Marina Bliss

We left Georgetown and decided to take advantage of the winds and headed north to get south (this is a common technique). Which would also give us a better angle on the winds for the following day. Our plan was to head north to Emerald Bay and from there to head south east to Mayaguana (a 30 hour passage) and then on to Provo (Turks and Caicos). We arrived at Emerald Bay Marina on Tuesday afternoon. Let me tell you, it was a little slice of heaven. I have never seen such a nice marina. They operate in parternship with the Four Seasons as Emerald Bay which must account for the quality and incredible service. The marina is still in development, though it looked complete to me. B/c of this, they are offering bottom basement introductory rates. We paid less than a third of what we have had to pay at other marinas. The amenities included free wifi, free laundry, and immaculate showers and bathrooms. There was also a pool and workout facilities. We could have easily stayed there for a week, but alas, we needed to take advantage of our weather window and push on. So we fueled up and filled up our water tanks (finally! We had not filled these since Nassau and had been going back in forth in Georgetown in the dinghy filling our two 6 gallon jugs each day…needless to say, showers were brief for the past two weeks). I remember reading other cruisers’ blogs before we left for our trip and at some point they would all mention how wonderful it was to take a long shower or sleep in a real bed when maybe they had a guest visiting staying at a hotel. I never really got this until Emerald Bay. I had been fine with my military showers or showering on the swim platform, but I took the longest most luxurious HOT shower that night. I must have washed my hair several times. Also, though we had just done laundry two days prior, I managed to round up a load anyway b/c I could not pass up the free laundry facilities. I realize this posting is probably entirely too granular but I know someone out there has got to appreciate my joy over staying in this beautiful marina – especially those of you who know that I rarely (and by rarely, I mean never) use public showers…lol. We had nice meal that night and set the alarm for 5:30 in preparation for our journey to Mayaguana.