Although the wind was still fairly brisk, we felt comfortable weighing anchor and taking the short 10-mile jaunt southeast on the Bank to Black Point Settlement. We put up a reefed mainsail as a steadying sail, since most of the time we were heading into the wind. We were comfortable in 2-4 foot waves and a stiff breeze. Paula piloted, and Tommy chose a nice spot in the anchorage not too far from shore, but not elbow-to-elbow with any neighboring boats. We saw 3 other Island Packets here among about 20 boats total when we arrived at noon. Lots of dinghy traffic to the government dock.
We waited until we’d had lunch and low tide had passed so we could verify the nadir depth (8.2 feet) at our chosen anchor spot. Government dock was busy with dinghies and small fishing boats of all sizes. Again, as in Warderick Wells, one needed to secure the dinghy and then scale a high dock, this time with the aid of interspersed ladders. A fish cleaning-table on the dock was busy with men cleaning their catches (small mackerel). They threw scraps into the shallow water, so all around us swam nurse sharks, large rays, gar, and a ton of assorted snapper and other fish.
As provisioning was Paula’s first priority, given that this is Easter weekend and the holiday hours of stores unknown, we headed without delay to Adderley’s Friendly Grocery. A sign and open front door proclaimed it open, but it was deserted. We began placing dry goods, lemons and celery (produce is again scant until the supply boat comes) on the counter, but were reluctant to open the large white lidded freezer without the proprietor there. We waited a bit, until two children under 10, a big sister and little brother, danced in with dollar bills in hand, and announced they were there for ice cream sandwiches. Seeing no proprietor, the sister said she would get him and banged out the back door shouting something unintelligible to us, but it was loud! Meanwhile little brother regarded Paula solemnly and tried to give her his dollar.
An older man, stooped with arthritis, entered slowly and got the kids their treat. Paula asked what kind of meat he had in his freezer. He stated he didn’t know and asked what we were looking for. We requested chicken. He told us to look on the box on the floor next to the freezer. A cardboard box, clearly from the mail boat, sat melting on the floor with about 50lbs. of frozen chicken leg quarters. The chicken was all very cold, smelled good, and most pieces were quite hard, so Paula thought it ok to buy. She yanked 5 large leg quarters bare-handed off the frozen mass and put them in a plastic bag provided by the grocer. She then perused the mystery meat in the fridge (parcels in plastic bags tied in knots). Some meat was in chunks and not identifiable, but she found some good-looking pork chops, frozen hard with no freezer burn, and bought those too.
We then stopped at Deshamon’s restaurant, virtually across the street. The chef was relaxing on the outside porch with a few customers. Reservations are required for breakfast and dinner, so we made reservations for tomorrow at 6:30pm. She asked what we wanted to eat. We replied we’d love something fresh and local that she enjoys making. She said she would make us seafood. Can’t wait!
The groceries needed returning to C Ghost so we returned to the government dock, and found another cruiser trying without success to tie his dingy close enough to a ladder to disembark with his little gray poodle, Olive. We offered to help, and Tommy helped shift some other dinghies away from the ladder and the cruiser handed me up little Olive. Paula was in heaven and wanted to make friends, but all Olive wanted to do was try to eat the sweet potatoes out of the grocery bag.
Back at the big boat, Paula put the leg quarters on to cook, thinking it safest to store them after immediate cooking. The pork chops, rock hard, got FoodSaver’ed and put in the freezer. Tommy perused the updated weather forecast which said the predicted lull in the wind was no longer predicted! It continues to blow around 15 knots and they now say it will be windier tomorrow. The holding is good here though (we backed down hard on the anchor and let out a lot of scope), and while there is some swell, it’s tolerable for our size boat. The biggest negative of the brisk wind here is that every dinghy ride to shore is a wet affair.
Tonight’s dinner is actually going to be leftovers which need eating up: the pork and sauerkraut, and the chicken vegetable taboule. The one new item to add interest to the meal is canned pineapple in coconut sauce.