April 18

April 18, Thursday

We were awakened about 6:00 this morning by a supply boat coming in early for its deliver to the Cay.  As I got up and looked out the window, I was stunned to see how big this barge came.  It was intriguing to watch all the local businesses line up with their trucks, golf carts, and hand trucks to take their goods from the barge.  The barge is equipped with a craned that moved crates off onto the waiting trucks.  Albury Ferry came by shortly after the barge making the government dock crowded with people eagerly getting ready for work. 

As soon as the barge and ferry left, the fishing boats over at Orchid Bay started their tournament day.  It have found it difficult to compliment these fishing boats lately because they are not typically conscientious about their wake.  Today, though, these boats were extremely courteous and exited the harbor slowly.  As soon as they cleared the rock bar, they gunned the gas and took off for their fishing.  There is a $200,000 prize offered in this tournament.  We plan to go over at 5:00 today for the weigh in.  Good Luck to the guys who gave us the Mahi for dinner yesterday. 

After all the morning excitement settled down, we headed to the beach for a walk.  We crossed over to the street at Nippers.  Nippers is a bar and grill that sits up on a hill above the ocean.  The view is spectacular.  There is a swimming pool adjacent to the bar/grill which we understand is full on their Sunday afternoon all you can eat Pig Roast Buffet.  A Guana Cay Native came up to me this morning and told me he calls Nippers - Strippers because so often people become so hot in the sun that they strip.  We have heard about this Pig Roast at every place we have stopped.  I have seen little children with Nipper's hats on--so how inappropriate can it be?  We heard that it was so packed for the annual Barefoot Man Concert that they had to call in the police from another Cay because there are no police here on Great Guana.  Barefoot Man is supposed to be the Jimmy Buffett of the Bahamas. 

We searched for about half an hour for the Dive Guana golf cart rental place and finally found Donna's Golf Cart Rental.  She assured us that had we rented from Dive Guana, we would not have gotten into the Baker's Bay Resort that we were going to visit.  Baker's Bay is on the North West Edge of Great Guana Cay.  Several year ago, a cruise ship line tried to develop this as a destination for it's cruises with a deep water channel.  For some unknown reason, it did not work out and they just walked away leaving everything.  Shell Island is the result of the channel that was dredged for the cruise ships.  The area has been purchased by another group which has developed the Baker's Bay Golf and Ocean Club.  We found the road that takes one to Baker's Bay.  No one seems to know the names of roads--they aren't labeled anyway-- so I guess it doesn't matter.  The resort is lovely.  We had lunch at the café overlooking the marina.