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The wind stayed light all night and it was a little warm below but not too
bad. At least it was calm and the mast did not clang. The wind sifted to the E
in the early morning and then to the SE. Around 10 we pulled up the anchors and
sailed N to Black Point. As we rounded the point we saw 2 other sailboats in the
anchorage. The couple Dan and Tina from Fourwinds dingied over and we talked for
a while and then they went in to town on a search for ice. He came back with
some a little later. After lunch we relaxed for a while and then at 2 we dingied
in to look the town over. We started for the Batelco office first but stopped at
Laurains Restaurant to put in an order for dinner. The TV was playing Terminator
II and there was a shelf with books and magazines on it. Also a large fan was
blowing on us but nobody else was there. We watched and read for about 15
minutes before Laurain showed up and we ordered drinks and dinner for 6 PM. The
single hander on the smaller sailboat in the harbor came by for lunch and to
pick up bread he had ordered. We ordered a loaf of bread also. He is on his way
to Nassau to do some banking. After cooling off we started on our walk again and
reached the Batelco office and bought a phone card. We made our calls and while
Jill was on the phone Will Rolls, a local guide came up and asked if we wanted
to see his garden. We followed him to his house and he has arranged the local
stones and pieces of driftwood into statues on his property. He also had a large
number of different fruit trees. The pieces of driftwood and stones resemble
animals, dancers and people. He showed us some exotic looking fruits and gave us
some samples. On the way back to town we meet Dan and Tina again at the park
overlooking the bay. They were headed for the garden also and perhaps they were
the ones who inquired about the garden and then Mr. Rolles spotted us instead of
them and dragged us there. We returned to Laurain’s and had dinner. Workers were
remodeling the dining room as we ate. When we returned to the harbor the small
sailboat had already left. The wind was light and we sat in the cockpit reading
magazines from Laurains and watched the moon come out.
4.5 miles North we came to Black Point. This is where 6 - 7 years ago Rich brought Jerry. They ate at Larraine's Cafe and so did Rich and I. We went to Batelco and got a $20 phone card. Rich called his parents and I called mine and Liz. I talked to Bailey. She said "Come over here", "Going to see Daddy" and "I love you". She says in October that they are all coming to visit. I tried to call Cassandra a couple of times, but no answer. Liz says that Cass came to visit and they went to visit her. I'm glad they can find time to be "family" together. :)
A fellow named Willie Rolle approached us and offered to give us a tour of his 'place'. He has a gray rock slab yard and he has made a driftwood garden with pieces he has arranged to represent dancers, mermaids, snakes, birds and crawfish. He also has a farm with mangos, limes, sour oranges, papaya, several types of apples, sour-sops (prickly looking) and plums. He insisted on giving us soursop and papayas and gave us some to try on the spot. His wife's name is Patty. Nice people - children and grandchildren all over the place. :) Tomorrow we will go in and buy a few things and explore some more.
We had another quiet night with enough breeze to keep us cool. In the morning
I woke up early enough to get the weather broadcast from Highborn Cay at 8 and
they said it would be hot and calm for the next few days. Our neighbors pulled
up their anchor at 9 and sailed N and we got in the dingy and went to town at
10. There was a 10 Kt breeze from the E but it was a hot day with less cloud
cover to shield us from the sun. We had a bunch of magazines for Lorain and
walked to her restaurant first. The workers had a good start on the new bar they
were building. We wanted to walk around the E side of town today so we started
in that direction. near the public dock we said hello to an old lady by her
house and she came over and started talking to us, inviting us inside to look at
straw work. We said we were walking but would stop by later. We continued to the
last occupied house on the E end of town and there was a man chopping mangroves
at the edge of the bay, 3 goats and 2 little children. We said hello and talked
for a while. We mentioned our previous trip here for medical help and he said
his wife was the nurse at the clinic and we should stop by and say hello. We
continued to the end of the bay which is very shallow there but the shore is
full of coconut palms. We walked along the beach and then back to the road and
noticed that the grave yard is just E of the beach. Perhaps this is why all the
palms were planted. We continued on the road which goes to some houses on the N
part of the island. The road goes up a ridge and from the top we could see the
sound and the bay side at the same time. We found a small path down to a beach
on the sound side (E) of the island. The path lead thru rock and scrub to a nice
sandy beach between rocky outcroppings. It was very hot as we walked back to
town. We stopped at one small grocery store to see what they had but did not see
the proprietor although the store was wide open. Next to the store 3 men were
working on a new wood mast, there was a broken one laying on the ground. They
are preparing for the local boat races in August. There is a nice race boat on
the beach E of the public dock and several more at the park on the W end of
town. We returned to Laurains and the bar was almost done. We had cheeseburgers
which were very good and picked up a fresh loaf of coconut bread that her mother
had just baked. We stopped at Adderlys store and picked up a few essentials like
toilet paper. On the way back to the dock we stopped at the house of the lady
who had spoken to us earlier ‘Unice’. She showed us pictures of her with the
Governor and pictures of her son with Sidney Potier. We bought a straw basket
for $5. We walked back to the first store where we had seen some limes but it
was now closed. We greeted a lady across the street and asked about the store,
she did not know where the owner was, probably at lunch. We also asked about ice
and she said she was the one who sold ice. We followed her to a small shack
behind her house and there in a huge top opening freezer was blocks of ice
frozen in plastic buckets. We bought one 10 Lb. block for $5 and then hurried
back to the boat. After stowing everything away we quickly jumped in the water
to cool off. The bottom here is sand with just a few blades of grass here and
there. A large school of very small fish congregated in the shade of the hull
and lots of small drum shaped jellyfish swam all around. Jill swam over to a
mooring near the boat and saw a small shark hiding under the concrete mooring
block. It swam away as soon as she saw it. We relaxed for the rest of the
afternoon. The wind remained 10 Kt from the E and kept it from getting too hot
on the boat. Jill made popcorn for happy hour and afterwards we thru the
un-popped and burned kernels into the water. About 5 minutes later we had an
invasion of gulls. About 20 gulls descended on the popcorn and scooped it up for
about 3 minutes. Every evening one or more small birds with shrill voices flies
out and lands in the rigging seeming to beg for food.
Today we went fro a long walk around Black Point. We met Eunice Williams. She has a picture of herself with the Governor and one of her sons with Sidney Potier on Cat Island. Her tiny living room is just covered with draperies and pictures. One son "works on computers in Washington DC". She had several straw pieces for sale. We bought a little satchel for $5. :) We went to Loraine's for a cheeseburger. Very good. I got a couple of novels and we left a stack of our magazines. We spoke with a man who was clearing his shrubs and grazing 3 goats. His 3 children were there. The "goats are pets". "The kids and wife named them and we can't eat them". He said his wife is the island nurse - "Beverly". This is at the clinic that Richard went to 6-7 ears ago when he had a severe ear infection.
We swam when we returned to the boat and I saw a 3-4' shark near a mooring slab of concrete about 100' from Phoenix!
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