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Great Guana Cay, just south of Bitter Guana, Staniels, and Big Majors, is a long narrow cay the supports a small settlement called Black Point. We dropped anchor a few hundred yards off the government dock there and went ashore on the first day. Black Point has a BaTelCo tower (so the phone works), a school, a few churches and restaurants, plus a laundry/hardware store and a market. It is a delightful place where all the folks smile and say good afternoon as you walk past.
After buying some time for the phone, we went into Lorraine's place - a semi-famous restaurant and internet cafe. Lorraine greeted us and showed us around. The beer is self-serve and so we did and then got out the laptop and wireless and surfed the net for a while. This is THE crusiers destination on the island so we met a ton of people - many we have seen along the way. One boat, Amazing Grace, we met last spring way back in Savannah. We ordered some conch fritters and a snapper sandwich. Karen swears that Lorraine makes the best fish sandwich she's ever had - I must admit it is pretty good with the special sauce. After lunch we tried to buy some coconut bread from Lorraine's mom. She makes it in her house next door and she invited us in. What a pretty place - very cute and clean with pictures of Martin Luther King and Island Regatta trophies on the bookcases. She is a delightful person in her 80's we guess. She has that special smile that says she has a secret. We then went down to the market and met Lily and she told us that the sauce is mayonaisse, ketchup, and black pepper. We bought some cauliflower and shared the fritter recipe with her. Lily got all excited to try to put some cauliflower in with her conch fritters.
The next day we went ashore to do laundry. As we went into the laundromat/hardware store/barber shop, the proprietress (i didn't get her name) told me that the water was off and then took me to show me that the cistern for the laundry was very low. After a few questions I realized that the whole town's water supply was broken - the reverse osmosis pump had died. She then asked if I could help. I jumped into a golf cart driven by her guy and traveled the 200 yards to the pump house. There I met another guy (I forgot his name!) who was trying to pull the pulley off the broken pump. His pulley-puller kept slipping off and so we all three tried to hold it in place - to no avail. They had a new pump at the ready and all we needed to do was to transfer the pulley over but it was rusted stuck. I went back the boat and got our pulley-puller and some Blaster (a great rust buster) and came back to the pump house. We three tried again for some time but the pulley wouldn't budge. They had called the government support folks on Andros and a guy was coming with the right tools so we waited for him to arrive. By the end of the day the pump was working and all the cisterns were filling back up.
That night we went over to Inamorata for cocktails and snacks. There we met Jim and Nancy on Solitaire and Larry and Paula on Lapidus. We had a great time and left way after sunset. We got back on the boat and sometime later heard a shout. It was Larry and Paula - they couldn't find their boat. I pointed it out to them and they started back towards it but before too long they turned away and were heading out onto the Bank. I grabbed a flashlight and got into the dinghy to chase them down. By the time I got squared away they were about a mile away and still heading the wrong way. As I got closer I flashed a light and when they saw me they started to speed away - I guess they thought I was a pirate or something. Anyway, I yelled "Hey! Are you from Oklahoma? I'm from Arkansas and I'll show you your boat". They stopped and turned and began to follow me the long way back to their boat. When they finally saw it, I heard a happy yell, waved them goodbye, and headed for Susurra. Jim and Nancy were shining a light at me from their boat and I thought it was Karen. I went that way until I realized what was happening and then got back to our boat - a dark night adventure!
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