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Big Majors to Black Point

Apr 29 2016

Big Majors to Black Point:

The Black Point settlement on Great Guana Cay will be our home for tonight. It is only a short 12 mile trip so first we are going to try our luck at fishing out in Exuma Sound. Dothan Cut is a recommended passage from the bank side to the sound. It is a very narrow cut and we must time our transit for slack tide. When the current is running out, the waves stack up at the entrance. Trying to calculate slack tide at all the various cuts has been maddening. The only published tide data is for Nassau. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the tides at each cut. We have found some are 30 minutes before Nassau while others are 30 minutes after Nassau. Reaching the cut, there is still an ebb current but not too strong. The seas are confused around the cut but once out in deep water things settle down. No more than 30 minutes after we deploy our two cedar plugs, a Mahi strikes our yellow cedar plug and we have a fish on. He gives a good fight but is no match for our new Gold Penn Senator reel. He is a big one measuring about 48 inches long.

While Jeff is filleting the fish on the back deck, a second Mahi strikes the same yellow cedar plug. After a good fight, he too is in the boat. Thirty minutes later, a third Mahi strikes the same yellow cedar plug. With a high jump and violent head shaking, this one manages to free himself. Heading back to Dotham Cut, a fourth Mahi bites the same yellow plug in almost the same spot that we caught the first one. This one doesn’t get away and we now have a refrigerator full of fish. Jeff says no more fishing. We don’t want to be greedy and have more than we can fit in the freezer.

The Black Point settlement is our home for the next two nights. Ashore, we tie up to the dinghy dock at Rockside Laundry

. This seems to be the central meeting place for cruisers. In addition to doing your laundry, you can also get a haircut or warm shower at Rockside. Their conch fritters are said to be the best on the island. Today Roxanne is also selling homemade slices of banana bread. It’s a one stop shop. While waiting on our laundry, we explore the small village in search of Lorraine’s Restaurant. We placed an order for fresh bread with Lorraine’s Mom yesterday. Being early, the restaurant is not yet open but one of the workers directs us to the small house behind the restaurant. After knocking on the door, we hear a voice welcoming us in. Here we find Loraine’s mom busy cooking in the kitchen. On the table are three varieties of freshly made bread. She quickly bags our order of coconut, cinnamon raisin, and white loaf bread. The coconut bread doesn’t even make it off the property before it is savagely attacked and partly consumed. Back at the laundry, the cinnamon raisin suffers the same fate as we offer bites to fellow cruisers doing their weekly wash.

Black Point is your typical small Bahamian settlement. The town is not heavily visited by tourists. The few shops are stretched along the ½ mile of paved road. There is one small grocery, two bars, a church, 3 restaurants, police station, and school. Everyone seems very friendly. Most of the women are sitting under shade trees weaving and plaiting baskets from the locally sourced Palm strands. Most of their crafts are sent to the straw market in Nassau. We purchase a beautiful straw bag for one of the elderly ladies for $8. Our last stop in town is at Loraine’s restaurant for lunch. We are pretty sure our snapper bites are the same fish we saw being unloaded at the dock 30 minutes ago by Loraine’s husband. This is a perfect way to celebrate our 27 th anniversary.

Returning to Idyll Time, we see our two other Krogen friends have arrived in the harbor. We offer both LiLi and Salt’n Light some of our freshly caught Mahi. They are more than happy to help us free up some of our refrigerator space. After delivering the Mahi to them, we spend the remainder of the afternoon shelling on one of the nearby deserted beaches. Our anniversary gift is a beautiful Helmet Conch shell which we find while snorkeling. A perfect way to end our day.

 

 

Total Miles Today: 45
Total Miles This Year: 692

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