We decided to try laundry in the morning but not too early. We launched the dinghy and headed ashore. The laundry was crowded with mostly cruisers. We got washers easily. Haircuts were being given on the step outside the laundromat. David got in line.
It was great to chat with other cruisers in the laundry. We met a woman who has been doing the trek for almost 50 years. She and her husband are now in their 80’s. They spend most of their time in the Ragged Islands. She showed us places on the chart where they had been and where they had weathered westerly weather at Buena Vista Cay. She also recommended a route from the Exumas to Royal Island on Eleuthera to the Abacos. We may try it. I met several other long term cruiser women, all willing to share stories, favorite places and advice.
There was a wait for dryers but everyone was kind and waited their turn, checking with the others to make sure no one was waiting ahead of them. Once we had secured dryers 10 minutes apart, we decided to go have a bite to eat while things were drying. We sat on the deck at Lorraine’s and ordered some shrimp tacos. I also arranged to get some bread. Lorraine’s mother, who usually bakes the bread was out of town, so Lorraine was baking as well as running the two restaurants. A tour boat was also due in for lunch.
I went to get the laundry while David waited for food and it worked out very well. The tour boat came in with about 40 people. Out came a beautiful buffet for them and they were fed and back on the boat in no time. During this time, we got our food as well and Lorraine went back to the house to put in another batch of bread that would be ready around 3. She promised to save us a loaf.
We took our laundry back to the boat and returned at 3 to pick up the bread and go for a little walk. It was low tide and the beach had become quite the sandbar. We anchored Fat Tuesday way out and walked over.
We couldn’t resist visiting the blowhole again on our way to the ocean beach. It was spitting some seaweed today.
The ocean beach was lovely. We walked down to explore an arch where you can walk from one beach to another. On the far side of the arch is a nice tide pool at high tide. It was empty at the time we visited but looked nice.
We returned to the boat for a quiet evening. We are thinking of a new anchorage tomorrow.