Touring around Great Harbour Cay

 Yesterday was mostly a day of relaxation after the stressful crossing from Lucaya what with the imposing weather. But after a while we went out in the dink and found a blue hole. If you review the GPS tracks you'll see it on Goggle Earth. Use Internet Explorer to open the files and G.E. will start up if you have it installed. It was difficult to see anything below the dink because the skies were cloudy, but Deb was certain the bottom dropped out from under us. Perhaps tomorrow the sun will be out and we can get a better look.
 Later on Heinz came across from Lucaya with his gang and once again we were able to share an evening over some wine aboard their boat. I have to give them credit. Being German they were all willing to speak English with us with only an occasional  translation for someone who did not understand.
 Usually I am very easy to understand or ignore. But not being totally familiar with English they had a tough time once in a while.
 We all had a good time having an enjoyable, lively discussion about Harleys, cars, and guns. But with their departure for Nassau we needed to find something to do so we ventured out and rented a golf cart for the day.
 As the Bahamas go, or more correctly, compared to the Abacos and the outer islands we've been to, the Berry's are quiet. Everyone here has been friendly and warm. In fact we took a walk on the beach the first day we were here and while walking back along the road a kind man named Emerson stopped and gave us a ride back to the marina. That's the sort of folks that live here. Everyone waves and says hello. Do you think they want our dollars? If so they have certainly received the message but I think it's more their nature than anything else. Heck, they live in a very pleasant environment when the weather is good. Hopefully they continue to get good weather and avoid the storms.

 Out and about in the cart we covered the island. To the north there are several beaches and we hit a few.
 I have to say that overall the beaches here are devoid of sea glass or shells. Perhaps it's because there are no life supporting reefs just off shore. This would be a large geographical difference between here and the Abacos. But the beaches are very clean with natural debris like seaweed and etc.. The sand is soft on the foot being small grained. It makes it difficult walking but that's not bad because the conch fritters at the Beach Bar here on Great Harbour Cay are excellent and we have to work them off somehow.
 They are probably the best I've had in the Bahamas. You wouldn't know it by looking at the place but the smell of bleach is reassuring and the view is nothing short of breath taking. The cook's approach here is to make smaller fritters, say no more than an inch in diameter and load them up with conch. Add in some spice and a good dressing and wow, were they were great! I should have ordered another round. Perhaps tomorrow. There's nothing like looking out at the Ocean on a calm day with a full plate of conch fritters and a couple of Kalik's. It just doesn't get better. And then Heinz shows up in his ride off shore. We gave him a call on the hand held radio, something one should always have available, and toasted them on their way to Nassau. It certainly looks like it was a day to make the run around the North East side of the Berry's and head South! If you click on the photo you'll see them out there with the hammer down on their 800 hp CATs.

   But here you see Shark Creek on the South end of Great Harbour. Perhaps we could get in here with the dink but the water on the West side is really skinny so walking the beach will probably have to suffice.
 On the way back into town, if you could call it that, we stopped to look over the air port. It's pleasant enough with a small strip mall housing some stores. Sure enough the Australian couple we met earlier over lunch at the Beach Bar were there trying to extend their visas. They were burning off some time over lunch waiting for the immigration official to show up. He was out on one of the cruise ships off Great Stirup Cay so they could not take care of business. So we offered them a ride back to the marina where their dink was. They had come North into the marina from South of Hoffmans Cay some 18 miles away over shallow water having to haul it a bit to get going again. Not a pleasant experience by any means. But they had to get their papers in order so they were in a bind. Last we saw they were able to get a ride later in the afternoon back to the airport since the officials had arrived. At least they were able to get gas for their dink while waiting for the officials.
 It would be a bad thing to run out of gas 20 miles away from your boat out here.
 It would also be a bad thing to try and land your airplane on a driveway. That just doesn't work.