Back in Fisher's Bay
29 April 2008 | Great Guana Cay
Beth
With a little help from Madcap's resident anchor diver aka Jim, we got ourselves settled in Fisher's Bay. There is very little sand over the rock here and the CQR didn't bite into it very well so Jim and I used the system we've developed to get it set. He places it as well as he can and then I back down on it; he dives and pushes it as the boat backs up and he gives me the single to cut the power. The sand settles so he can see, and he either gives the thumbs up sign or we do it again. It took several tries here but eventually we were satisfied.
Solitaire came in shortly afterward and went through the same drop/back-up/try again routine until they switched to their fortress anchor that bit in first time. Hmmm... interesting. I'm sure I heard Madcap Jim telling Solitaire Jim not to let me know because I would start pressuring him to try switching anchors too and he is loathe to do that. I suppose as long as he wants to be the one doing the diving, we'll do it his way!
The four of us went exploring along the roads and beaches - finding gorgeous stretches of sand with waves roaring in from the ocean. I found the most wonderful description of the colours of the water in a book on Eleuthera, and it applies here too.
"They range from the deepest purple, through every blue imaginable to jade and aquamarine, ending up with the palest yellows, where the sand bars touch the surface in long ripples forming fantastic patterns like watered silk." - Eleuthera: the island called Freedom by Everild Young.
Add to those colours the varying shades of brown and hazel and charcoal of the reefs off shore with a few whitecaps thrown in for contrast and you may almost be able to picture it.
The beach was barren of shells and seabeans so we just enjoyed the walk, stretching out our hamstrings and muscling up our calves, cooling our feet in the water sweeping up over the sandbars. Once we'd worked up a thirst we headed for Nippers - oddly quiet that day - and downed glass after glass of ice-cold water before the usual Kaliks and a plate of conch fritters.
After dinner onboard, Jim and I watched the fireworks set off in honour of a man whose funeral service was held here today. It was a nice way to celebrate a life, and we could hear the cheers of the folks on shore.
The wind shifted through the night, blowing SW in the morning, and will clock through W to N during the day. We had been contemplating moving on Tuesday but have decided to stay here for at least another day, followed by a move to Bakers Bay and then through Whale Cay Cut to Green Turtle before the weekend.