Black Point

We made the extremely short hop south from Staniel Cay to Black Point to see our old dock mates Joni & Norbert on sv It's Time. There are about 45 boats here, and every morning Joni is hosting a cruiser's net on VHF radio. Cool! So every morning we start with coffee and the (very) local news. Black Point is gearing up for a SCCA -sponsored, 3rd annual cruiser gathering & festival, with bands from Andros, fire dancers from Nassau, raffles, games, Island boat races, and a visit by a sailing training vessel that feeds into the USCG.

Our first day here, we went snorkeling with Joni and Norbert (sv It's Time) and Pauline (sv Elektra) at Gaulin Cay's north cut. We saw some nice aquarium fish (blue parrotfish, lionfish, etc), a large spiny lobster, and the resident barracuda. Gaulin Cay is also home to protected punk iguanas that have pink towels and upper forearms. There were several dozen, quite habituated to people, having been fed many times.

Pauline turned out to be a Brazilian musician, singing and playing guitar for gig money. She also was a mermaid, having a monofin for diving!

That evening, we went to Lorraine's High Tides bar to socialize and see Paulina play. We met lots of cruisers, including Cheyne (of Cruisersforum.com), Jim Norris, a PHRF boat racing class measurements expert. Also, Susan & Jeff on a. Happy Now. Later we skipped over to the Black Point Yacht Club, another bar/restaurant next to Lorraine's where we had a game night and played dominoes.

The next day we went to Pappy Black's Emerald Sunset View bar/restaurant and had wonderful views of the sunset and the bay. We me Joni & Nobert's long-time buddy boat, sv Fizzgig (Ryan & Caroline). I think this was the day the wind clocked from SW to W, then N and finally E. This made for a very rolly night.

The following day, Alexis and I trailed the kayaks up to Turtle Creek. That was a bit of leaning, as we swamped one kayak during the trip. But eventually we were able to go through the shallows and enjoy the mangroves. No turtles! Then we we back to our snorkeling spot and got a good look at fish and iguanas, as already described.

For dinner we went to Lorraine's for pizza (disappointing crust) and caught up with a Ubiquitous (Annie and Phillip) whom we saw a year ago in Ft Lauderdale, and their friends Rick and Terry (sv Rogue Angel).

The next morning, Pauline, Rodrigo, Rick & Terry, Annie & Phillip, and Allen & Norma all tried to go snorkeling but the current just after high tide was ripping at 4 knots. We gave up and went to Long Beach but didn't see very much wildlife due to the waves. We did get a stern warning from a Bahamian against spear fishing in the area, which is the law.

The captain of sv Gaia, a John Shuttleworth-designed cat owned by Vicente & Carolina had offered to teach wing-foiling. I jumped on the opportunity and got sore knees from repeatedly climbing back onto the board! Eventually I achieved an upright on-the-knees stance with the wing, but didn't have the time to achieve full standup foiling. Annie & Phillip also taught me kite handling with a trainer kite.

I really enjoyed giging at Emerald Sunset View with Electric Mermaid, aka Pauline, and Allen (harmonicas), and Rodrigo (pandura). We did one rehearsal on Ashling, then went for the public performance, lol.Read more