Sand Dollar Beach

Even though our stay at The Marina at Emerald Bay was brief, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the marina and the competence of the staff.  I understand that the no power dock can fill up quickly when a strong front is passing through, but we visited during calm weather.  Since there were very few boats, I was able to push through four loads of laundry in just a few hours.  The laundry is 'in the price of the slip' and in my opinion paid for a night's stay.  And get this, the laundry room is air conditioned!  Considering that the marina is related to the Sandals Resort, you would expect such quality.  Myron was done with his chores before me, enabling us to checkout by the required noon deadline and be on our way to Elizabeth Harbour.  There may be a couple of downsides:  some people may want a car to get around.  Also, since the weather was so good and zero wind, I sustained several no-see-um bites.

The winds were southeast today and we were glad we only had six miles to the harbor entrance waypoint.  We scouted out the vessels along Hamburger Beach, Chat and Chill and in between, but saw no one familiar.  We were set on anchoring at Sand Dollar, not entirely favorable in these winds, but still our favorite hang out.  Who do we see in 'our anchoring spot' but Straight From the Heart!  We had big plans of play on arrival, but the early morning chores and arrival's sense of accomplishment, accompanied by a late lunch, drained away all energy.  We have not even launched the dingy - sufficient to prompt Don and Maryann to inquire whether we were leaving tomorrow.  No, just catching up on rest and pleased to be back out our Bahamas 'home base.'

Here are a couple of tips that may be of use:

Bahamian woven baskets – If you want to get a high quality basket at an affordable price, be sure to stop by Ida’s store attached to her laundry shop in Black Point.  A woman in Andros makes these baskets for Ida and most all of them have androsia fabric woven into the basket in some way.  I price compared these baskets and you would pay five to ten times as much elsewhere for this good quality.  It is nice to do business with an honest woman!

Here is picture of one with our stuffy “OT”:

Stop the no-see-um bite itches – I was so pathetically miserable from over 50 bites during our stay at Vero Beach that Myron spent a late night scouring the internet for a solution to relieve the effect of these evil creatures.  We chose the most plausible and, I’ll be doggone, it worked for more than 95% of my misery.  The tip was to get water to a boil, put some on a washcloth and then put that hot washcloth – or a tip of it - on the affected area as long as I could take it.  Now…this solution is not for everyone.  At first I thought - of course it will stop the itching, at least until I begin to heal from the third degree burn.  But it really worked and the itching stopped.  Some bites required another application 24 hours later – however anything was better than scratching my skin off!

Hope those help!

Love to all,
Dena

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