Cave Cay

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and it will probably work out OK. We needed a plan to secure the boat during an extended stretch of bad weather. So, we decided (a) to head here, to Cave Cay, and to lay over here until Sunday morning and then head out the cut and south to Emerald Bay on Grand Exuma Cay.

Along the way we saw another boat with a beautiful spinnaker out. Went back and checked ... it's the same boat that I put in the blog before. I always think that the folks on this boat are real sailors, in ways that we are not. I doubt that 1 in 100 cruising sailboats has a spinnaker on board, and fewer, if they have one, are ready to use it. But, when deployed, these sails are things of beauty.

Cave Cay is another Field of Dreams. Some hopeful soul has spent millions acquiring the island, putting in a marina, putting in a reverse osmosis water system and pipes, putting in a power generation system and running wires, building a marina, building an air strip, putting up work buildings, offices, cottages and houses all on the premise that there are scads of rich people that want to fly their private planes to their boats, stay in their expensive houses and drink themselves stupid while fishing. If you build it, they will come: a great premise in 2007 that is majorly strained in 2012. The cash flow on this place is so far negative that the entire world might run out of red ink. But, it's not my money, so, what do I care. This is capitalism at work, except that everybody had exactly the same idea and the number of places that are underwater financially is large.

This natural harbor is one of the best that we have seen, equaling Great Harbour, though much smaller. The dock master does not know if the cut into the harbor is man made or not; from the water level up it seems to be nature's work. When Irene came through, the boats here had very few problems; this is a natural hurricane hole of the first order.

When we had BBQ at Lorraine's, back in Black Point Settlement, Great Guana Cay, there were four boats that "made" the table. Three of those boats are here, although one has too much draft to enter the harbor and is anchored outside; the other is right next to us. We arrived in mid afternoon and there was one other boat in the marina: the owner's. Now there are three boats, not exactly a crowd, with room for at least 15 to 20.

Our thoughts were: the weather is going to offer a one day window to head south on the windward side, Sunday. Cave Cay has a good cut on the south end, is the farthest south you can head to the windward side, and offers good shelter for the wait. We have planned to lay over here and then head south to Emerald Bay, a marina on Grand Exuma Cay, some miles north of George Town that offers a deal: it's a high dollar place to stay but they offer dockage at $1.00/ft. with no services, e.g. water and electricity. The only place we know of that is even close is Dudley's Marina in Swansboro, NC at $0.75/ft. with services. So, basically, we will "anchor at the dock," we hope, and wait for the weather to break.

So, after all that planning and rationalization, we decided to leave on Saturday morning, concerned about the prospect of the marina filling up and leaving us, with reservations, but without a plan to ride out the high pressure front.