Blue water paradise

7/9/2017 - Double Breasted Cays

We left Walker's Cay and made the five mile trek to Grand Cay. After 20 minutes in the very protected (read: windless) harbor, we moved to the marina and plugged in. Beautiful, cold, dry a/c - but in exchange for dock living with close neighbors and party music all night long from the handful of bars lining the waterfront.

We walked around town and found a restaurant - actually was an expansion of the bar we went to in 2007. Very friendly family, slow food because they literally cook it to order. We let the girls go outside to play while we waited and they were thrilled. Full freedom and autonomy. When the food came I had to walk pretty far down the road to find them - every person I passed all smiled and said, "Dey up de road." They squealed when they saw me and begged to do it after dinner and again in the morning.

The tiny island has changed dramatically in the past ten years. In 2007 we were there shortly after the hurricane that blew down Walker's Cay. We didn't connect the dots back then, but the atmosphere was glum, quiet, and impoverished. Ten years later, 2017, it was a bustling town with a full marina, brightly painted new guest cottages, and tourists wandering around the streets. The local residents were friendly and happy to see us. Our guess is that all the sport fishing boats that once frequented Walker's Cay when the resort was open are now bolstering the tourism and fishing industry at Grand Cay. 

It's not our scene so we were ready to leave in the morning. First things first: the girls had to watch Moana while we were hooked up to power (no TV at anchor!) and we washed the salt off the exterior of the boat. I cleaned out the fridge, we washed some clothes by hand in the bathtub and at noon we pushed off the dock, only a few miles to our next destination, Double Breasted Cays.

Gorgeous! A fast current runs through the anchorage, but the water is the brightest turquoise and white, white sand. We spent a couple days with another boat from Florida on summer vacation - the family is South African and have circumnavigated and have spent their lives living on and around boats. This time around it was the grandparents, their daughter, and her daughter - 3 generations. The granddaughter is 5.5 and a perfect friend for our girls.

Everything is working well on the boat -  though I'm jealous of the boats with generators and a/c, the bugs were insane last night. At least it was mosquitos overnight and our screens block those out.

Wishing we could do more snorkeling and diving, but we're limited by the kids. Freja loves it, but doesn't always want to go - and the best spots are challenging for a kid, especially a 6 year old who is just learning. Matilda doesn't swim yet so either floats with us in her life jacket, tethered to the dinghy, or just sits in the dinghy waiting for us to finish. She's a good sport about it thought. Hans has gone a couple times by himself, but that's not the best idea and not something we want to to do too frequently.

A benefit to the cruising life is all the quiet, downtime we have. No TV, no errands to run, no social responsibilities (for better or worse), slow slow internet discourages aimless surfing - it allows a lot of time to think. So you'd better be comfortable with your own thoughts! There's lots of time to stare at the horizon and meditate on life.