
point of Great Exuma.

The day after our road trips were usually days to relax and get caught up on our blogs. (Maggie’s blog can be found at this link.)  Consequently, we spent a lot of time in the marina’s luxurious lounge using their WiFi.  (By the way the afternoon temperature got up to 79 degrees today!)

I felt like we were getting into a routine here in the marina. I guess that’s not all bad. It was certainly a relaxing routine that I know I will miss (particularly the daily hot showers) when we leave and head back up the Exuma chain of cays and spend most of our time anchored out and taking our one-gallon showers every other day or two.

Stay tuned for more of this season's adventure in the Exumas...


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