Another day in paradise.  We headed to Baker’s Bay, a beautiful bay on Great Guana Cay.  The kids went snorkeling while Dan replaced the alternator belt.  The beach here is beautiful.  We had a great time snorkeling over giant starfish and looking for rays.  It was a calm, so we spent the night anchored off the beach.  We spent a lot of time outside that night staring at the millions of stars over our head.  I have never seen that many stars.  It was incredible!  The next day the squalls started coming in.  They came hard but were over relatively quickly.  We waited out 2 rain,as we wanted to go to another part of the beach to look for shells.  Finally, got a break in the weather and headed to the end of Bakers Bay where the controversial Baker’s Bay resort is located.  The resort is situated on the most pristine beach on the island.  The fear is that the resort, marina and golf course will destroy the reef around Great Guana.  A lot of the residents feel the government basically gave away the beach to the developers.  Troy, the owner of Dive Guana, even made an appearance before the United Nations pleading for help.  A committee of world scientists agreed that the project would destroy the reef and the entire matter has been taken to court.    Right now they are selling lots to potential homebuyers.  They send out invitations to people they feel are qualified (qualified to buy lots starting at about 2 million with at least another 1 million in building expense), fly them for free to the island and give them a free vacation.  Lance Armstrong recently bought a lot here. It is easy to see the appeal but hard to justify the golfcourse whose chemicals will most certainly harm the environment.

We had brought our dinghy to shore around the corner from the resort as I wanted the limestone backdrop for a picture of Tessa and Tristan.  Next thing I know, Dan, who had walked ahead of us, is gone.  The kids and I keep walking and around the corner we see this reef lined swim area.  In the trees we can see some cabins.  And there, trudging across the resort area, trying to blend in, is Dan.  We follow him,  doing our best impression of millionaires as we pass  a few of the guests staying there.  Once you cross over the dune that separates the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic Ocean, the view is spectacular.  A pristine, white beach as far as you can see without a soul on it!  We make ourselves at home for awhile enjoying the babypowder soft sand and crashing waves.   When we finally head back, we pass a guy cleaning fish.  Tessa stops to ask him what kind he caught.  He is very nice but says he is from Hawaii and doesn’t have a clue what type of fish they are.  He and his friend caught them spearfishing in the lagoon.  Now he was cleaning them.  It was going to be awhile for him as they had about 15 good size fish in the bucket.  We wished him luck and walked back around the corner of the rocks to our dinghy.

The weather did not look like it was going to improve and with the wind changing direction we couldn’t stay another night at the unprotected anchorage.  We went further down Great Guana and picked up a mooring ball at Fisher’s Bay.  Thank goodness we did.  That evening as we were finishing our meal at Grabbers overlooking Fisher Bay, a huge storm blew up.  The winds got stronger and stronger, blowing our leftover food baskets off the table and dark rain couds rolled in.  Fisher’s Bay has mooring balls but it is unprotected from any kind of wind or waves from the west/southwest and that is where this storm was coming from.  We gathered up the kids and headed as fast as we could to the dinghy as it looked as if it could pour down rain any moment.  The winds got stronger and as we got to our boat we noticed one of the sailboats was loose from its anchor.  Not only was it dragging, it was now only  about 30 feet from a rocky shore.  We could see a someone on board and another boater headed over in his dinghy to help.  We then saw two guys, the boat owners,  in what I am sure felt like the worlds slowest dinghy, making their way to the boat.  Dan dropped us off on Alegria and headed over to help.  The wind increased to well over 30 knots.  The waves are bouncing the dinghys around like toys and the sailboat is still lurching like a frightened horse, dragging closer and closer to shore.  Finally the owners get on board and start the engine.  They get the anchor on board, but even with the engine on, the boat is struggling against the wind and waves.  They can’t reanchor in the storm, and it is too dangerous to try and pick up a mooring ball.  It is also dangerous to try to leave the bay in the dark, as it is now, because there are exposed rocks near the entrance.  All they can do is motor, in the dark, until the wind lessens and they can reanchor.  About an hour or so later they get their anchor reset, but the winds are still strong.  We have a very bouncy night as the wind and waves continously pound us.  The next morning the wind has let up some and we head over to settlement harbor to hopefully some better protection.  It rains most of the day and by evening the wind and the waves are pounding the boat again.  We are thankfully on a mooring ball and as evening comes, boats are coming in from all over to escape the storm.  The mooring balls are all gone and Orchid Bay Marina is now full.  We have another night of strong winds and pounding waves.  In the morning it is much better. 

Thankfully the day turns out to be beautiful and we spend Father’s Day at Nippers.  Cathy and Fred join us for the Sunday Pig Roast.  It was a different crowd than when we went before.  More people were on the beach this time, enjoying the sand and the waves.  We had a good time but didn’t stay too late as the last two nights had wore us out and we had a lot of laundry to put away.  Earlier that day we stopped at the fruit and vegetable stand.  The guy who runs it is nice if a bit eccentric.  The tomatoes looked good but I balked at the $4.00 avacados.  He understood my pain and dropped the price to $3.00 per avacado and threw in a tangerine.  He also sold shells and necklaces.  Among the shells Tessa found a dried up seahorse she was fascinated with.  He told her to take it.  People are always giving Tessa free stuff.    She was so excited to add it to her growing seashell collection.