Tuesday, February 19, 2013
As Tom mentioned in the last post, we are currently docked at the Marina at Emerald Bay – our first docking in over seven weeks. I may have mentioned that we have the Yugo of dinghies, so we were not looking forward to having to use it to do all of our errands, especially after seeing a picture of dinghies three abreast up and down the whole dock at the market in Georgetown. We needed to restock food and propane for the next two months, so we decided that a good way to do that was by docking and renting a car. By doing this, we could do our errands in about a third of the time it would otherwise take, we would have a way to see the islands of Great and Little Exuma at will, and we would have good protection from the upcoming front. Fellow cruisers may say that docking and renting a car is not having the full experience of cruising, but it doesn’t bother me to take the easy route every once in a while.
On Friday, our first mission was filling propane tanks. We had learned from experience that propane can be difficult to find in the out islands, and it often requires leaving it somewhere and having it returned days later. But, our guide books said that we could go to the airport and have them filled; and this would be on our way to the market. We’d be able to complete this task in a matter of minutes. At the airport, there was no propane to be found, and we were given directions to Sun Oil. We both thought we had a good idea where to find it, and it would be a few miles away. After about 15 miles, as the road started to narrow, we decided that we had misunderstood the directions. We then found a very helpful woman who told us in detail which way to go and where to turn. This was only after my saying that we really didn’t have any idea where any of the landmarks were that she was listing. After finding the station, we were told that the barge was in the harbor refilling their propane, and we would need to leave our tank to be filled. Just what we wanted to avoid. But, we could pick it up in an hour or two, and it was ready when we returned!
When we were at Lee Stocking Island, we learned of a relatively new meat market about five miles north of Georgetown, which received rave reviews. The market is Prime Island Meats & Deli, in LaFamilia Plaza, and it is run by Ron and Susan Kemp. Ron is a native Bahamian who worked for many years in the States, as a meat cutter and in restaurant management. Because of his background, he really understands customer service and meat products that cruisers want. Since they were finding that cruisers were walking from Georgetown, they have started sending their pickup into town each morning (Tuesday through Saturday) at 10:30 to shuttle people to the store and back. We arrived a few minutes before opening at 10:00, but they invited us into the store and they offered to keep any purchases in their cooler until we returned later in the day. We were so glad that we took advantage of their offer, because it allowed us to buy all of our meat, and sliced meat and cheeses before any of their supply was depleted by other shoppers. Even though we were primarily interested in the meats, we did buy some rolls and potato salad. Ah, non-sweet American rolls, what a joy! And, the potato salad was awesome! I predict the meat market and deli will both have great success. Ron’s mother was the cashier the day we were there, and she told us briefly about her heritage. Her ancestors were some of the Eleutheran Adventurers, a group of people who came from Bermuda to the Eleuthera, in the early 17th Century. Their living conditions were terrible, and most of the group did not survive. She definitely came from hardy stock!
In the afternoon, we visited Exuma Markets and were quite pleased with the selection of food and other items available. Even though the container had arrived from the states on Monday, they were continually restocking the shelves. This is so much different than the smaller markets in the settlements, but there is a price that has to be paid for this convenience. In many cases, we paid twice what we would have paid in the states for the same item. But, the stores in the states don’t have to have a container sent to them by somewhat erratic supply boats and then cleared through customs. Although the stores in the settlements don’t carry as wide a variety of food, they tend to be cheaper than Exuma Markets.
It may seem as though I’m really hung up on provisioning, since many of my posts are related to shopping. Not really true! But, a good time of provisioning is a real score in my book. Since Friday we have also made a lot of progress in cleaning the boat, washing clothes and other errands. A clean boat feels soooo good!
Joyce
Docked at Emerald Bay
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