We had a lovely stay at the Emerald Bay Marina, just north of George Town, for 6 days! They had a special running that included free laundry so we proceeded there to continue bombing the boat and washing EVERYTHING. That may not seem like a big deal financially but we spent almost $100 doing laundry in George Town so by our math we came out ahead on the deal! Plus, we didn’t have to load our dinghy, tie up at the dock, walk 8 blocks to the laundry…you get the picture!
When we arrived at the marina, Simpatico (Greg and Jo) were there as well getting ready for their trip back to Florida. The marina is part of the Sandals resort and had an incredible clubhouse. There was a 60 inch TV (yep, hadn’t seen one of those in a long time) and movies you could check out. So, we popped popcorn, mixed our favorite beverages and joined Greg and Jo for ‘movie night’!
There is also a good vet in George Town so we had made an appointment to have Mija’s teeth cleaned. We rented a car to get her there and toured the island for most of the day. We headed south to the bitter end of the island where we found a great outdoor bar/restaurant where we stopped for refreshment and liming with some cruisers that were there. And yes, Chula loves beer!

Well, it was fun to be at a dock for a while where the puppy dogs ran like crazy but we are ready to set off again for some more scenic island hopping. Sunday (Mother’s Day) we are off to Cat Island. This is a different island from Cat Cay where we first checked into the Bahamas back in January. We are getting better at remembering the island names which is no small task considering there are over 500 islands (or close to that!) with several having the same name!
We arrived at the north bight in Cat Island in good time. Most of the wind is now coming consistently from the east (with some NE and SE in there) so anchoring in the lee of the islands is easy without having to worry about those cold fronts bringing west wind. Oh yeah, have you noticed we stopped talking about cold fronts! Could they be finally over???
Cat Island boasts the highest point in the Bahamas, at Mt. Alvernia, at a height of 206 feet. At the top of the peak is Father Jerome’s Hermitage. At the age of 62, the architect, turned priest built this small replica of the hermitages found in Europe. There is a beautiful 360 degree view from the top. Inside there is a guest book and we noticed a couple had just signed in from Beach City, TX. When we came outside there was a man who said, “How ya’ll doin?” so by deduction we asked if it was them. We started talking on the walk down and it turns out that Tom and Janice Hitchcock (on M/V Reprieve) know the market director from my previous job so…Dan Bellows…they say ‘Hi’!
That evening we also got a Mahi (Pompano Dolphin)! He was a handful and will feed us for weeks. Did we catch him you ask? Well, no. As we were having our Sun Downer in the cockpit a boat came up and asked us if we wanted one of the four they had in a bucket. They were from M/V Who Cares. The ‘mother ship’ (a very large boat) comes down for a month and all they do is fish. There are two arms coming off the ship that tethers two good sized fishing boats to it. Every day they were off with the sunrise and fished all day. It was a big task just to clean this guy so it was very nice to have them do the hard work of landing it for us! Ed has replaced the reel on the rod (the first one broke when he caught something BIG) and as soon as we have room in the freezer we will start fishing again as we sail.
Next we made our way a whopping 7 miles north to a new anchorage at Fernandez Bay. It is a beautiful bay with great reefs for snorkeling and a lovely resort. They welcome cruisers ashore and invite you to dine with them if you give them notice. We heard there was lobster on Wednesday evenings so since there is an upcoming birthday (Ed adds a digit on the 18th!) we decided to make it an early celebration. We dined with a nice couple from Maine that is on the island to get married the following week. They both worked at the Maritime School and it was fun to hear about their education program.
The next day we decided it was time to go snorkeling as the winds had died down a bit. We dingied ashore with the dogs, suited them up with their life jackets and started swimming out to the reef just off the beach. Beautiful! Ed decided to bring the dogs back to shore and Vicky continued to snorkel. All of the sudden she notices a 3-4 foot fish with a very toothy grin following her. She kicked her fins in the fish’s direction…still there. She went right; she went left….still there. Now she is getting a bit panicky because it doesn’t seem to be afraid of her and likes to come way too close. Luckily Ed decided to get the dogs in the dinghy and come looking for me as I had skirted around the point out of view. I quickly hopped in the dinghy gasping as I was beginning to hyperventilate! A quick look in the fish identification book we have quickly confirmed what Ed suspected…it was a barracuda. And, as it turns out they are very inquisitive (i.e.: come too close!) but won’t harm you. Just don’t wear any shiny things in the water or be bleeding (good advice…as if you would be snorkeling if you were bleeding!) So, we get back to the boat and Ed is relaxing in the cockpit when he sees this large fish hanging out below. You guessed it…a barracuda. Vicky insists it was the same one continuing to stalk her!
Well, it is time to start thinking about the next destination. We are off on Monday toward Eleuthra. We may stop along the way at Little San Salvador. It is privately owned by Holland Cruise Line but you can anchor off the west end. If making good time we may go straight to Rock Sound, Eleuthra. We hear it is one of the best and most-reasonable places to reprovision so we are looking forward to that!