CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored off of Black Point Settlement, Great Guana Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
24 06.098' N, 076 23.946' W (
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When the day started, we were the only boat in the anchorage here at Black Point Settlement, on Great Guana Cay. By midday, five other sailboats, a trawler and a megayacht had joined us in the beautiful blue waters of the anchorage. By sunset, only two other sailboats remained. Looks like this is a stopover for daysailing.
Our own explorations of Black Point Settlement found us taking a nice morning hike to see the sound side of the island, then returning to explore the town. Unfortunately, most of the businesses in town were not open. The result of holiday vacations for these Bahamian business owners, we were told.
One place which was open was Lorraine's Caf�. Lorraine's is the cruiser's link to Black Point. This is where we found the crew of the many boats at anchor this afternoon. They had come over from Staniel Cay and Big Majors Spot for lunch at Lorraine's. When queried about whether we planned to return to Staniel Cay for the various New Year's festivities, we indicated that we were likely going to stay here until a weather window to George Town opens up. I guess we just prefer the quiet little anchorages to those bristling with boats and the ubiquitous pot-luck gatherings. I suppose that foreshadows a short stay for us in George Town. From all that we have heard it is the Exuma cruisers' social epicenter. Let's just hope that the volleyball there is as good as we are hoping for.
While here, we did find an opportunity to fill up on free water (Staniel Cay Yacht Club would have charged at least $0.40 per gallon, according to our dated guidebook). Saving the kitty money is a
very good thing, and you cannot get better than free.
Performing a few simple calculations, based on the fact that the last time we topped off the tanks was in Hope Town, we now have a pretty good estimate of our average water usage. Since that was about 20 days ago, and we have used just under 60 gallons of water, it works out to about 3 gallons of fresh water used per day here aboard
Prudence. Which means we carry enough on board to last at least one month (longer should emergency ration procedures be initiated). We are pretty proud of that statistic, and hope it continues to be reflective of our general rate of fresh water usage.
Also while here, a general call did go out on the VHF indicating that the laundry facilities were now open (one of those businesses we found to be closed earlier in the day). According to our dated guidebook, there was no laundromat here at Black Point, so being able to do 20 days worth of laundry was definitely a bonus. Of course, there again, we have been practicing a very conservative approach to classifying clothing as soiled. Therefore, Sheryl departed with a bag of laundry which amounted to only two loads of wash as she motored away in
Patience this afternoon. She returned this evening, jubilant at the conditions of this brand new laundromat. We don't expect to find such nice new machines at each place we do laundry, so it was an extra special treat for them to be open. So far, Black Point Settlement is getting a thumbs up in our book.