Provisioning at Staniel Cay

January 24, 2013

 

At the end of last week, other than some minor purchases in Highbourne and Black Point, it had been six weeks since our last provisioning in Miami.  We had very little fresh produce or dairy products left, and we were starting to crave things like fresh milk.  We also had spent over two weeks in the Exuma Park, where there are no restaurants, so we had hit our provisions and cooking propane hard.  We decided that a stop at Staniel Cay would be good: it appeared to be one of the only places where we could buy propane, before reaching Georgetown,  and there were three stores in town.  

 

We knew that Staniel is very popular with cruisers, and that most of the anchorages were quite a ways from the settlement.  The ones that are closeby can only accommodate a few boats.  With our small, slow dinghy (think Yugo of dinghies), we did not look forward to having to go a mile to the store.  We were not very optimistic as we approached Staniel, but we decided to be bold and see how close we could get to the stores.  We couldn’t believe when there were only two boats in the small anchorage closest to the settlement.  We would fit perfectly between the two!  Soon after we arrived (on Sunday), the freight boat 'Captain C' came to the government dock.  We weren’t sure, but thought that this might be the supply boat: it was, what perfect timing!

 

The next morning, we took our propane tank and our canvas grocery bags to Iles General Store.  At the door was a sign saying that the store would be closed until Tuesday, probably because they were low on all the essential items.  But, since the supply boat had arrived the day before, they had made arrangements for someone to fill in and open the store on Monday.  Anyone ‘in the know’ in Staniel stayed away because they knew the store would be closed until the next day, so we were able to shop with no competition.  When Tom asked about propane, he was told that they hadn’t had propane for a long time, and there was a backlog of tanks to be filled from the supply they just received.  When they learned that we were only going to be there a day or two, they agreed to fill our tank, if we paid in advance, and we could pick it up the next morning.  

 

After taking groceries back to the boat, we made a list of items that we still wanted but were unable to find at Iles.  We went ashore for lunch and then walked around the settlement until we found Burke Smith’s Blue Store.  This store was deceptive, in that it was really only two small rooms, but it had everything on the list that we wanted.  I did have to ask if they had many of the items, but I was never disappointed!  It even had ice cream bars, and Tom had wanted some ice cream for the past few weeks.  We asked Burke’s daughter if it would be OK if we ate our ice cream out front of the store, and she told us to go to their family’s patio and sit there out of the sun.  When Burke heard us, he came out of the house to talk and told us of some of his adventures as a fishing guide.  He also mentioned that he was in one of the first regattas in the 1954.  Overall, a very pleasant experience.

 

By the end of the day, we had all the provisions we needed, with the exception of the propane.  We started to wonder if our ‘luck’ would run out and our propane tank would come back empty.  After all, we had left the tank there and paid for the propane, but we had no receipt for the tank nor for the payment.  We expected that at best we would have to pay a second time, since we knew the woman who had helped us was only filling in.  But, we were thrilled to go back to the store, on Tuesday morning, and pick up a full tank, no payment due.  And, according to the sign, the store should still be closed.  We left Staniel feeling that we had really scored!

 

Our shopping philosophy as evolved this year.  In Highbourne, we would buy something if it wasn’t too expensive.  Now, we don’t ask the price if we need something, since we never know when we’ll be able to find the item again.  Of course, Highbourne is a marina resort and prices are about 50% higher than in the settlements.  Overall, the prices in the settlements have been reasonable, considering the cost and difficulty of getting the items to the out islands.  Also, some of the items are not like what you find in the States.  For example, we bought margarine, but after using it, we are sure that it is not heart healthy.  And, milk, is sometimes frozen or ultra-pasteurized for long life; we usually buy fresh skim in the States.  We brought some ultra-pasteurized (Parmalat) skim milk with us, but we had used all of our fresh milk and more than half of the Parmalat.  We were able to buy two half gallons of 2% milk (no fresh skim in a third-world country), some whole milk and skim Parmalat.  But, at least we had milk again for drinking or cereal, and we can always mix the Parmalat with the whole milk for a less creamy blend.

 

All in all, we’re a long ways from Wegman’s in Dewitt, mon.

 

Joyce

Black Point, Exuma