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Day 19-21 – August 2nd to August 4th
Thursday, August 2,
2007
We woke up to a beautiful but very breezy morning here at
Emerald Bay after having the best sleep ever. We did our run here
from Exumas Park yesterday because the winds were only around 6-9
knots but the forecast was the winds were to kick up significantly
over the next several days….it went from 6 knots yesterday to 17
knots today, so moving the boat when we did was a very good thing.
Last night we had no generator problems, no air conditioning
problems, no engine problems – surely something must be wrong (or
everything is right for a change). We can’t get DirecTV here but
they do provide free cable, so Barry jerry-rigged some cabling and
bingo, we have TV. I’m pretty sure Barry would go into cardiac
arrest without his TV and/or the control in his hand! Salty and I
headed out for a long walk this morning (before it got too hot) to
the beach that took us past the beautiful gated complex of town
homes/condos, past the golf course, pool and resort facilities and
down to the most gorgeous beach at Emerald Bay. White powder sand
with amazing “emerald” colored water and surf for Salty to run in.
We walked for a while until a huge thunder cloud was rolling in to
land with a lot of rain flowing out of the black bottom while the
top of the cloud was glistening white with the sun shining above it
– where is my camera when I really need it? From there we went back
to the boat and had got laundry ready and Barry and I headed out for
another walk around the complex and over to where the grocery store,
etc. are located. I was quite amazed at how large the grocery store
was with everything you would want, but not at the prices you want.
I can’t believe how the people on these islands can afford to live,
everything is two and three times the cost of everything back home.
It rained this afternoon and thus we had a very lazy “sluggo” kind
of day and thus, no pictures! Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll bring the
camera and we’ll force ourselves to do something productive like, I
don’t know, go to the pool, have some cocktails, walk on the beach
or get a free taxi ride over to the Four Seasons Resort casino! Oh
my… I love it here. What’s even more crazy is that the laundry
facilities are free too and the cost to stay here is cheaper than at
Chub Cay (with way less facilities) AND just $0.50 more than that
horrible, dilapidated marina in Nassau – how crazy is that? The
facilities at the Clubhouse beside the restaurant are wonderful, at
least compared to any other Marina we’ve been in here – something as
simple as a clean AND air conditioned restroom/shower can make all
the difference in the world and they even have shampoo, mouthwash,
lotion – the only thing missing is someone standing there ready to
hand you a towel. The people and staff here are so polite, so
friendly and so well spoken! There is such a huge difference from
some of the other marinas and especially in Nassau. If you can get
anyone, that’s anyone to even acknowledge you in Nassau, you’re
doing really well. Another great thing is there are hardly any
boats/yachts here and no dogs at all. Salty can run free even though
it is such a large complex and no one seems to mind – although, it’s
not as if there are very many people here, at least not in the
Marina. We stumbled to the end of the dock and had dinner at Wahoo’s
again, simply because we were too lazy to go anywhere else and I was
too lazy to cook.
Friday, August 03,
2007
It is still very windy here which means the Atlantic would be a
nightmare out there, so it is safe to say we will be staying right
where we are until the winds die down – a lot – I think it’s about a
20 mile an hour wind this morning. We plan on getting our act
together this morning and going for a long, long walk, hit the beach
so Salty can run and play in the waves. I’m very interested to see
the Four Seasons Hotel complex and I understand it is quite
stunning. We walked to the beach past the new condos being
constructed and as we rounded the curve so that we could see Emerald
Bay and the Atlantic beyond, we were surprised to see how much the
Bay was moving with whitecaps, no less. The land around the Bay is
quite high up on a hill which gives you a very picturesque view of
the Bay and the long, white powder beach where the Four Seasons
Hotel complex is located about half way down the beach. The waves
were crashing into the shore line so hard that Salty was hesitant
about even going into the water, so you know it must have been
rough. It was funny as we walked closer to the people on the beach
and in the surf, we noticed when they saw Salty running on the
beach, they looked like they had seen an alien. I know there are no
dogs on the island, at least ones running around, but it was as if
they had never seen a dog before. Salty completely ignored everyone
– what a snob – and if someone, heaven forbid tried to touch him –
look out scout….he’d jump away from them on all fours. The Four
Seasons Hotel is a “complex” of small buildings instead of a high
rise, very quaint and very stylish. We walked the full length of the
beach and found that at the very end where the Bay curves into the
land a little more, the waves weren’t as fierce and we were all able
to have a swim and float around in the gorgeous, “cool” aqua water.
Of course, when Salty gets all wet, especially when waves catch him
and drag him back to shore, he runs up onto the beach and “dries”
his face in the sand! OMG, what a mess – that long beard, soft coat,
salt water and sand just really don’t mix plus sand up his nose –
what a mess indeed. On our way back, Barry went into the pool area
of the Four Seasons to get some water for us (Salty gets to share
mine out of my hand) and came back shacking his head “this is the
most expensive water I’ve ever bought” at $10 for each 1 liter
bottle – good Lord, a beer would have been cheaper, but Salty isn’t
really fond of beer, unlike my friend Patty’s little Ning Poo pup we
used to know and love (RIP). Yup, Ningy could drink with the best of
them! The pool area here is amazing and I could very well see why
this would be a great destination for someone flying in for a
vacation. Anyway, we trudged back to the Marina after three hours on
our outing and headed straight to the showers – it worked out
beautifully and I was able to get Salty all showered down, get the
sand and salt off of him and I had a shower myself. Using all of
their products and all THEIR water was an absolute treat and I may
be heading back there to conserve my own water more often. When we
were headed back we noticed we had a very LARGE neighbor who had
docked on the other side of us while we were gone – the “Blackhawk”.
I didn’t get a picture of it when we were at Chub Cay but now is my
chance – good Lord, if I thought it looked big from far away, try
standing beside it. Too funny, as we were walking toward our own
boat, Salty decided he wanted to go up the Blackhawk’s gang way –
yikes! If you’re going up there Salty, I want to come too. I took a
picture from across the Marina with the Blackhawk BEHIND us – we
look like a freakin’ dingy beside that Yacht and if you look at the
picture, their bow is the whole size of our boat! The owner of the
Chicago Blackhawk’s was onboard with a couple of the players, a wife
or two, a Grandma and 4 little girls. The girls loved Salty and I
really wish he were more friendly – it’s not that he’s ugly or
anything, he just doesn’t like anyone touching him. I would have to
kneel down and have my arm around him and he would allow the girls
to pat him and rub him – Salty took a shine to the smallest one,
Madison and she was the only one he would let touch the top of his
head. Oh well, at least I know he’s not going to run off with
someone else! We are having a problem with the internet and for two
days, haven’t been able to check emails (for work) but we are on
vacation, right, and shouldn’t be checking anyway….hahaha as if that
would ever happen. The whole Island is down it seems, as Barry
walked over to the Four Seasons complex to see if the laptop would
work over there, to no avail. It’s a big time on the old “Salty Old
Dog” tonight because I’ve decided to cook ribs instead of going out
to Wahoo’s again – besides, what I’m going to cook will be a lot
less expensive and a lot better tasting! It’s always better to use
the stove and oven when you are on shore power because of the amount
of wattage it requires and I’d rather blow the breaker on dock than
blow the generator when we are on hook somewhere.
Saturday, August 4,
2007
We woke up to a cloudy and windy day and decided we would rent a
car and drive to Georgetown to see what was there and what the
anchorage was like before we headed off in the boat. While walking
the beach yesterday, we spoke with a couple from Atlanta who had
been there by taxi ($80 round trip) and said there really wasn’t
anything there and they wouldn’t recommend going there by boat or
car. So, instead of spending $200 on fuel by boat only to find a
place we didn’t like, especially after being at Emerald Bay for
days, it would be wise to scope it out by car first. They were
right. I couldn’t imagine anchoring off here and having to dingy
into a place that had no appeal to us at all. Georgetown is a very
run-down, tiny little town and not a place where we would be happy.
We were going to have lunch there, but decided that would not be a
good idea and we headed back to where we came from but stopped in at
the Four Seasons to have lunch. WOW. This is a spectacular place
with gorgeous landscaping, shops, restaurant and huge free form pool
that appears to be three in one. Ah yes, now this is my kind of
place! We had lunch inside in the Air conditioning and then went to
the outside bar for another drink but only to drink in the beautiful
pool and bay views, of course. We decided we would come back
tomorrow for lunch at the outside bar and headed home to Salty. When
we got back, the Blackhawk was on its way out (some of the guests
had just flown off in a private plane to Staniel Cay) and the crew
were packing up to meet them there. Before they took up the gang
way, Salty decided he would be a stowaway – yup, up the stairs he
went onto the boat! I apologized and they laughed – I guess he could
get used to that life with no problem – cruising with the owner of
the Chicago Blackhawk’s! I knew there was a reason I never had a
“nap” in the afternoon and today I found out why. I dropped off
while watching TV, probably because I was up very late the night
before and was up early this morning. Anyway, I woke up on the couch
at 7:15 pm with a start – I looked at the clock and over at Barry
thinking, OMG he’s awake so I better make coffee! I started the
coffee and went into our bedroom where the bed was still made and
said to him “did we sleep on the couch last night”? DUH. He looked
at me as if I had two heads and said “honey, its not the morning,
its still night”. I did manage to shake the cobwebs out of my head
long enough to make dinner, otherwise, he’d be eating alone at
Wahoo’s. Good Lord, maybe it was too much sun.
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