Great Harbor Cay Marina was filled with lots of partying sports fishermen as today was the final day of a big fishing tournament. Also docked at the marina, were guys we had met in Bimini—Mike, Lennie and Dennis aboard Jack of Hearts. We had chatted with them on the VHF radio earlier today and they’d offered us their internet connection to contact my sister Nancy. We dinghied into the marina area and had a hard time finding a place to dock the dinghy but no trouble finding the bright red motor cruiser, Jack of Hearts. Finally, we docked the dinghy by squeezing in beside a small boat and climbing a 6 ft. ladder to get up on the dock. From there we hiked down the crowded docks to what we’d hoped would be an easy internet connection on our friends’ boat.
Well, it was great to see the Jack of Hearts guys but the marina internet they’d gotten right from their boat earlier in the day was no longer working. It was getting dark and we needed to be heading back to our boat, so we thanked the Jack of Hearts guys and went to the marina office still hoping to connect to the internet. Bingo! Sitting inside the office, we were able to get online but could not do a skype phone call—signal just wasn’t strong enough. So we sent out emails with lots of promises to connect with Nancy soon.
The next day—Sunday, Feb 24—was so windy and the seas were so choppy, we decided not to make the 20 minute dinghy ride into the Marina. John decided to swim over to the rock ledges in our little protected anchorage cove. Sure enough—the rocks were full of yummy lobsters and John speared three and just picked up a huge spider crab. We boiled them all and feasted.
On Monday, Feb 25, we got back to the Marina and hooked the laptop up to their internet. The phone Skype worked long enough for us to leave a message on Nancy’s phone and Mom’s phone. We had a bit of a conversation with our neighbor Patti Frank who helped get Mom to the hospital. Then the signal faded so we gave up on the phone calls. Hopefully we emailed everyone and continued to promise to connect via phone somehow another day. Meanwhile, we were running low on fresh water. As we were inquiring about drinkable water to purchase from the marina, our Jack of Hearts friends rescued us—they have a watermaker onboard and happily filled our 7 gallon jug to take back in the dinghy.
So on Tuesday, Feb 26 we actually talked to Nancy on the phone. The skype was not strong so we kept losing each other, but Nancy assured me that Mom was home from the hospital and fairly strong. She had meds for the pain and seemed to be doing okay. We offered to fly me home ASAP or to start making our way home with the boat. It seemed that flying home wasn’t a good idea as I’d still need to fly back and help John bring the boat home at some point. We’d see what we could work out about getting both of us and the boat back to Beaufort well before our mid-May previous plans. Nancy said it was amazing all the help Mom’s friends Anne and Jim Searles have been. They and Patti and Alan have been wonderful. We thank them all so much!
For lunch on Tuesday, we hiked over to the ocean side of the island. On the way be passed a not-too-old country club in ruins and a raggedy golf course. We passed some very nice beach villas and then some new construction that seemed to be abandoned. At the beach club we ordered up a hamburger and an excellent conch burger. I asked our waitress about the country club—thinking that it must have been damaged in a recent hurricane. “No,” she said, “I think it’s in ruins because of neglect.” Interesting, and who knows, but we keep seeing new construction that seems unused and often fallen into ruins.
Here are pictures of the beautiful beach out in front of the Beach Club and the Beach Club itself—which shows some signs of neglect too.
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