Nassau to Black Pt. Settlement

You'll find this town or settlement on Great Guana Cay. Another town on a lovely Bay on one of the Exuma Cays. Today is Wednesday and we have been enjoying beautiful sunny weather since we left Nassau on Feb. 11. On Friday the 10 we said our farewells to Ken and Mary. They left at 7:30a.m. by taxi for the airport in Nassau. flying to Ft. Lauderdale.A shuttle bus would take them from there to their van in Marathon,On Thurs. we toured Nassau-- the straw market and 'Main st.[called Bay St.].We even have a policeman in his smart white uniform on photo.Before going back to our boat we enjoyed a dinner together . thank you Ken and Mary.
Friday was clean up day and provisioning time. While we were out we met Steve and Lisa from the s.v. LisaAnne docked right behind us in Wiarton Marina ,our home port.They were spending a long weekend on Paridise Island. Good to see someone from back home.Saturday morning we headed  across the channel to fuel up and then we were heading for the Allen Cays, one the northren Cays of the stream of Exuma Cays.These islands are the home of many iguanas so tour boats from Nassau come here twice a day to see them. After motor sailing to our anchorage we dropped anchor at about 4:30 in low tide. The winds from the north east channelled thru our waters making it rock and roll sleep.. That's not all. the next morning we realized our dingy had gone missing. Oops! We were thankful to discover it on the beach to the east of us.Bill was able to give it a temporary fix[yes it had a 3 inch hole in one side] and swim it back to the boat . After that we had a quiet Sunday on board and soaked in a few sermons and later some sun rays too .   Mon. the dingy needed the sand and water[salt] cleaned out of it.and since we had no more glue to give our [car]the proper repair, we needed to get to a marina.So Tues. we sailed to Highbourne Cay marina.What a great place-well cared for and great beach for swimming.Well, the glue had to come from Nassau via one of the tour boats that go to Allens Cays everyday. We were thankful how it all came together. After a day and a half we were able to move on with a repaired dingy to our anchorage at Shroud Cay.And with high tide we were able to take a dingy ride thru the river on Shroud . In the clear waters we saw one big;water turtle a small nurse shark and lots of clams burrowed into the sand. At Highbourne we had met Doug and Sunny. They had come to Shroud Cay ,too . We had coffee with them in a.m. on their boat and shared 'happy hour 'with themin the p.m. on our boat; We hope to see them in Virginia when we head north later this spring. ;Our next anchorage was Big Majors Cay this is just north of Staniel Cay .The big attraction on the beach;at Big major is pigs. can you believe it-and they can swim too .They even try to board the;visiting dingies.2 or 3 weeks ago 14 piglets also became part of the show. Saturday evening the boaters were invited to a fund raiser dinner for the school at Staniel Cay. It was great food and lots of it.On our bench we were joined by fellow boaters whose home is Metcalf, On. They remembered our son David since their 3 sons had all graduated from Redeemer Christian High in Ottawa.Small world. Monday morning we had a great sail to Black Pt. Settlement. This anchorage was another beautiful Cay with lots of boats.Many flying Canadian flags. We found about half of them come from Quebec. We are off to visit a couple from Montreal. They helped us with our french and we helped them with our english. It was a win win for both. Tomorrow we hope to head south to Galliot cut. From there we take the ocean side of the Exums to Georgetown . "til then. (Photos to follow0