Where in the Heck are We Going??

Our plan for today was to go into the General Store to pick up provisions (basically fresh produce since the mailboat came in last night), then stop at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club fuel dock for diesel and water and then find an anchorage in the Pipe Cay area. Well, at least the first part worked out okay.

After returning to the boats from our provisioning trip, we weighed anchor and were headed to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We called them on the VHF to let them know we were coming in for fuel. The reply – we ain’t got no sticken diesel. Humm – we’d heard that rumor this morning on the usual radio chatter so Gerry called them and specifically asked about diesel. Yup, we’ve got it. Well, that proved not to be the case. Okay, on to the next option. We’d called Sampson Cay Club and Marina and they informed us they had diesel. We double checked with them to make sure and they told us yes and to come on in. This is a primo resort. Very, very nice and very, very friendly. While at the dock, they told us about their lunch special – 2 pizzas for the price of 1 plus 2 free beers. Heck, we couldn’t pass that up so after filling up the boat with diesel, water and gas (for the dinghy) we decided to fill up ourselves. The pizza was very good. Between us and the gang on Second Star, we order 4 pizzas (cause 2 were free). Plenty for leftovers. We also did a little more provisioning as they had a pretty well-stocked store. By 4:00 we were heading out for Pipe Cay. This area is very shallow, but there were a few anchorages that appeared to be adequate (both showing on the charts and discussed in the guidebooks). This proved not to be the case. We ended up in a very shallow area and were lucky we didn’t run aground. Even Second Star, with its shallow draft, had a problem. We checked out another anchorage, but it was very rocky so we headed for the northern part of the Island, not sure of what we’d find. On the way we passed by an old U.S. Navy Decca Site. The guidebooks talked about an old concrete wall long enough for 2 boats to tie up. It was definitely protected and out of the wind and current. Since it was getting late in the day, we decided to give it a try. Linda wasn’t exactly excited about it, but soon realized it was nothing different from what we use to tie up to on the river systems when doing the Great Loop – probably better than a lot of places we spent the night. We got tied up and called Second Star to tell them to come in. Definitely not very picturesque, but we’re tied up safe and sound for the night – and it’s free. Oh, and we’re getting WiFi from “somewhere” so that’s why I was able to post.