We arrived in Black Point to hang out till next week. Super Bowl Sunday and a full buffet at Scorpios – a tantalizing combination.

Not to mention Happier Hour for cruisers on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

But when we came in on Wednesday we were in pretty choppy waters with a northwesterly wind. So we anchored in an area with the best protection we could find, although it was a long dinghy ride to shore.

So next morning we moved to an anchorage closer to shore, in calmer conditions, and went ashore to get water and groceries.

Hanging out on the boat that afternoon we got concerned that we were too close to the rock wall and the wind direction was keeping us there.

One of our neighbors left so we moved to his spot, a little further from the wall.

By mid afternoon the wind had picked up and coming out of the northwest again. And the wind gods were not listening to Windfinder.com or the other wind sites, the wind direction and speed were not as predicted.

So we decided we had to move back across the harbor to the place we started out at, with better protection from the swells.

Well, as it turned out the swells followed us over there too. .

Given the conditions we decided not to take the longer dinghy ride to shore and stay on the boat and drink heavily.

But we couldn’t really do the latter because we didn’t have enough alcohol.

We rocked and rolled during the night but slept not too badly. There are 20 other boats out here sharing in the experience.

In the morning we knew the wind was going to pick up, but hopefully move to the east over the next couple of days.

Which meant we should get back to the other side, still to be choppy but better protection and closer to shore.

We found our spot and dropped the hook. This is the fifth anchorage that Ed has had to dive on to check. His least favorite activity.

But his drops are working and we are learning the teamwork required to anchor. “Starboard forward!” “Port reverse,” “Neutral!” I steer the boat at the helm as Ed does the heavy lifting (literally).

Ziggy, on the other hand, told us she wants to go back to Compass Cay where she could hang out on the fixed dock and get chicken and hamburger scraps.

No Ziggy. We are staying here for the Super Bowl, even if it means sleeping ashore at the laundromat.

Yes, our Bahamian host here at Compass Cay – Tucker – has 36 progeny. He is probably in his early 70s or so — he’s obviously been a pretty busy guy.

Let’s do the math. There could be 9 women with 4 kids each, or 12 women with 3 kids each, 18 women with 2 kids each or 36 women with 1 kid each.

In any event that’s a lot to keep up with. Do they pay child support here?
Tucker lives at the top of a hill on a spacious two story home with screened porches on all sides. He’s converting an old house, Hester’s- at the top of the beach hill to a gym- “Living Large” they call it.

Only one son, Jamal, works here. Another, Tyrone, comes in from Black Point occasionally (he showed me how to clean conch today). Then another brought a boat of tourists over from Pipe Cay today, that’s Randy another son.

I don’t think I could remember the names of 36 of my own children, much less their birthdays or other significant events like graduations and weddings.

Two local sources confirmed this is true. Rick says it’s the “Bahamian Way.”

Don’t know about that. There wouldn’t be all these unpopulated islands if that were the case, right?

We are holed up at Compass Cay waiting on the northwest blow to pass by. Not a bad place to be!

A cute shed decorated by passing cruisers over the years is the new hangout for Ed and the boys.

There is Tucker, the island’s owner, Jamal the friendly son, and Preston, the happy uncle who greets us every morning.

Barry is a yacht captain for an elderly couple who only come to their boat a few times each year. Barry spends 3 months here, 3 months in Ft Lauderdale and 3 months in Newport Rhode Island. He also works for the family here some, docking boats and doing repairs when needed.

Then there’s Toki, Dave and Rick, all cruisers who live here on their boats most of the time.

They all have stories and free advice.

Sunday morning is Daves waffle brunch enjoyed by all. Last night was a potluck for all, with barbecued chicken, steak and ribs accompanied by lots of side dishes.

We love it here for obvious reasons. It’s a little pricey by cruisers standards, but worth it during a big blow to not be on anchor worrying if it will hold.

It’s the coldest day we’ve had, just barely 70. But we can wait it out happily.

We are also waiting for a few injuries to heal or fix. Despite weeks of ear medicine my ear is still clogged up. And I lost a filling at Chat n Chill at the pig roast. No dentist til we get to Spanish Wells in several weeks.

And Ziggy cut her pad on coral we think yesterday, she’s limping some but still wants to do our trail walks. And check out the 16 chickens in the coop.

Ed says both his girls are hurt. But the four-footer doesn’t complain as much as me.

We can wait it out.

Yep, the pet sharks come up to the dock at low tide, beach themselves and wait to be fed. They like to be petted too. Just don’t get your toes too close we are told.

This is Compass Cay, just north of the other feeding attraction, the swimming pigs at Staniel Cay.

Tucker Rolle owns the island and it’s a small but beautiful one. People come on boats for day trips from as far away as Georgetown to feed and pet the sharks and walk the trails.

We are the smallest sailboat here, nestled in a small harbor among the yachts. It’s a protected cove so we will probably stay here to wait out the westerly blow that’s coming our way.

The beach side is gorgeous and the reef is good snorkeling within swimming distance. We will check it out today.

Ed has found a new group of boys to hang out with, shoot the s… and compare stories. I must admit he’s gotten some valuable cruising advice from these gatherings before so I encourage it.

Ziggy and I will just watch the sharks and the chickens up the trail. Entertainment on the islands.

Here at Black Point there are two ladies that the cruiser’s book raves about.

Lorraine’s Cafe and Ida’s Laundromat.

Lorraine offers wonderful food at her cafe and will rent you a golf cart to explore the island.

And Ida is known far and wide.
Best laundry in the Bahamas! The reviews go on and on about the laundry. Before we got here I asked Ed aren’t all laundromats the same?

Not really. This one has a dozen washers and dryers and carts on wheels so you can move your laundry around. Ida has a store next door with everything from boat plumbing supplies to detergent.

Free wifi finds cruisers of all types sitting outside on their devices while the clothes get clean.

And homemade carrot and banana cake every day. Ida announces what she will make the next day so you will be sure to come back.

She’s been here 12 years, added the coin operated showers last year. Oh and she will give you a haircut too!

Smart businesswomen. They know what cruisers need! Simple. Give us clean clothes, wifi, a shower and cheap local food and we’re good to go.

Well not completely. Zhivago at Scorpios gives us happier hour on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Two rum punches for $7.

Now we’re satisfied.

We made our way from Emerald Bay north, crossing at Rudders Cut over to the Banks side.

Before we made the cut, we practiced trolling for mahi or wahoo. No bites, gotta work on that.

We passed the cove and Musha Cay, owned by David Copperfield, where he has submerged a piano and mermaid to attract the fish.

Oh and you can rent his island if you like, magician or not.

We anchored at Little Farmers Cay, where the name came from I don’t know since there are no farms here.

It has a population of 55, all descendants of a freed slave who bought the island from the British Crown.

The Browns and Nixons are the descendants and they are the only ones who can build on the island.

For such a small place, Little Farmers has a couple of nice restaurants/bars.
Terry and Ernestine run Ocean Cabin, where we had a good dinner and watched the Seahawks come from behind. Terry created the Five F’s Festival, the first Friday in February, where people come from all over for a regatta and party.

At Ty’s bar and grill, we met “Coach” or Corey, who runs the bar and is the techie for the island. His uncle is Ty, as everyone is related. Corey would like to move on to greener pastures but family is here.

Ties that bind. Pretty darn tight!

Well at least our car did.

We rented a car to go to Georgetown and run a couple of errands. Ed put the back seat down so we could minimize Ziggy-hair. We struggled to secure it and couldn’t see how to do that so I looked in the glove box for the manual.

It was in Japanese. At least I think so. The car was a Mazda with the steering wheel on the right, must have just come off the boat.

Ed figured out the seat and started her up. Then a Japanese chick speaks to us, not as alluring as the Australian GPS girl, but sweet and melodic.

Not sure what she was saying but she said it every time we stopped and started the car.

“Good job! You are a great driver.”
Or “Nice going, you have a nice touch.”
Or maybe it was “Ooh you turned me on, thank you.”

More likely “Fasten your seat belts now.”

We drove miss Mazda to the Fish Fry and had our grouper burgers from one of the local kiosks by the sea.

And got gas from an old lady who ran the gas tank by her house in Farmers Hill.

The highlight of the day was visiting Catch a Fire ( named after the Bob Marley song), a great little bar/restaurant on the west side waterfront. Tony the British proprietor bought all the unusual furniture at a Thai distress sale and shipped it here, so the place has an Asian feel.

He plans to add cottages to his property, saying the Exumas are getting ready to explode with more tourism. There’s a direct flight now from Toronto. And the Chinese are looking at flights here.

Maybe the Japanese should too. At least they would know what the cars are saying.

The stray dogs in the Bahamas are called “Potcakes” from the congealed mixture at the bottom of the peas and rice dish that they were typically fed. They are believed to have come here hundreds of years ago with early explorers and the loyalists escaping the United States.

Estimates are there are 10,000 or more wandering the islands. There has been a recent effort to get them adopted, spayed and neutered through a website in the Turks and Caicos.

Their lifespan is typically only 3-7 years because of lack of heart worm and other vaccines. However they look healthy and have hardy stomachs since they are fending for themselves.

There’s a pack of three Potcakes that trot by our boat at the marina each day. They seem to be enjoying themselves. Ziggy approached them to play but they turned up their noses and left.

She would fit right in but maybe her crazy eye scared them off.

That’s the note you see everyday on all the weather sites down here. The temperature doesn’t vary beyond the low 70s to low 80s every day. Humidity is low and there’s a pretty constant breeze.

Boring? Not for me!

We made our way back 15 miles north to Emerald Bay Marina to wait out the north winds til Sunday. On our way out of the Georgetown channel we hit an unexpected squall and the winds grew from 6 knots to over 20 knots in a matter of seconds.

Rain was pouring and visibility was poor so we made the decision to turn around and hang out in the harbor til the rain passed.

Twenty minutes later we were on our way. It was an uneventful, even sail up to Emerald Bay where we don’t have to worry if our anchor is holding.

We’ve had two nights of blowing wind and rain, with one calm night in between. They call them squalls here, they come quickly and sometimes unpredicted.

Sunday night got up to 30+ knots, on anchor I felt like we were on a rough sea. Ed didn’t sleep much at all. There were people up in the middle of the night with spotlights, like Ed, checking on their dinghies.

We heard on the radio the next day that one boat dragged and got their anchor hung up on another boat’s anchor line.

Last night was not quite as rough but we got a lot of rain. And some thunder and lightning brought Ziggy the wonder dog leaping into our bed.

A stray dinghy was beached behind us, he had broken free and made his way to shore. We saw the owner on nearby Corsair snorkel up there to bring the wayward child home.

Good news with all this rain our little rain catcher system was putting rainwater into our tanks. Free H2O!!

We are thankful for small favors.

Like favorable southern winds today, although rain may hit us. We are starting back north, short trip to Emerald Bay Marina where we will wait for winds to change.

Bye to volleyball, chat ‘n chill and the best conch salad we’ve had. And new friends we hope to see down the road.