Friday February 25, 2011

Spanish Cay

Jerry and I were up early checking the weather. The winds at night were very stiff and the boat bounced at the dock. Jerry said that he did not sleep very well. At about 1am I got up and tied two additional dock lines to Water Mark. The additional lines helped but did not stop the boat from bouncing. The tied was high at 1am and the waves were breaking over the break wall. The break wall was made of large rocks and the folks that built it built it to work well at low tide. High tide is a different story. The wind blows the waves over the rocks and this makes for a very uncomfortable dockage.

The winds were very stiff today. We decided to take a weather day and prepare the Water Mark for the crossing to Florida on Saturday as the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday looks favorable for a 165 trip.

We pulled “Old Joe” off the transom of the dingy. I put a buck of fresh water over the propeller and water intake. Then fired “Old Joe” up and rinsed the salt water out of the motor. I disconnected the gas line and ran the motor until it ran out of gas.

We then pulled the dingy out of the water and washed it. I could not believe that there was so much green algae growing on the bottom of the dingy. There is also a lot of green algae growing on the bottom of the WaterMark. I used soap and a brush to clean the dingy. Once it was dried, we packed it in the two storage bags and lashed it to the foredeck for the trip across the Gulf Stream.

After the work was done, we had a beer and then rented a golf cart to tour the island. We drove from one end of the Cay to the other in just over one hour. We drove the golf cart down the middle of the run way. No airplanes so we were safe. We saw a restaurant called Wreckers. It looked abandoned. In fact the entire island looked and felt like a “ghost town”. Don Davis spent millions developing the island and must be loosing his shirt. Beautiful luxury homes and condos all empty. Maintained but starting to need paint and care and not getting it.

After touring the Cay, we headed up to the restaurant for our last meal in the Bahamas. Both Jerry and I had grouper. The chef a rotund lady with a tremendous personality had a secret sauce that went over the fish. It was absolutely delicious. It was also very expensive! She would not reveal the receipt to her secret sauce.

We also ordered some Bahamas toast. Bahamas toast is a cross between garlic bread and Texas toast. It is made with sweet Bahamas bread and also was a delicious desert.

With full bellies we headed back to the boat Jerry checked the weather and the forecast still looks good for a crossing to Florida on this weekend.