{"id":1795,"date":"2013-04-05T15:49:27","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T15:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2013-04-06T16:19:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-06T16:19:54","slug":"in-the-lap-of-luxury-at-highbourne-cay-marina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1795","title":{"rendered":"In the lap of luxury at Highbourne Cay Marina"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and we are tied up in the Highbourne Cay Marina (http:\/\/www.highbournecaybahamas.com\/highbourne-cay.php<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a>) on Highbourne Cay at the nortern tip of the Exumas \u00a0waiting for a cold front to come through with some nasty thunderboomers.\u00a0\u00a0 The sky is grey and the wind is picking up.\u00a0 Happily, after this front comes through we are promised a week of wonderful \u201cspring Bahamas weather\u201d.\u00a0 Given the lovely summer sort of weather that we have enjoyed much of this winter, I am looking forward to even better weather now.<\/p>\n

The year round variation of temperatures in the Bahamas is less than ten degrees.\u00a0 However, in the winter the winds are stronger and are influenced by the gales off of the US east coast.\u00a0\u00a0 As winter turns to spring, the weather here moderates as it does up north.\u00a0 This is good for us as the Abacos, the most northern islands in the Bahamas, have much windier weather from December through April than do the rest of the Bahamas.\u00a0\u00a0 As a result, many cruisers opt to visit there in the spring and spend the earlier winter months in the southern portions of the Bahamas. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the spring weather we too will head north to the Abacos.\u00a0\u00a0 The islands in the Abacos are much more developed than the areas that we have been cruising so far so our last month in the Bahamas will offer more civilized opportunites and we are ready for that.<\/p>\n

Our visit to the Highbourne Cay marina is our first time in a marina since Rum Cay and our first time in the Bahamas to pay for a slip.\u00a0 However, as it\u2019s been weeks since we have been anywhere with even a rudimentary grocery store and laundry so we decided to treat ourselves with a few days tied up in a protected marina.\u00a0 Another good reason, beyond the desire to be pampered, for tying up in a marina is that this cold front is expected to be accompanied by some nasty squalls, and being tied up in comfort beats being buffeted at anchor by 50+kt winds.\u00a0 Somewhat north of here the winds are expected to be as high as 70kts which is a scary thought.<\/p>\n

We chose Highbourne Cay as it is also home to one of the best restraunts in the Bahamas and our dinner last night bore this out.\u00a0 The restraunt, Xuma, is an open air spot overlooking the neighboring islands and the views of the setting sun last evening was spectacular.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The evening was so nice that there was a camera crew shooting some footage for a travel program highlighting luxery getaways.\u00a0 A two bedroom cottage here goes for $1,000 a night in high season, a bit above the Pandora crew\u2019s pay grade.<\/p>\n

The grounds are lovely with very nice buildings and well kept docks.<\/p>\n

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They even have nice spots to grill out if you are so inclined.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The nearby two mile long beach is spectacular and perfectly groomed regularly so it\u2019s free of debris.\u00a0 They even provide thatched umbrellas for you to lounge under.\u00a0 Not bad.\u00a0 Believe it or not, even the paths to the beach are raked and are lined with stone walls.\u00a0 Very civilized indeed.<\/p>\n

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Of course, this spot, being so tony attracts some well heeled visitors.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can get to the resort, and the entire island is a private resort, with your own boat.\u00a0 Or, you can come by seaplane, one of which landed just ouside of the marina when we were coming in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of coming by boat, Pandora is like a canoe compared to some of the other \u201cboats\u201d in residence.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had a nice talk with a crew member of this huge yacht Dreamer, last night at the bar and heard that the launch forDreamer, Olivia<\/em>, was brand new and cost $400,000 with her tripple 300hp outboards.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dreamer<\/em>\u00a0is nearly new being built in Turkey in 2011 for a guy out of NY.\u00a0 Of course, he\u2019s in finance.\u00a0 It seems that the recession didn\u2019t hurt everyone.<\/p>\n

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There was also a massive go fast yacht, a sort of 150\u2019 speed boat, that came in briefly last afternoon to discharge it\u2019s bikini clad passengers who were dancing on the bow to disco music.\u00a0 They were dropped, some dozen of them, at the dock for a visit to the bar.\u00a0 Following afternoon cocktails, they were whisked out, by launch, to the yacht which had anchored outside of the marina where they all showered and dressed for dinner.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An hour or so later they returned, by launch, dressed to kill and ready to party, compliments of the owner who looked like he couldn\u2019t be a day over 40.\u00a0 Happily, my back was to the action as the view would have been even more difficult to ignore than it was for Brenda who was facing them.\u00a0 Of course, Brenda kept me entertained with a running commentary of the antics of the revilers.\u00a0\u00a0 I expect that they are running a bit slow this morning.\u00a0 One can only hope.<\/p>\n

Well,\u00a0 all isn\u2019t totally perfect here today as it\u2019s cloudy and a little cool (a relative term) given the approaching front.\u00a0\u00a0 However, all the better for a nice walk. We wouldn\u2019t want to sweat too much, would we?<\/p>\n

And, now for something completely random.\u00a0 How about a shot of one of the iguanas , some up to 20 lbs, at nearby Allen Cay, where we anchored the other day.\u00a0\u00a0 These guys are very used to people and are always ready for a handout.\u00a0 Yes, I was as close to him as the photo suggests.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh yea, speaking of wildlife, I almost forgot.\u00a0 Yesterday we bought fresh grouper filets from a local fisherman.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have them aboard Pandora for dinner tonigh.\u00a0 A guy\u2019s gotta eat\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and we are tied up in the Highbourne Cay Marina (http:\/\/www.highbournecaybahamas.com\/highbourne-cay.php) on Highbourne Cay at the nortern tip of the Exumas \u00a0waiting for a cold front to come through with some nasty thunderboomers.\u00a0\u00a0 The sky is grey and the wind is picking up.\u00a0 Happily, after this front comes through we are promised […]<\/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-1795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795","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=1795"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1806,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions\/1806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}