23 54.4
76 16.3
Cave Cay,
Bahamas
I enjoy a drug induced sleep for 16 hours and wake up this morning with the same old feeling of having played a rugby tournament over the weekend. It is the kind of ache that you hope to never feel again but recognize immediately. As I look for more drugs to put me back to sleep, Carole informs me that the winds are turning to the SW and the Texas armada ( MOONSAIL< MILANO MYST and SOL Y MAR )
 Texas Soul Mates |
We make our way to Cave Cay which is appropriately named Safe Harbour Marina. The marina and entire complex is the vision and pet project of an obviously wealthy gentleman named Steven Cay from Ft. Worth, Texas. He purchased the Cay some 12 years ago and has slowly, read Bahamian speed, been developing the infrastructure that will support a marina, luxury condos, and 3,800' airfield. The floating docks have been finished and the 'hurricane hole' bay has been completely dredged to 14 feet. The entrance to this marina is rock bottom and has been carved to 6' MLW which means at high tide there is at least 8.5 feet under the boat or nearly 3 feet under our keel. The marina is beautiful, all but empty as the picture confirms and very, very much a hurricane hole.
Although the marina is finished there is basically no other amenities available for the cruisers. It is a fabulous weather refuge point but at $2/foot and electricity of $20 per night is way over-priced. We are glad to stop here for the night as it provides a unique perspective of a long term project under development. The 6 of us, MOONSAIL and MILANO MYST, walk the entire island, taking in all of the beautiful beaches, vistas and sights. As it turns out the weather never really built from the south and we would have been comfortable n the hook for the night. But the chance to tour this development before it will be completely priced out of our league was worth the stop.
I have tried to run the economics of the island development in my head and it is clear to me that this will never be viable business for the original owner. The marina, with some 30 slips, can not support the inflated costs of being built. The traffic through this part of the Bahamas will not support the $500 per night condos. The investment return will be when an individual buys this cay for personal use and pays to take this owner out. Right now it looks like he has $20MM into the project. The neighboring cays are owned by Faith Hill / Tim McGraw and Nicolas Cage so it is that type on money that will take him out.
Tomorrow we are looking to make the run to Emerald Bay.
MILANO MYST Monitoring 16 and 68.
OUT
