We arrived at Black Point just before 1530, our second visit. Our weather continues to hold in a favorable pattern, with light winds, and calm conditions, very warm days in the mid 80s and water temps in the low 80s. We have not experienced a frontal passage of any significance in a month. No complaints here!
Our stopover at Black Point will be primarily aimed at catching up on some laundry. The laundromat at Black Point has a well-deserved reputation among cruisers as being THE place to go for laundry. The laundromat has a dinghy dock in the rear, so schlepping laundry only requires landing the dink and carrying the bags up the few steps to the door. The facility is clean and there are probably 30 machines total, so it’s easy to do all the laundry in multiple machines in about 2 or 3 hours. Cost is reasonable for the Bahamas with RO water and propane dryers at about $3.50 per wash and the same to dry. So for less than $20 we can come away pretty clean! Black Point is also home to the well-known Lorraine’s Cafe, just down the street from the laundromat, and Adderly’s general store just a few doors the other direction for basic needs. Lots of the folks who live at Black Point work on the surrounding Cays in the tourist business as shuttle boats can be seen zipping away from the government dock in the morning and returning in the evening with a boatload of folks headed to or from work.
Folks there are always friendly, with a quick smile and a “good morning” or “good afternoon” in that unmistakeable Bahamian lilt. We also met the former Bahamian police chief who was working on a neglected building. We came to learn that it was his house, begun 18 years ago and left to the elements as he put 3 children through college in the states. A familiar story. Now retired, he is focusing his efforts on reversing the toll taken by time and working to complete the project. It’s a large two story building, he has his work cut out!
We headed out of Black Point Wednesday morning making the short run to Staniel Cay where we’ll do some minor provisioning and get gas for the dinghy.
