We went early to do more exploration of the town of Black Point. We got some water at the town spigot and then walked around. We first went to the Lorraine’s area in search of the bakery. I saw the two cafes and Lorraine had told us that the bakery was in between. There was a white home there but it did not look like a business. There was a woman weaving straw mat in front of the home and we stopped to talk with her.
The straw mat is woven from the leaves of the silver palm. It grows on certain Cays. She had a satchel of leaves, all about the same length and width and she was weaving a mat about 4 inches wide. She then sells lengths of these mats to the straw market in Nassau where they use the material to make bags and placemats. Many women on the island weave for the straw market. I did not take a picture of her weaving but did get a picture of some straw matting, used to cover a wall in a restaurant.
I asked the woman about the bakery and she laughed. “I am the bakery,” she said, “you are looking for the bread?” She then led us into the white home where a large commercial mixer stood in the center of the kitchen. On the counter were about 20 loaf pans in different stages. Some were lightly covered with cloth and rising. The smell of fresh bread made you want to have some right then. “You’ll want the coconut.” she said. We bought a loaf that was still warm. she wrapped it in a paper towel and left the plastic bag open. Everywhere we walked in town, we could smell that bread.
We then walked past the school. We had seen several children on their way to school dressed in bright green shirts and dark green shorts or dresses. Some walked, others rode bikes. The school, like the laundromat, faced the harbor. They had a smooth basketball court out front. There were air conditioners but they were not using them today. At 1040, they had a break and came to the stores to buy a snack.
We continued walking past the clinic which has a new building and ended up at The Emerald Sunset View Restaurant & Bar on a point. This was next to the park where the local regatta is held in August. This looks like quite the event.
We had some pineapple juice with ice at the restaurant. The owner Poppy, was very friendly. The building was abandoned and he bought it 5 years ago and fixed it up. He has lovely outdoor space facing west for the sunset. His wife was there also. He joked with her that he loves his boat most. He has a large motor boat. His wife likes to fish. While we were there we saw a small plane come in to the airstrip and I thought of the Williamsons.
We then walked the other way on the island road. We wanted to walk up for a view and see the blowhole. We were able to find the trail using google maps as the island has a cell tower. It was rather calm but, at low tide, the blowhole was blowing a bit.
We headed back to town, stopped for some cold cuts and found some lettuce and a green pepper. We decided to move on about 11 miles to Galliot Cut for the night. We had bread, lettuce and turkey for lunch. The bread was amazing.
We left the anchorage and started south. We had to motor because it was calm and even the light breeze was from the southeast which was the direction we were headed. We made good time and arrived at Great Galliot Cay by 330. There was still good light to see the water. The cut to the Exuma Sound is right around the corner. We anchored right off the beach in a beautiful harbor, launched Fat Tuesday and headed to the beach. There are beautiful reefs in the harbor but it was too late in the day to explore them. We will definitely try to return here. David remembers this place fondly from his prior trip.
I swam back to the boat from the beach. the bottom was sand with a little grass. I did not see any conch. There was a small barracuda lurking under our boat.
Another sailboat came into the harbor in the evening. We did not get a chance to speak to them but will look for them later. We think their name is Halekai. We could hear the water lapping against the rocks and slept in the cockpit. We used John’s high beam light to check our position every now and then as we shifted with the wind and current. Some large fish were feeding behind us at one point but we could not identify them. Later, the moon rose and we were able to see all around us. Our anchor did well and we had good weather through the night.
