Our first stop after leaving Georgetown is the Marina at Emerald Bay, some fourteen mile north. Emerald Bay is an amazing, luxury marina which is struggling like some of the other tourist facilities in Bahamas. For this reason, they offer slips at $1.00 per foot when this would normally cost well over $2.00. In addition, they have free laundry, internet and a luxurious marina complex. This impressive feat of engineering and construction was complete about six years ago, adjacent to and complementary with the luxury condo complex, Emerald Isles and the vast and upper scale Four Seasons Resort. The latter went into receivership and closed as did the marina and it was recently purchased by Sandals, sho hopefully will have the expertise and resources to keep it alive while the economy improves.

Anyway, this marina is essentially hewn out of the rock and constructed o the very best components. The marina building is gorgeous and there is a very good grocery store in close proximity. So we use our three days here to catch up on our laundry and provision for our next few weeks. While the marina is by no stretch busy, there are quite a number o modest cruisers like us taking advantage o this low price to spend a few days in the comfort of a marina after having been "on the hook" at Georgetown for six weeks.

WE also take on fuel; in my case 20 gallons of diesel and five of gasoline (for the dinghy and generator). There are a couple of large luxury yachts here and one is filling up at the same time as I am. In contrast, he is taking on 2700 gallons of fuel, which the captain tells me will last from three days to a week depending on how hard they push it.

We stay here for three nights and thoroughly enjoy it. One evening there is a pot luck get together for the cruisers (as is oft to happen where more than a half dozen cruisers congregate). And we meet new folks and renew acquaintances.

We highly recommend the Marina at Emerald Bay for a treat for cruisers either heading to or leaving from Georgetown.