Georgetown to Cave Cay.

After leaving Georgetown, we stopped at Emerald Bay Marina, off the Atlantic on Great Exuma Island.  We needed water, and a laundry stop, so tried it out.  Emerald Bay is a first class marina, with floating docks and connected to a Sandal’s Resort.  Its only drawback is that its entrance is directly on the Atlantic, and if there is a east wind, the entrance can be tricky.  We had a west wind, so no problem.  Come to find out if you want to dine at Sandal’s there is a $70 “resort fee” to enter the place.  We opted for the restaurant at Grand Isle Villas, and were well rewarded.  Grand Isle lets marina guests in without a fee, so we blew it on a good bottle of wine!  Grand Isle has villas for sale, and is quite nice, and the name of course drew us. 

With one day of calm weather predicted (once the wind goes east over 15 knots, leaving Emerald Bay is not an option), we left the next day and anchored behind Lee Stocking Island.  Lee Stocking is home to an abandoned college research center.  The funding ran out, and the researchers left the buildings and docks as is.  Sort of weird to see a fairly large facility, with no one home.  The anchorage was perfect and we settled in for some heavy east winds.  We planned to stay a week, as the Atlantic route north would be too rough and the “inside “route is for shoal draft vessels only.  Well, after one night, the generator acted up.  It would start, then immediately trip the DC circuit breaker.  With no generator, we cannot charge the batteries, without running the engines for long periods of time at idle which is not healthy for them.  So, we took the inside route to Cave Cay Marina, which has shore power.  Thank goodness for the Explorer Charts, as the GPS was totally off.  With skill, luck and a few hair-raising moments, we made it to Cave Cay.  We had to “jump” a sand bar at the infamous Pimblico Cays, but that is a story for Alexis to tell…

Cave Cay is just plain hard to explain.  A nice gentleman (older than me) from Texas bought the island 20 years or so ago, and stared dredging a basin surrounded by solid rock  His son tells me they dredged 10 years.  They then put in first class floating docks, and started building guest houses.  The guest houses still are not finished, and are in varying degrees of completeness.  There is nothing but a few homes for the owner and workers here.  There is a laundry room, with four washers and no dryers??  I met the owner, who has built a rather large airstrip for his plane, and he is very likable.  His story should be a book.  So with no facilities few boats come here except in bad weather.  We are the only boat here (except for the owner’s boats).  There are some great areas to explore on the island, and snorkel opportunities via the dinghy.  It has been a good time to be tied up without a generator, as the wind has been howling from the east.  Also, I had my worst headache attack since the trip began, so good to be snug. 

Good news!  While I was out, Alexis did internet research (yes, the marina has Wi-Fi!) and found out that a bad fuel pump will sometimes trip the DC breaker on Kohler generators.  Well I have recovered, and changed the fuel pump with my spare, and viola, it works!    If we could not get the generator working, we would have to go back to Nassau, as that is the only place in this area with parts and service yards.  If it still works tomorrow, we will head north to Staniel Cay to meet Stan and family in a week and a half.  We are really excited to see them.  Missing the grandkids has been hard to cope with this long.   Thanks for all the comments, and it is hard to describe the natural beauty of these islands!  

Rainbow marking the way out of Georgetown.

Lee Stocking Island.

Click on this pic to see why this is Tug and Barge Cay.

At anchor-Lee Stocking Island.

Infamous Pimblico Cays

The shell savant strikes again!

Alexis wanders for miles, so her bag must go with her.  Contents-sunscreen, water, snacks, shell bags and a handheld vhf.

Cave Cay Marina.

Cave Cay beach.