{"id":1639,"date":"2013-03-04T19:04:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T19:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2013-03-04T19:23:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T19:23:37","slug":"not-just-another-day-in-rum-cay-the-mail-boat-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1639","title":{"rendered":"Not just another day in Rum Cay. The mail boat visits!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Monday and we are enjoying our 6<\/span>th<\/sup> day at the marina at Rum Cay.\u00a0 Perhaps the most puzzling fact of all is that we haven\u2019t really done much since arriving except enjoy the marina, sit aboard Pandora and go for a few walks.\u00a0 Perhaps I am finally getting into the \u201ccruising ting\u201d where there\u2019s always tomorrow to do what you don\u2019t want to tackle today.\u00a0 One thing that I need to tackle is the\u00a0persistent\u00a0water leak in the pressure water system. I have torn the boat all apart and can\u2019t find it.\u00a0 Very\u00a0frustrating. Ugh\u2026<\/p>\n

This is a view of the marina from one of the surrounding \u201chills\u201d. You can see that this harbor was carved out of the coral rock.\u00a0 Pandora is the one with the double head stay. That large sand dune is a result of the ongoing attempt to keep the channel open which fills in after each major storm.\"\"<\/a><\/span>Friday was an action packed day here in Rum Cay when the weekly mail boat came to the island.\u00a0 The boat, perhaps better described as a small tramp freighter, visits the island about once a week from Nassau.\u00a0 Pretty much anything that comes to the island comes on that boat.\u00a0 That includes groceries which are sold at one of the two \u201cgrocery\u201d stores including my favorite The Last Chance Grocery. \u00a0 This “grocery” is really more of a small cute shack and the selection is limited, at best. Based on the selection we saw when we visited prior to the mail boat\u2019s arrival, we had clearly missed our last chance for fresh produce. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u00a0isn’t\u00a0a very protected harbor that can accommodate the mail boat so the government maintains a pier that juts out from the \u201ctown\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty heavily built and in spite of that is often destroyed during hurricanes.\u00a0 I understand that the pier was heavily damaged by Sandy and was recently rebuilt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The arrival of the mail boat is a major social event with just about everyone on the island coming down to greet it.\u00a0 As you can see, \u201cboat\u201d may be a better a better\u00a0description\u00a0than ship.\u00a0 Having said that, it\u2019s pretty heavy and when they came up alongside the pier, they gave it a pretty hefty nudge that made the pier shift several inches under my feet.\u00a0\u00a0 I just had to be in the thick of it and walked out onto the pier for its arrival along with everyone else.\"\"<\/a>The mail boat includes a freezer and refrigerated section as well as a cargo hold down below in the bow.\u00a0 There is a crane on deck that lifts out pallets of goods all wrapped up with the name of the recipient stamped on a label.\u00a0 The boat also takes passengers who boarded the boat on Wednesday night for the 36 hour passage. Things move slowly here in the Bahamas and the cost of passage on the ship is a lot less than a flight by plane, if you could get one to come here at all.\"\"<\/a><\/span>It\u2019s amazing to see all of the goods that come ashore including major appliances.\u00a0 I doubt that freight costs he can compete with trucking in the US however, where else would you have the opportunity to take delivery of a washer or dryer with a salt film all over it? \u00a0 Rum Cay, that’s one place, for sure.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>We were particularly amused by the package of dry cleaning picked up by the local police officer.\u00a0\u00a0 His vehicle is one of the nicest on the island. \u00a0 \u00a0We had been wondering about his perfectly pressed uniform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the goods that were destined for Last Chance Grocery unloading. \u00a0So, what’s with the coconut palm babies on the truck? \u00a0Sort of seems like selling ice to Eskimos. \u00a0We learned that the owner, a women, takes the goods into her store and gets everything into place only to open for business the following day at noon.\u00a0 I expect that the delay is more about crowd control and less about taking inventory.\u00a0 I expect that there will be quite a mob waiting when she opened up on Saturday at the magic hour. \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span>And, the famous Last Chance Grocery being stocked with the latest “imports”. \"\"<\/a>When Brenda and I walked the mile into town we spied this osprey who gave us a great show as he flew off. \u00a0I wonder if they commute from Essex to here? \u00a0Hmm…\"\"<\/a><\/span>Another highlight of perhaps better described as a \u201cgrand finale\u201d of the day was the party celebrating the marina owner Bobby\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 Bobby has lived here off and on much of his life and has been here full time since the mid 80s.\u00a0 As such a central figure here, Bobby\u2019s birthday was cause for quite a celebration.\u00a0 Bobby ordered in a mess of ribs and cooked them on the grill for everyone in attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the visiting fisherman had a good day of spear fishing and brought in two terrific lobsters, a 20lb Nassau Grouper, some smaller fish and a good size octopus. \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span>We were going to contribute a pork tenderloin but there was so much food that it was politely declined.\u00a0 However, Brenda\u2019s onion foccacia bread was much appreciated and\u00a0didn’t\u00a0even last until dinner was served.<\/p>\n

The birthday boy, Bobby thinking about how to prepare the octopus for the grill. \u00a0\u00a0And, a really fresh octopus\u00a0isn’t\u00a0something that shows up in our Essex kitchen often.\"\"<\/a>Bobby and others in the kitchen preparing the feast.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>How about those lobster tails?\u00a0 Just a few hours earlier they were in the deep blue.\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We enjoyed meeting some of the locals.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span>Anyone who\u2019s anyone in Rum Cay, it seemed, was there.\u00a0 What fun.\"\"<\/a><\/span>One of Brenda\u2019s new friends. \u00a0We weren’t the only ones hanging around the kitchen looking for handouts, and getting them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The dining room is in what was once a restaurant that closed after one of the hurricanes a few years back.\u00a0 Pretty eclectic decorating. \u00a0Works for me and looks totally in sync with the feel of this place.\"\"<\/a><\/span>Everyone contributed something including this load of drift wood for the after dinner bonfire collected by one of the visiting boaters.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span>Prior to cocktails and dinner in the dining room, we were treated to a fabulous sunset, one of the best so far.\u00a0 All and all, a banner day.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>So, what next? \u00a0 We have a rental golf cart, a sort of mini off-road cart, for two days and I hope to do a bit of deep sea fishing on one of the local boats in the next day or so. \u00a0We were going to head to Long Island on Tuesday as it’s the only weather window for much of the next week. \u00a0However…<\/span><\/p>\n

We feel that we haven’t yet done enough here so we have decided to stay another week. \u00a0As someone probably once said, \u00a0“relax, don’t worry. Tomorrow is another day in paradise”. \u00a0 \u00a0So, what’s the rush, indeed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Monday and we are enjoying our 6th day at the marina at Rum Cay.\u00a0 Perhaps the most puzzling fact of all is that we haven\u2019t really done much since arriving except enjoy the marina, sit aboard Pandora and go for a few walks.\u00a0 Perhaps I am finally getting into the \u201ccruising ting\u201d where there\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1657,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions\/1657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}