Black point, Great Guana Cay
Ananda
Ron Welch
Fri 1 Apr 2011 00:13
March 30, 2011
Ice cream, Groceries, laundry, postoffice, water, garbage disposal, and Internet.....were printed in bulleted form at the beginning of the paragraph about Black Point in the guide book.....we must not be the first sailing vessel to get this far and have three loads of washing (actually pretty good, considering there has been three of us aboard), just one bag of garbage, as Ron and Roger had discarded most of it at Staniel Cay on their trip to the dump to find salvageable parts of metal to create a bracket to fix the auto pilot, and we really only wanted ice cream from the grocery store. We had been hearing from other cruisers about the coconut bread from Ms, Lorraine's Cafe....her mother has even baking it for as long as anyone can remember.......this al doesn't sound much like excitement.....unless you are traveling and living on a boat.....these are absolute luxuries.......we loaded up the dingy and headed into shore within an hour of setting the anchor in a harbor that resembles a crystal clear nine foot swimming pool for boats.....absolutely gorgeous.....this place is so well set up that the "lundermat" is right up a flight of stair carved into the hill from the dingy dock....in no time friendly Ms. Ida had helped us get things going.....it was off to Lorraine's Cafe....conveniently right next door.......no ms. Lorraine to be found, but there were "boat folks" in the wifi room....drinking Kaliks and reaching out and downloading....there were several wads of cash on the counter where people who took a drink from the fridge and signed on to the internet had left their payment......ms. Lorraine is in the kitchen someone said.....when she came into the wifi room she asked if we would like something to eat....."yes no problem man, I can make you some grilled cheeses and French fries"....not fancy.....but what a treat.....eating out that is...picked up the clean washing.....another treat.....actually dry things......visited the grocery store....run by the pastor and chief of police's wife.....now here's where the real treasure was discovered.....ICE CREAM.....coconut.....yum....we quickly loaded up all the loot in the dingy and made our way back across the "pool" to Ananda....for the great treat......sitting in the cockpit we put our chocolate sauce and cake decorations to good use on top of the coconut ice-cream........mmmmmm a delightful simplicity taken for granted in the past.....not any more!
This little town of Black Point on Great Guana Cay seems to be unchanged by the constant transient population of boaters that flow through it on a daily basis....they have simply opened their doors and hearts and included everyone.......while this stop turned out to be a quick one due to winds shifting to the west......transforming the calm clear harbor "pool" into a rolly wave "pool" .....,we really enjoyed the Bahamian authenticity of it.....