TREASURE CAY

THIS IS IT?

Treasure Cay Club is a manmade marina, similar to what you’d see in the states, with condos and hotel rooms, a few shops, a grocery store, one marina restaurant, a bar by the pool and across the road is the Treasure Cay Club Beach with an outdoor restaurant that serves lunch.  Other than the above mentioned, there is nothing else around, for miles, no other restaurants or stores that we knew of and really not much Bahamian culture.   We didn’t bother coming here last trip as it didn’t sound like it had much local color and someone said it wasn’t dog friendly. 

DOG FRIENDLY?

We got settled in, we decided to get some lunch across the road at the beach restaurant.  (It was the only place to get lunch.) It was still cold and windy and it wasn’t really a beach day but we were starving.  We weren’t sure if we could take Zig but did anyway.  We figured they will just say “no”, but no one did.  So in case you are wondering, Treasure Cay is very dog friendly and we had no problem taking him anywhere.

WOW!    

The beach was incredible.  Once we walked up and over the sand dune, we got a glimpse of it and it was breathtaking.  It’s a huge crescent shaped beach and the water is shallow for what seems like endless miles out.  It was the most beautiful color of turquoise and since it was protected from the winds and seas, was flat as glass.  It was like something out of a beautiful dream, totally mesmerizing. 

GROUPER, GRILLED, BATTERED OR FRIED… 

We ordered some grouper sandwiches (what else?) to go and ate our lunch sitting on some chaise lounges nestled in powder white, and just as soft, sand.  We took in the shade of a  pampas umbrella.  We ate our delicious sandwiches silently as we stared at the beach.  Wow, you just couldn’t believe it. 

LONG WALK

When we were done eating Larry wanted to go back to the boat and get settled in but Zig and I wanted to go for a walk down this amazing beach.  Larry said “Take your time, enjoy yourselves!”  So we did and were gone for much longer than what Larry probably figured, for hours, and when we got back we were dragging, almost couldn’t make it to the boat we were so tired.  Zig swam and searched for fish and crabs (and seals because he thinks seals are at all beaches) and  I scoured the shore for shells, in between stops to just gaze at the amazing body of water.

THEY WERE SO RIGHT

I’m so glad we came here, and we may not have if it wasn’t for the Canadians we met at Green Turtle Cay who said they enjoyed their stay here.  They said the beach was amazing, the marina was a hurricane hole where it can be blowing elsewhere but there you were out of the wind, and the grocery store was great.  They were right on all accounts. 

HURRICANE HOLE

We had dinner on the boat that night.  It was too cold and windy to even think about going to an open air bar or even just venturing out of the boat.  The main activity that afternoon had been watching dozens of boats come in to the marina and its anchorage all in search for a protected place as another storm was predicted for the next three days.  We were going to get blasted again with another regular session of misery with gale force winds. 

SITTING OUT ANOTHER STORM

MOORINGS BOATS

It was definitely amusing watching the boats come in, especially the Moorings charter boats.  They were hilarious actually and a good source for laughter on a crummy weather day, as most of them had a dickens of a time docking their boats.  They weren’t too familiar with their charter boats and surprisingly many just didn’t know the first thing about boating or handling lines and fenders (some looked like they may have wondered what in the heck they were for).  We just couldn’t believe it. 

WAR

It was predictable.  You could literally count on some goofy incident to occur when they came in, so much so, that when the cruisers spied a Mooring’s signature logo on the boom of a boat coming in, all just stopped what they were doing and watched in fright.  Many of the seasoned cruisers, if they even got inkling that a Moorings boat was coming their way, would scramble out of their boats and onto the docks armed with protection.  They grabbed spare fenders and boat poles to fend off an incoming impact from an out of control Moorings boat.  It was like a war, the cruisers against the Moorings people, except the Moorings people didn’t have a clue that anyone was watching or on the defensive. 

I REMEMBER THOSE TIMES

I felt sorry for them as they were just here to have a good time.  They surely had paid a lot of money to fly down here (most likely they flew from some snow covered land that they have been cooped up in for the last several months of probably the crappiest winter on record) to charter a boat and cruise what they thought would be paradise (only to be slammed during most of their charter week with a storm and the dread of all boaters, to be stuck at the dock).  If you are a boater you know we have all been in their place at one time or another, either learning how to run a boat, whether sail or power and going through that painful learning period of not having much experience and also of getting stuck in weather.   

I can vividly remember many times coming into a slip that looked totally impossible to get into (but now would be easy) and I too remember those many near misses, so I did feel sorry for them but I must admit I couldn’t help but get a good chuckle.  I have to admit to being a bit devilish in seeing such humor at their expense. 

SUPER-OCTOMAN

You sure had to hand it to the black dock master as he had his hands full with these Moorings boats.  He masterfully handled each unpredictable situation, one after another, and did so without once laughing or yelling at them.  He was respectful and diligent but I’m sure he didn’t spare with sharing the stories when he went home at night.   He was like superman, that or an octopus, grabbing all sorts of improbable lines being thrown at him and somehow, interlacing them in a strange web securing their boats to the docks.  He graciously and uncomplainingly dealt with every tangled line thrown to him and even the ones not attached at the other end, specifically the boat end.  He explained politely and patiently to each novice how to attach the line back to the boat otherwise the boat wouldn’t be tied up to the dock.   I hope they rewarded the super dock master with a much deserved tip for all his hard effort.

So, for the first two days of the storm we had two Moorings catamarans docked near us on the T dock, just one slip down.  The first thing the Moorings people did once the dock master had them settled in was to run over to our boat to borrow our wine opener.  They started drinking 2:30 in the afternoon.  Though they were full grown adults heading towards the sunset side of 40, they reminded me of a bunch of teenagers partying like the parents were away.  The real cruisers or seasoned cruisers, I guess you could say, are more laid back and can wait until commonly accepted cocktail time of 5:00 and were content to watch with amusement the goings on. 

TOO HEAVY

One of the Mooring’s boats had six hefty people aboard.  To be more accurate I’d have to say they were obese.  We’re not skinny people by any means so for us to even be mentioning it probably is a clue that their size was quite an unusual sight.  To see a chunky bunch crewing on a boat that requires a bit of agility and some might say athleticism was a notion we weren’t used to seeing. 

There were six of them and you really wondered how they all managed to fit down below at night.  It was quite a sight too when they headed down the dock like a herd and the combination of all that weight together resulted in the dock breaking right through and with it the water line just beneath!  The Moorings crew thought it was quite funny and continued on down the dock giggling with not more concern than that.  We on the other hand had to hail the dock master to let him know his water line was busted and the water for all the cruisers use was gushing out like Niagara Falls into the marina basin. 

Fresh water in the Bahamas is a precious thing and not to be wasted so the dock master was out there immediately to assess the situation.  It took them the next two days with at least two people working full shifts to finally get the line and the docked repaired.    

SNOWBIRDS BECAME THE WINDSWEPT WET BIRDS

As I said, we did feel quite sorry for the Moorings people as the weather was so darn bad.  Here they were stuck at a marina with nothing to do and nowhere to go so eventually like every impatient and bored kid without parental supervision they began to behave badly.  I know that really all they wanted to do was be out at an anchorage exploring the beautiful Abacos beaches, snorkeling and swimming, but the weather just would not cooperate.  So it wasn’t too surprising that they were drinking and partying on their boats, morning, noon and night. 

LEARNING TO DEAL WITH THE BLASTED WEATHER

The rest of us cruisers have become quite used to the rotten weather thrown at us this winter and have learned out of necessity to occupy our down time by reading, writing, and by fixing or polishing the never ending list of things that need to be done on a boat but the Moorings people didn’t have these outlets and there surely wasn’t much to do at Treasure Cay if the weather wasn’t cooperating. 

The fat bunch said they came all the way from Minneapolis.  Imagine being stuck there all winter under a load of snow, especially what this retched winter threw at them, and then to come here only to be holed up with another storm of a different kind.  So we all had a bit of tolerance for their drunken bad behavior, well that is until the second night when they just plain got out of control….. 

HOLY MACKERAL!

And so it began…AND abruptly without warning, the second night of the storm, we heard this ear drum bursting loud music.  At first we thought it must be coming from “the loud bar” that Final Approach warned us about (which we never heard the whole time we were at Treasure Cay). 

Wow, we thought that bar is loud!  We both got up to see what the commotion was and, nope, it wasn’t the bar.  The loud blasting music was coming from the Moorings boat, you know the one with the fatty’s aboard.  They had their speakers turned up to the max, in fact we were surprised that speakers on a boat could actually be that loud. 

BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER

The noise was blaring over the entire marina and even across to the condos.  Lights that had been turned out for the evening as people went to bed were coming on all through the marina and condos as everyone was awakened by the noise.   Cruisers were sticking their heads out of their hatches to see.  It was the fat cats and they were getting wild. 

NOTHING WORKED

Larry yelled over at them to turn it down but they couldn’t hear over their loud speakers.  So Larry got out the loud speaker that we have on the boat (which we’ve never figured out a use for until now) and told them to turn the music down but still they couldn’t hear over the noise they were making.

IN THE SPOT LIGHT

By now the big fat women were doing wild exotic dances out on their cockpit which was quite a sight to behold.  This went on for quite awhile until Larry came up with the bright idea of shinning our big flood light (another item on the boat that we’ve never had a use for until now) on them.  Wow, what a sight that was! 

That amazingly stopped all the nonsense as they sheepishly turned the stereo off, went back inside their boat, turned their lights off and we never heard a peep out of them the rest of the night. 

(The next morning several cruisers came by to thank Larry for so cleverly putting an end to the commotion that was going on last night.) 

The third day, I guess, was just too much sitting at the dock for the poor Moorings boats.  Incredibly off they went out of the harbor and to where God only knows in these crazy winds.  I hope they will be safe.

OUT THEY GO AND MORE COME IN

Ironically, they weren’t the only ones out in these winds, as once the current batch of Mooring’s boats left, in came another batch.  You couldn’t help but wonder how they managed in this storm especially when they didn’t seem to know a thing about boating. 

CRIPES! 

On the third day Takitez came in from the anchorage and docked in the slip next to us.  They were the Canadians that followed us through Indian Cut when we left the West End.  They were very quiet and kept to themselves but, at night, if you can believe it, they ran their generator at the dock!  There is no reason for this as we have electricity to plug in to. 

We had a beautiful full moon that night as the winds were finally dying down.  I had decided to experiment with my new tripod to get a night picture of the moon.  Once I opened the door and stepped outside it was like a factory, the air was foul.   It smelled like burning rubber or plastic, something toxic and very strong.  I thought maybe the town was burning trash at the dump or something as bad.  I asked Larry what was that terrible smell.  Larry said it’s the Canadian next door, he’s running his dam generator.  The fumes were coming right in our boat and stinking up the place.   

COUGH, COUGH, GASP!

Larry got so mad he stomped right over to Takitez and asked him to turn his dam generator off and if he can’t afford to pay the measly $17 for the electricity he’d pay it himself.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Larry so disgusted to say something like that.  Me, I do it all the time, but not Larry.   I’ve got to say, that some of these cruisers can really be cheap and will do anything to pinch a penny, but this is the last straw.  I guess Larry was very convincing or intimidating as the Canadian shut his generator off and left the next morning. 

TOO OLD FOR THAT #@$!

Running the generator at the dock is one of my pet peeves in life.  I’m just too dam old to put up with that stuff anymore.  I can remember days past when we would but no more.  It’s unhealthy and stinks up the whole marina.  Larry asked the dock master the next day what their policy was on running generators at the dock and the guy was appalled saying they don’t allow that.

Note: If you are going to run your generator, go out an anchor.  Don’t asphyxiate everyone at the dock who is paying for electricity and likes to breathe fresh air.  This is not the first time.

PIZZA NIGHT 

The one and only restaurant at the marina was OK but expensive for the food you got and really we didn’t’ think it was much fun to be there and the outdoor bar was always empty because it was so cold and windy.  The only time the bar got busy was on Wednesday nights, their “pizza night.”   Everyone came out of the wood work to come have pizza.  Maybe everybody else was getting sick of grouper too? 

GROCERY STORE

The grocery store was great considering the other options as you travel throughout the Abacos and it sure made the stay here pleasant.  Even though you had no choices except one to dine out here it wasn’t a problem because you had a nice grocery store so you could cook on the boat.  The store had everything you needed and the produce was fresh which is hard to come by in the Bahamas. 

NEVER BORED

Though we had more than our share of crappy weather while we were here it didn’t matter as Zig and I still went to the beach every day and walked and walked, for hours,  regardless of how freezing cold or windy it was.  We got a bit sandblasted at times as walked out as far as we could on the sand bar at low tide but it was worth it.  It seemed like you could walk for miles with water depths of less than a foot.  We found sand dollars peeking out of the sand just for the picking, and cute little starfish making their way across the bar, and even little shrimp type creatures would get stranded and stare up at us with shocked expressions in their big black dot eyes.  We were in heaven and never got bored with that amazing beach. 

EVEN A LITTLE POTCAKE FOR ZIGGY

Zig also had something else to be pretty happy about.  He found a little girlfriend that was cruising on one of the sailboats on our dock.  She was cute as a bug, another Jack Russell, but about half the size of Ziggy.  They really liked each other and were a cute match.

JUST LIKE A BUNCH OF COCK ROACHES

So we enjoyed our stay here at Treasure Cay but it was time to move on if we want to visit the other areas.  There was a weather window and you have to take them as they come whether you are ready to leave or not.  We are in many ways like a bunch of cock roaches, moving in groups all with the same timing, but not when the lights go out like they do but when the weather is calm.

HOPE TOWN

We were heading next to Hope Town but will stop in Marsh Harbor for fuel first and catch up with Final Approach.