We’ve been at Emerald Bay for a little over 3 weeks now and it has not been difficult to get into the “island” routine - the sweetness of doing nothing - or as the Italians say: Dolce far niente! The marina we are current docked at is owned by Sandal’s resorts so it has a nice club house, captains lounge, TV area and even a billiard room. There is a beautiful beach within a short walking distance as well as pool facilities at Grand Isle Resort where we can enjoy an occasional mudslide or piña colada.
Here’s our recent hectic schedule:
Monday we usually do some work around the boat with an afternoon on the beach/pool at some point
and happy hour at the Marina.
Tuesday more of the same with boat drinks in the evening.
Wednesday is car rental day, usually shopping/provisioning run into George Town and some exploring. Wednesday is shopping day because the island receives all provisions on that day via the mail/grocery boat. A small ship pulls in and unloads it’s cargo, it takes a few hours for the goods to hit the shelves at the local stores. Groceries in George Town are slightly more that at the outlying grocery stores because all the 250+ cruising boats shop there, rarely venturing out of George Town. WE on the other hand living our hard-scrabble lifestyle (not) near a Bahamian Sandals Resort, venture far and wide to enjoy the best this island has to offer.
Thursday is like Monday and Tuesday. (yawn)
Friday has lost it’s glory as “TGIF” day, its just another day. Big questions of the week are, "what’s for dinner? Do we need ice? Happy hour plans? Where shall we cruise to next?" (not in that order)
Saturday is glorious beach day. We spend the whole day at the Grand Isle Resort beach.
On Sunday fun day we either explore or we spend some quiet time at the dock.
Truthfully, our schedule is not this regimented, we take it one day at a time. We are considering where shall we seek our needed post-Bahamas rehabilitation?
Last week we had some crazy rough weather brought on by the cold front our friends on the east coast experienced. We got some outer bands of wind, swell and surge that caused major wave activity outside the marina channel. This resulted in boats not being able to come in the small marina cut nor allow them to leave for that matter. We had cleats torn off the docks and boats had to move around due to the extreme tidal actions in the marina. Jeff was out helping the marina staff and fellow boaters and we all watched and held our collective breaths as some vessels tried to come in and time the waves, all were successful, no wrecks. Some had to spend the night out on anchor and wait until the next day.
The bugs here are nothing to joke about on non-windy days. A few weeks ago, we ventured out in the evening on a calm wind night and the sand fleas made a meal out of our bare legs. We looked like pepperoni pizza we had so many bug bites. Yes, we had applied OFF but it seems the bugs laughed at our attempt to deter their feeding frenzy. Made us quite miserable for a few days and night. Only thing that helped was the Benadryl spray, gel and pill.
We've rented a car a few times and have enjoyed many aspects of the local scene. Such as the pig roast at Chat-n-Chill on Sunday (on Stocking Island-we took the ferry in from George Town), the Rake n’Scrape concert at the Exuma Yacht Club, the shopping for provisions on the days the mail boat comes in.
A drive down to Little Exuma island to Santana’s restaurant for fried lobster dinner and a visit to Mom’s Bakery for rum cake and fresh baked bread. Just going to the hardware store here is a cultural adventure.
Last week we discovered Exuma Point Inn & Grill for lunch with our new friend and resident cool-dude, dock neighbor, Everett. We were the only ones on the beach and the owner of the restaurant made us a beautiful fried grouper meal and came out to chat with us for a while. Very laid back here... thank you Everett.
As mentioned previously, George Town proper is always buzzing with pedestrian activity, mostly cruisers. We have managed to avoid the long lines at the LP Gas truck, the market and the crazy dinghy dock. Being up here at the marina, we have access to water, electric and there’s a deli and market close by so we have not really had the need/desire to go to George Town more than a few times since we’ve been here.
Our next hop will take us to either Long Island or Cat Cay, maybe both - but we don’t have solid plans yet and we’re not in a rush. We are reading a lot and some days we just sit and watch the waves, listen to music and relax. The occasional nap has come into the routine as well. Guess that’s the beauty of this cruising lifestyle….we have no place to go and all day to get there! ><)))*>
