Weather snafus and waiting.

We have been at Staniel Cay Yacht Club the last few days waiting for Stan and family to arrive.  They are spending a few days at Atlantis in Nassau before flying Air Roland to Staniel to join us.  We can hardly wait to see them!  Roland, the pilot, lives on Staniel and we have become friends.  The people from the “family islands” (as the out islands are referred) are genuine, helpful, and about the most pleasant people I have ever met.

 As I have posted before, Staniel Yacht Club is not the place to be in a west wind, so we keep close tabs on the weather, as does the marina staff, as they close the docks in a west wind.  Well, the weather people were wrong, and a rather brisk west wind sprung up one night, pinning us, and several 100’ yachts to the dock.  One got beat up pretty bad, due to lack of adequate fenders.  These big yachts most all have crews of two to nine crew members, and they were scurrying around the docks that night with unhappy owners!  The crews of these yachts have been very helpful to us with information (their paid weather people were wrong also) and are always willing to lend a hand if needed.  Well the weather people kept saying the winds would clock to the north, but they did not, for three days.  We could not even get on and off the boat without risking limbs one day!  We stayed at the pool a lot, and ate at the restaurant here for meals.  Our friends Herb and Chris had the good sense to anchor in a protected cove, so we visited them by dinghy, although leaving from our dock was memorable!  It is quite nice here now, and we really are looking forward to our visitors.  A final note-Alexis has a poisonwood rash, similar to poison ivy, she got on her trek to the beach.  Megan is bringing meds, so she is really looking forward to their arrival! 

The mail boat is the primary way each Cay is supplied with food, tools, equipment and mail.  They arrive each week, and the line forms at the grocery store as word spreads of its arrival.  This one is leaving Black Point.

The Exumas have hundreds of beaches like this one, and most have no people!

Rocking and rolling at the dock.

Many boats leave stickers at the various marinas in the Bahamas.  If you click on this pic and look at the bottom right you will see Ezduzit's sticker.  Ezduzit is a beautiful Grand Banks owned by Ed and Colleen Taulbee from Lafayette, LA.  They were docked next to us in Orange Beach, AL and follow this blog.  Small world!