We waited for a rising tide and once we had a foot of water under the keel we weighed anchor and motored into the Marina to tie up and check out Great Harbor Cay. The west side of Great Harbor is rocky and has cliffs as high as 30 feet in places. The rock is eaten away by the tidal flow at the waterline giving it a mushroom like overhang reminiscent of Micronesia, if not so pronounced. The East side of Great Harbor has several beautiful white sand beaches. The southern beach on the east coast is formed in the shape of a huge crescent and has small outlying Cays on each tip. The sand is like confectionary sugar it is so fine and soft. We found a place called "The Beach Club", with great cheese burgers and stiff drinks right on the beach.

As we were exploring the marina area we ran into the crew of Shanty, some folks we'd met in Bimini. They left a little after we did yesterday and got into Great Harbor at 3AM this morning. Steve, the captain, went for a nap as he had been working hard for about 18 hours. Dennis and Linda were crewing for Steve and joined us at the Beach club. After two potent Rum and Cokes, Dennis and I walked around the beach solving all of the world's problems; you know the kind of discussion. On the way back to town (a three mile walk over the hill in the middle of the island) a really nice lady in a van stopped out of the blue and offered us a ride. We graciously accepted. We got out at the local store which had just received a shipment so we bought a nice ripe tomato, some grapes and other stuff.

It turns out that this is sort of standard in the outer islands of the Bahamas. If you have a car and see someone walking your way, the thing to do is offer them a ride. Locals don't always stop for tourists because tourists often want to walk, and though unspoken, tourists may be afraid to get into a car with a stranger. This is an unfortunate fear cultured in the US and other developed countries. Outside of Nassau, safety in the Bahamas if far higher than almost any place in the US I've been. You don't have a lot of crime in places where everyone knows everyone else.

If you need a ride in the Bahamas you don't stick your thumb out, you hold your hand open and out, down by your hip and wave it side to side. This is almost guaranteed to stop the very next car that sees you.