Martin checking out
the anchorage at Black Point
We arrived in Black Point on Monday afternoon (March 16th), waiting for
the high tide which was later in the day. It’s only about 8 miles south of
Staniel so it took us just over an hour to get there. Black Point is a large settlement by Exumas
standards. The bay is large and gorgeous with a shallowish sandbar in the
center. There were about 25 boats there when we arrived. We anchored on the far
north edge, at Dotham Point, since we’d be heading out through Dotham Cut on
Wednesday. It was a beautiful anchorage
except for the wakes. We were in the direct path between Staniel Cay and Black
Point so there was a steady stream of tourists buzzing down on jet skis and
small boats and locals who probably work up north and live in Black Point.
Next time we’ll check out the anchorage on the southwest end of the bay and see
how it is down there. But even with the wakes, it was a quiet and beautiful anchorage.
We dropped Petal and headed in to check out the town in the
afternoon. On the way in we passed a Nordhavn 50, Sea Turtle. We saw some folks
on the deck so we went by to say hello. That’s how we met Michel & Caroline.
It turns out that we had seen them in North Palm Beach in December when they
were buying their boat. I remember saying hello as they walked by one day with
James. They invited us over for drinks
once we’d seen the town.
View of the bay from
land. Blossom is the white blob way out at the tip of the piece of land just up
and to the right of center
We had heard about Lorraine’s Café in Black Point from
several sources including their radio announcements. We’d also heard about the fabulous
bread you can find there. We searched
out Lorraine’s, made reservations for their St. Patrick’s Day buffet for
Tuesday and met Lorraine’s mother who bakes the bread. We went to her house and bought the most amazing loaf of coconut bread!
When we head back we’ll try her cinnamon/raison coconut bread. It’s
reason enough to stop there J We’d also heard some fishermen had lobster
for sale but they were gone by the time we made it to shore.
After a successful trip into town we stopped by Sea Turtle.
We had a great time talking with Michel & Caroline and wished that we weren’t
parting ways. They’re accomplished sailors and big spear fishers/lionfish
hunters and we would have loved to go out with them! They were heading out the next day but we may
see them in Georgetown next week. I hope we do, we’d love to have them over for
drinks next time. After such a nice
evening visiting we came back to Blossom and had dinner out on the
cockpit.
On Tuesday we got up and decided it was time to shave
Blossom’s green beard. She’s been growing some serious grass on the waterline
that we needed to take off. We were anchored in 12 feet of crystal clear water
and it was actually fun to take on this chore. I had a little silver & yellow
fish follow me along the boat waiting for me to shake out my sponge. He was a
bit of a glutton and definitely got a belly full. We didn’t see many barnacles
at all, just the grass along the waterline. Now that we’re here and the water
is so clean & clear we’ll have to do this more often.
Watching the Royal Bahamian Defence Force (similar to the US
Coast Guard) board a boat in the anchorage. (They were still flying a
quarantine flag and had been in the anchorage for a day or two)
I managed to get a couple of blog entries posted and then we
headed back to town for our buffet. It
was a tasty Bahamian meal of peas & rice, fried fish, mac & cheese,
chicken, ribs & pork but the place was decked out in green for the holiday. We didn’t
leave hungry or empty handed. In the back room/shop I
spied a bag of shell napkin ring holders I’ve been looking for. We bought a few
at Highbourne back in ’09 but they don’t sell them there anymore. I’ve been
hoping to find some for Blossom while we were here and was thrilled to find the
last set of 6. It’s the small things…
Selfie of Lorraine & Martin
Approaching Dotham
Cut
Wednesday morning we head out of Dotham Cut on a slack and
building ebb tide with a slight southwesterly wind. I’ve been nervous about the
cut even though conditions couldn’t really be better. Even at just an hour & half past slack we
rode the outgoing current and made 12 knots going through. (We cruise at 7.5
normally). It would have been slow-going had we been coming in! Other than the
current and the light chop it created, it was a non-issue. We followed three sailboat who left just ahead
of us so I knew we’d done well at picking the right time to leave!
We're excited to see Georgetown and rendezvous with Sean to catch
up on the past few days that we’ve been apart!
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