Great Guana Cay - Black Point Settlement

This morning we decided to move on. The wind was light so instead of traveling down the western side of the islands we headed east through Big Rock Cut to the deeper waters of Exuma Sound so that Kevin could get in some fishing. After two hours, two different lures, three different speeds and several attempts at varying the depth, we still caught nothing. We're not sure what the fish don't like, but we'll try again next time. We came back in through Dotham cut to the calm turquoise waters of the Exuma Bank and motored into the anchorage near Black Point Settlement.

Our main reason for coming here is that yesterday we heard an announcement on the radio about the local School Fair to be held on Saturday, with food and games. So we figured we'd check it out and we are so glad we did. Black Point is a very non-touristy place. There is no marina here and therefore no mega-yachts. The people of the town are friendly (their local store is called "Adderley's Friendly Store" to emphasize the point) and everyone greets you as you pass by on the street. When we arrived a little after noon, the "fair" was still being set up and the games weren't going yet. It was basically two small tents, one for games and one for food. The food tent was in operation and had quite a crowd with good reason -- the food was amazing and plentiful. For $9 we got more food than we'd had at dinner the previous night -- BBQ ribs, homemade macaroni and cheese, corn, and copious amounts of peas n' rice. We walked across the street to the school where we could eat inside in the shade.

The schoolkids were there, and they were all shyly laughing at the adults sitting in their kid-size desks and chairs eating lunch. The school teaches all the kids on the island, but we were in the building that housed the second through fourth grade. It was one room partitioned into two classrooms and decorated with artwork and typical classroom-type stuff. On the third/fourth grade side, it was cute to see posters about telling time and counting money, which were the same two topics my sister Jessica's third and fourth-graders were learning when I went to visit her classroom back in December.

Afterwards we were so hot and so stuffed that we didn't wait around for the games to be set up but instead headed back to the boat to take a swim and a siesta. Around 5pm we headed back into town because we saw that Scorpio Inn, the local bar, had internet access and we have been wanting to upload photos for ages. When we walked up we could hear the music pulsing from the DJ and people were thronging the street -- apparently the fair was winding down but the town was just getting started for their Saturday night. We ordered beers and the bartender Zhivago (what a great name) set us up on the internet. The past few times we have tried to load these photos we've had no luck with satellite internet, so we were pleased that the Scorpio computer was dial-up and crossed our fingers that the uploads would work. After 55 minutes, we had our photos uploaded (woohoo!) and had just 5 minutes to check our yahoo and gmail accounts, so anyone who has sent us emails there we will try to respond in the next couple of days. Anyway, if you want to have a look we have loaded a few photos starting with the Allen Cay Iguanas (the post was one of the last few days in February). Afterward we hung out for a bit at the bar and met a few of the locals (we were the only white people in the bar so we kind of stuck out as tourists). One of them, Willie Rolle, invited us to come around while we're here and have a look at his sculpture garden, which we may do tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after. It sure is nice having no schedule.

Where we are:
Lat: N 24 06.235'
Long: W 76 24.289'