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Friday, May 24, 2013

Black Point and vicinity

Friday, May 24

By 0730, I was underway for another anchorage. I planned to tuck behind Bitter Guana, off the gorgeous sandy beach, and watch the iguanas. There was a southern swell coming in there that kept me pressing on to the Black Point anchorage.

Black Point is a great sandy bottom anchorage protected from all the easterlies from the north to the south. The easternmost portion, where you'll see small boats, and moorings is knee deep or less at low tide. The almost level flat sand makes a great place to enjoy floating or playing in the shallow water.

The people here are friendly and welcoming. There is a government dock, giving great dinghy access to the town. There is a trailer to put your garbage in just off the dock. Walking to the SW, there is a Baptist church, Adderly's (grocery store) and Lorraine's Restaurant, both on the right side of the road. Corrine, Lorraine's mom, cooks scrumptious bread; coconut, cinnamon, raisin, and probably regular, too, though I couldn't vouch for that one! (I'm eating as I write.)

There are always people in the shade along the road plaiting a wide-bladed grass that grows on Guana Cay into strips that they sell to vendors in Nassau to make various purses, baskets, etc. There is a small store on the left that has some of those woven items, and Adderly's sell some as well.

To the NE of the dock, there is a full gospel church, and continuing in that direction, if you watch for a path to the right, you can see a blowhole when the waves are surging in from the east. 

Black Point has the best laundry around, and it has its own dinghy dock, to the SE of the govt dock. They have a sign. There is also a marine store there.



I took the Whaler exploring, and went in the creek near the Dotham Cut. It looked like it would be an interesting place to anchor in the tidal creek, but, the bottom here is rock under less than an inch of sand in everywhere I poked a PVC pole. 

Dotham Cut is an easy entrance to the sound. When the wind is against the current, the seas can build, and are very short. I was drifting east about 3 knots before the swells got sharp, and I continued by journey back inside and to the north. I stopped at a Bitter Guana Cay beach, and then picked my way up to the Pigeon Cay anchorage to make sure I had water to get in there with MERCY (I do) before returning through the shallow draft route to Black Point. (3.9' was the least I saw at low water.)




Around 1430, I went in for coconut bread, mmm, which I waited on Corrine's steps and visited with some folks for fifteen minutes until it was fresh out of the oven. 

I took the Whaler to the south, down to White Point, along the shoreline. You can run the Whaler close in, just watch for fallen rocks. The area looks like great snorkeling. There are a couple of small cave openings in the rocks. This is the same island that has a bigger cave to the south, mentioned in last year's Oven Rock.

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