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Cruise/Marina Day 11-12, Wednesday July 14th and Thursday July
15th
It was a noisy sleep last night with the water being a little on
the rough side which makes the waves slap up against the swim
platform. We were ready to leave Manjack Cay by 9:00 am
and Bill dingyed over to pick up our dingy which he will tow
behind him instead of us breaking it down and deflating it – we
may anchor off somewhere else before we head back. It didn’t
take more than a half an hour in a very light chop, before we
could see Treasure Cay but you have to go way out and around the
other side in order to get to the entry channel to the Marina.
Best to go in at high(er) tide because it can be as low as 5’ in
there at low tide. Bill’s keel drafts 6’ so he will definitely
have to wait till mid-day before he attempts to enter the
channel. We (he) docked perfectly and we were all hooked up at
the dock by 10:30 am at Treasure Cay Marina and Resort.
We went for lunch at Spinnaker’s and will go back for dinner
tonight as it is the only restaurant around. We were happy with
lunch but dinner wasn’t up to the standards of last year and we
wondered what went wrong. The staff could use some lessons in
congeniality because trying to get any kind of acknowledgement
or smile is next to impossible and the people running the little
stores are just the same. They have several fish that have been
caught over the years mounted on the walls at Spinnaker’s and
there is one “mother of a fish” up there! It was hot as Hades in
the afternoon so we just spent time reading (inside the boat)
and will go to the world famous Brigantine beach tomorrow
sometime when it’s not so hot. Thursday proved to be a bit of a
sleeper and we never did make it to the beach. I had to do
laundry and that was done at “Annie’s Fold and Wash” laundry in
the complex. Annie is a little old Bahamian lady who runs a
tight ship - $11.00 for 2 loads of laundry with your own soap or
$13.00 using her soap – pay in advance and go away for a couple
of hours. Treasure Cay resort is a nice complex with everything
you would need – nice pool, bars, grocery stores, hardware, golf
course, fishing charters, etc. and even a Real Estate office. A
noticeable sign across from the Real Estate office is a big “Not
For Sale” sign – the Bahamian way of doing real estate? I did
notice that the grounds here this year are burned-up big time;
in fact the grass looks pretty crispy to me. The sailors came in
around 4:00 pm and while Windwalker anchored off, Bill and
Jackie got a slip so that Jackie could finally get some air
conditioning. It’s just too stifling hot to be able to live
without air conditioning in this heat – without killing your
spouse, that is.
Marina Day 13, Friday July 16th
Speaking of air conditioning, I couldn’t believe it when the air
conditioning went off at 5:00 in the morning! Barry got up to
investigate, all the while thinking there was something wrong
with the boat which would be just our luck. After going outside
and looking around he soon discovered that there were no lights
on anywhere so it had to be the electricity in the complex. The
neighbor in the next slip’s generator kicked in so that was
Barry’s first clue to just go in, turn on the generator, get the
air conditioning going again and go back to bed. My first
thought was “poor Jackie”! She finally gets into a dock
specifically for air conditioning and the marina’s electricity
goes out….luckily, it only lasted about 2 hours and so their
boat didn’t have time to warm up. We went off to the beach with
Salty and as soon as he saw that sand, he charged ahead of us
and was waiting, lying in the surf, for us to get to the water.
Gorgeous beach with miles of powder white sand and the water is
just as beautiful as we remembered it from last year. There are
no shells and no rocks, just soft sand to walk out into the
crystal aqua water and float around – Salty swimming from Barry
to me and just loving floating in someone’s arms. Of course when
he does his “bum tuck boogie” running up and down the beach, his
face and legs are 10 pounds heavier from the salt water and
powder sand. After about an hour the skies to the West and East
of us were turning black and you could see the lightning
beginning to flash and thunder rumble. We headed back to the
boat as the back aft deck isen glass was up meaning the rug and
chairs would get soaked if the rain hit as hard as we thought it
was going to. Not to mention the satellite phone that was out in
the open. We made it back in time to close things up but the
rain was just a sprinkle but the wind was quite strong. I
wouldn’t want to be on hook in that kind of wind, we would be
blowing around in 360° circles with all the real estate we have
sitting above the water line. Hooked up with the sailors for
lunch, did a little shopping, a little reading and went to the
bar for some marina-type entertainment. Met a lot of nice people
on the docks – one guy, John Latour, in particular was cruising
with his wife Mary Lou (I believe was her name) and their
Captain and Chef Extraordinaire, Tien Phan (Tim for short). They
were out of Daytona Beach on the “Trident” and Tim would whip up
the most awesome meals for them and had all the women ooing and
awing as they walked by watching him cook. Tim ultimately helped
as we left the dock the next day so I guess he’s good at more
than just cooking.
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