Hot, hot hot today as we left the blessed coolness of the Emerald Bay Marina's clubhouse and (air-conditioned) laundry for 90F/80% humidity/little wind, down to George Town riding two engines and the jib.


At least the sun is back, which is awfully nice after all the overcast days! The beaches at the northern end of Elizabeth Harbour, especially the ones on Stocking Island, are very alluring when it's sunny...

Wanted to jump into the water to cool off!

We did provisioning and banking and filled the phone card and got fuel and water, all of the things we had to do in preparation for a less-traveled island next. Our marina-neighbors on Ouf, a lovely French couple heading back to Paris, donated the last of their dinghy fuel to our endeavor, as their boat will be stored at the marina for hurricane season, with a reliable man to maintain it.

We took Grant over to the Grande Isle Resort for lunch one of the days we were at Emerald Bay.

Our table at "Pallappa" bar and grill at Grande Isle Resort

On the walk back, I noticed that his legs are getting longer again... it's like he grows in one area at a time, or the limbs stretch out first and then the torso catches up later...


To stay cool in the hot and windless weather, we have been working in the clubhouse, which has free ice water and coffee, tea, cocoa, etc. Here's my workspace for that duration:


And here's Grant's workspace for schoolwork (he gets the corner office):


Notice the milk crate with all the school materials? There are so many books that it gets heavy. So Grant wheeled the crate back and forth from the boat using a dock cart. Which was OK until the last day...

those finger piers are a little narrow for the dock carts

Derek and Grant rescued the books from the clear waters of Emerald Bay as quickly as they could, but the books got wet on their outer edges (and one book of poetry, very absorbent literature, was utterly ruined). We folded paper towels between the pages and left them all in the clubhouse (lower humidity and cooler) the first night, then yesterday we spread them out in the sun on the foredeck to dry:


We will spread them out again when we get to Rum Cay, assuming it's as sunny as it was today. They really need to be well-dried or they could mold.

We are planning on visiting Rum Cay, which is somewhat isolated as Bahamian islands go. It's normally the jumping-off place for the trip to the Turks & Caicos. For us, it will be a revisiting and a jumping-off place for the trip to Conception Island and Cat Island and Eleuthera (the trip back slowly north). The marina there is one we stayed at when it was still very new and under development, and the same husband and wife are still owner/managers there; it will be wonderful to see them again, and to see Rum Cay again, we remember the astonishing beauty of this island from last time.