Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The wind was gentle and the sun was shining—just right for a leisurely sail to the next anchorage. Although Black Point Settlement was just an hour away, we decided to stop there for the night. So, we anchored and headed ashore for lunch in Black Point.
This little village was charming! The first sight was a welcome-to-Black-Point sign along the sea wall that said: “Get to the Point and Stick to the Point.” The cruising guide said that there were 300 people in the Settlement, but it seemed that there were really only 30 or so and they all were outside doing stuff. The school kids were walking home for lunch, the women sat under shade trees along the road weaving straw baskets, and everyone spoke as we walked past. Lunch was at Lorraine’s Café and Lorraine had freshly baked bread and free internet! And then, if all that weren’t pleasant enough, Black Point has FREE Drinkable Water! The settlement has its own RO (reverse osmosis) plant and everyone is welcome to help themselves to any of the RO spigots along the street. This may not sound like much, but in The Bahamas fresh water is a valuable commodity. We have spent as much as 50 cents a gallon and in many places you can’t get fresh water at all! Caribbean Soul can store about 80 gallons of water and we like to fill up all at once when possible, but we are happy to haul water out to the boat 5 gallons at a time when the tanks get low.
The wind was gentle and the sun was shining—just right for a leisurely sail to the next anchorage. Although Black Point Settlement was just an hour away, we decided to stop there for the night. So, we anchored and headed ashore for lunch in Black Point.
This little village was charming! The first sight was a welcome-to-Black-Point sign along the sea wall that said: “Get to the Point and Stick to the Point.” The cruising guide said that there were 300 people in the Settlement, but it seemed that there were really only 30 or so and they all were outside doing stuff. The school kids were walking home for lunch, the women sat under shade trees along the road weaving straw baskets, and everyone spoke as we walked past. Lunch was at Lorraine’s Café and Lorraine had freshly baked bread and free internet! And then, if all that weren’t pleasant enough, Black Point has FREE Drinkable Water! The settlement has its own RO (reverse osmosis) plant and everyone is welcome to help themselves to any of the RO spigots along the street. This may not sound like much, but in The Bahamas fresh water is a valuable commodity. We have spent as much as 50 cents a gallon and in many places you can’t get fresh water at all! Caribbean Soul can store about 80 gallons of water and we like to fill up all at once when possible, but we are happy to haul water out to the boat 5 gallons at a time when the tanks get low.
Other supplies—eggs, milk, butter—were not available today. The nice lady who ran the grocery store said that she would have those items as soon as the supply boat arrived (whenever that might happen!). A fellow boater in the store offered to give us some of the eggs off his boat because he was flying home soon. It turned out that this was the same guy who helped us with boat bumpers the day we were pinned to the Exuma Dock about a week ago—nice guy!
And, while we are sharing all of our house keeping tasks, you will be glad to know that Black Point allows cruisers to leave their bagged garbage in a bin at the dock. Yay hooray! This is real civilization!What a nice day.
And, while we are sharing all of our house keeping tasks, you will be glad to know that Black Point allows cruisers to leave their bagged garbage in a bin at the dock. Yay hooray! This is real civilization!What a nice day.
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