Nirvana for cruisers

The anchorage at Lee Stocking Island

We left Lee Stocking Island yesterday morning, home to the Caribbean Marine Research Centre, a division of NOAA, the U.S. meterological office.

They were going to give a tour but we wanted to be under way so we left at first light and headed out to the Exuma Sound, on the ocean side of the islands.

There was a gentle swell and the water was a clear blue. Once again Scott put out his fishing line and once again, no luck.

It was so tempting to stop along the way at a cay here or there, it was so gorgeous. We had to motorsail, first time in a while actually, but we had Emerald Bay Marina to look forward to.
Boy were we thrilled. This marina has everything and more, at $1 a foot ($2.25 if you want electrical plug in). Free laundry, free wifi, free trash disposal, free shuttle to the market nearby (I nearly swooned at that) plus fuel and water (not free of course). On top of that, the propane truck stopped by and we got a tank filled.

Best of all though, the staff are incredibly warm and we have so many friends here, and the kids do too - there were several watching movies last night in the sailors' lounge (air-conditioned, four rooms with DVDs, magazines, two flatscreen TVs, galley, and billiards' room all in a fabulous decor).

It's been well over a month since we've taken a dock so it's been well over a month since we had a hot shower with a continuous spray of water. I nearly wept at the joy of the hot water and soaps in the gorgeous washrooms. No bumping elbows here.

Usually we take a solar powered shower quickly in the cockpit or if we're desperate, we use our shower in the head but it's a bit of a mess to clean up and we hate bringing too much water into the boat where it will cause mildew, etc.

So we're getting ready to have Reggie move aboard, that means a big clean today and a sorting of clothes. Scott and Aidan have been re-rigging Aidan's pilot berth with a new cushion donated by Pirate, a fellow cruiser. We're also installing crew bags to hold small stuff and trying to sort out clothes and whatnot to send home with family. We are very excited to finally have Reg back and he's getting himself oriented with his two online courses he's taking for school. He's also taking a CYA course by correspondence and maybe SCUBA with Aidan, so he'll be busy!

We think we might stay here until Scott's parents and Reg arrives as we're only 10 minutes from the airport and it's easier to move Reg aboard if we're at a dock.

It is blissful here and it's so funny how all the cruisers walk around with big smiles just because everything here is so easy and accessible.