Marina Time!

As a little treat to ourselves and our guests, we decided to book a slip in a very swanky marina called Blue Haven Resort and Marina. It’s located in the north east side of Providenciales. We had originally booked our two week stay for March 17 – 31 but because we were so early in getting to the area, we decided to modify our dates and go in 2 days earlier. We headed into the marina on Friday, March 15. It was the best idea ever!!

Before our decadent marina stay, we moved from our first anchorage between Mangrove and Donna Cay on March 12 because it was crazy busy with tour boat traffic. We had a rocky breakfast that morning as the wakeboarding powerboats cruised by us. We figured it should be calmer right near the marina so we pulled up anchor and moved. It turned out to be a very good spot – we could watch all the tour boat action but weren’t bothered (too much) by wakes.

The next day, March 13, we decided to go for a big walk to a bird sanctuary nearby. We took the dinghy over to Blue Haven and asked to tie up at one of their docks. The marina has 24 hour security and the gate into the docks can only be opened by the guard on duty. The guard gave us permission to tie up to the main dock and we told him we’d be back in a few hours. It was a very hot, sunny day and the 6-7km walk tired us out. We were really looking forward to heading back to the boat and maybe going for a swim. The guard opened the gate for us and as we approached the dinghy we could see that it had been booted!! Our dinghy was locked to the dock!! We were so confused. Mark headed up to the office and after a discussion (which included security video footage of the true offending dinghy – not us but another guy who had abused docking privileges the day before), the head of security realized they’d made a mistake and let us go! We had a good laugh about it during happy hour that night.

Friday, March 15 was a super windy day – over 20knots of wind. We were assigned a slip on the outside of the marina and with the strong southerly wind, Mark moved us into the slip smoothly. This marina is very new and they have a wonderful cleat system. All the very large dock cleats (what your dock lines tie up to) are in a slot rail. After temporarily securing your boat, the dock hands get an impact drill, unscrew the bolts and move the cleats to the perfect position to properly secure your boat. It’s very slick! By lunch we were all tied up and relaxing at the dock.

As the name says – Blue Haven is a resort and marina. We have access to all of the resort stuff – the beach and more importantly, the pool!! There are also bars and restaurants which we can visit. The resort is all-inclusive but because we’re at the marina (not the resort), we have to pay for our drinks and meals. It’s still very nice to have access to all the resort amenities. It became our late afternoon event to go to the pool and then get a drink. We called it a dip and sip!

We also took advantage of the free shuttle that takes you to Blue Haven’s sister resort which is within walking distance to shops and more restaurants. We had a fun day looking around the shops and the other resort. We also decided to rent a car for 3 days so we could explore the whole island and go out for dinner at a restaurant in town.

All in all we had a fabulous time with Donalda and Bill. We managed to see lots of Providenciales, get some good walks in and finish lots of wine and at least one full bottle of rum! We took the Stevens to the airport this morning. We did laundry and have cleaned the boat up for our next visitors – Evelyn, Caroline and their friend, Samantha. Super excited to have them onboard!!