Compass Cay, Bahamas N24° 15.480' W76° 31.163’
06 March 2009 | 24 15.480N 76 31.163W
Randy
Another short jaunt from Cambridge Cay to Compass Cay (3 nm) to take on fresh water, happy hour at the marina, and visit a place called Rachel's Bubble Bath.
The water cost $.50/gallon, which we had heard before, so no surprise there. We are consuming about 12 gallons of water a day for showers, rinsing dishes, drinking, dogs, etc. That sounds like an awful lot to fellow cruisers out here, but it is kind of a quality of life thing. I figure we will spend about $350 - $400 on fresh water while in the Bahamas, which is a lot less than the $6000 - $10,000 a reverse osmosis water maker would have cost. Of course, if we were cruising in an area where water wasn't available to be purchased, that would be a different story.
While at the marina waiting on the water (which was a very slow fill process) we decided to get a burger at the marinas "restaurant". Tucker (I did say hello to him from Straight from the Heart), the owner, went to work on his little propane grill and cooked up a couple and served them on a picnic table by the office - $12/each. SO when I inquired about happy hour, he said it was a bring your own thing. That would have been fine, but there weren't many people here, so we decided to skip it and invited Gary and Celeste over for dinner and it was a relaxing evening.
Rachel's Bubble Bath was VERY cool. It was described to us as the largest pool of alka seltzer you could possibly imagine. They weren't fooling. The tide was flooding and strong NE winds at 15 - 20 kts caused surges to enter through a small opening in tall rocks and spilled over into a calm area. When the salt water crashes in like that, it creates a white foamy broth that tingles as it surrounds and touches your skin. A few small fish could be seen along with many sea urchins. It was an experience you don't get to do often and we really had a fabulous time.
Strong ENE winds in the 15 - 25 kts range are supposed to continue through Monday and then settle some for the balance of next week. We have seen this forecast before but without coming to fruition, so we'll see. We are moving to Staniel Cay today (6nm as the crow flies, but 11nm due to navigating around shoals and coral heads) and plan to hang out there for 3, 4, 5 days or something like that. Some reprovisioning needs to happen, as well as get rid of garbage, and laundry. There is also some snorkeling at a cave called Thunderball Grotto that is sunlit from above. This has been the film site of numerous movies, including a James Bond flick.