On Saturday, the last day of February, we left our mooring at Shroud Cay around 9:30 a.m. to travel almost 15 nautical miles northward to Highbourne Cay, a private island on which rests the northernmost marina in the Exumas. It’s been a little more than two weeks since we were in a slip in a marina, the longest since we’ve owned Beatitude. We decided that we would splurge today and tie up to a dock. Around 11:45, we pulled up to the fuel dock to top off our tanks. Eighty-five gallons later our tanks were full, so we pulled off the dock and backed into slip number 12. After a few more minutes, Beatitude was securely tied to the pilings, shore power was hooked-up, and we had the air-conditioner running.

Heading for Highbourne Cay

Captain at the helm

Entering the Marina

At the fuel dock, topping off the tanks (84.6 gallons total)

We also obtained our wifi passwords and reconnected with the world after several days of almost non-existent cellular service, much less wifi. I began uploading pictures for the next blog post right away, but wifi (at least for uploads and downloads) is painfully slow. It is a several hour process for this one blog. We also visited the general store at the marina and picked up a few groceries. Afterwards, we ascended the steps to Xuma, the marina restaurant, and had a couple of cocktails at the bar, while enjoying a lovely view of the Exuma Banks (not a financial institution, but the shallow waters west of the Exuma chain. While there, we made reservations for dinner that evening. Those readers who know us well know that one of our vices (or at least, weaknesses) is eating in restaurants frequently. I think we set a record for our 35 1/2 years of marriage by enduring a full six days without a meal at a restaurant! We really didn’t miss it terribly. We ate well while away from civilization, although our cupboards our getting a little bare.

This little bananaquit visited us on our boat

Bananaquit

Beatitude in her slip

Beatitude in her slip

Beatitude in the marina

At a veranda on the Exuma Bank side

Looking over the marina beach on the Exuma Bank

Our reservations were for 6:30, so just after the sun had set, we once again climbed the stairs up to the Xuma restaurant perched on the hillside. The setting was pleasant and the service was excellent. The food, while not cheap, was wonderful. I had a melt-in-your-mouth Chilean Sea Bass while Cindy had the succulent Ribeye Steak. The marina is very well run with a superb location, an attentive staff, and great food. We certainly could not afford to cruise on a permanent basis if we did this too frequently. But, every once in a while, it’s nice.

On the steps heading up to Xuma

Xuma

My beautiful date for he evening

Chilean Sea Bass

There were a couple of brief rain showers just as we left the restaurant. These were just enough to give Beatitude a quick rinse-down. Back on board, the evening was spent working on blog posts and catching up on other tasks which require internet access.

Sunset from Highbourne Cay Marina

Two megayachts in slips behind us (The one on the left belongs to multimillionaire Robert Geiss, a clothing magnate who has his own German reality TV show)