It's true, though. This is one of the cleanest islands we've seen. Almost no litter, no trash in the water, less garbage like broken stuff around the houses than we've seen elsewhere. They even have trash cans on the street. Here is the little cemetery, all neatly raked.
The island itself seems more lush than some of the bleak ones, especially the Jumentos. That bush that you can barely see in the picture, the one with the white spots --- that is from the cotton plants that the loyalists tried when they were settled here. Rum Cay actually used to grow pineapples and export them.
Back at the marina --- here is a shot of the docks at the small marina.
The marina also maintains 4 little cottages for visitors. Cute, huh? For $10 per day per boat, you can take showers in them!!! (Yes, we did, once, to conserve our drinking water)
The marina has an excellent wiew of the western horizon, for spectacular sunsets. The evening before this, we both actually saw the green flash - actually more like a green wink, instantly after the sun went under the clear horizon. We anticipated it might happen, as there was a lot of diffraction at the horizon - the sun looked like Packman with a littel skirt, as if sizzled into the see. And, indeed, the often discussed, rarely seen green blush flared briefly just after it went down.
Next day, after lunch we took the dinghy and explored the beaches on the leeward side of the island (the side NOT against the Atlantic). This picture gives you a good idea of the coral reefs in the water. All of those dark spots are coral reefs and have to be gone around, even in the dinghy. Lots of fish and beautiful coral. Wish I had underwater pictures of them.
The dockmaster here, Rasti, is a Rastaman, see the link. He claims to be of the one of the 12 tribes that DO drink, but are known as hard workers, honest men, and someone whose word you can always depend on. He is also an artist, making candle holders out of brain coral. He has some in art stores in Miami, but makes the items here and sells them very reasonably. Here's the one I bought.
And here is Rasti. That hair goes to his hips when let down. Says he hasn't cut it in 25 years. I thought it would be hot and oily, but actually it is light as a feather, feels like a soft roll of light cotton. Funny, though, he also said that he hasn't cut the beard either - it just doesn't grow.
Today, Friday, we took the dinghy to the other side of the island, the western side. A little more rugged than before, but beautiful. Again, a pinball game getting between the coral reefs. That dot on the shore (in the middle) is out dinghy.
Tonight the local restaurant is having a cruisers potluck. The cruisers all bring food, she provides a couple of Bahamian dishes, and we buy our beer/wine/sodas from here. Not a bad arrangement. We've seen it before, especially in the outer islands.
Saturday morning, 5a.m.ish, a large cold front comes through, bringing high winds (35 knots sustained) and gusts to 50. A little rain, mostly wind. That's why we and the other 8 boats are here in the marina. It'll be a good day to get things done in the boat (like cleaning!)
No comments:
Post a Comment