After Black Point we started to make our way to George Town, the proclaimed mecca for Bahamas cruisers. We made a couple last stops in some small cays north of George Town. We anchored off Cave Cay, which is close to David Copperfield’s island. He commissioned a stainless steel grand piano and sunk it just off the island with a statue of a mermaid, also stainless steel. We had the GPS coordinates and dinghied over so we could dive on it. It was about 15 feet down. Pretty cool.

From Cave Cay we made it into the very large Elizabeth Harbour where George Town can be found on Great Exuma Island. There are several anchorages in the harbour between Stocking Island and Great Exuma Island, all very different. We dropped the hook off the most popular Chat ‘n Chill/Volleyball beach on Stocking Island, right next to our buddy boat, Jazzebelle from back in the Chesapeake days! We hadn’t seen Jazzabelle since October, when we parted ways. They left the US from Norfolk Virginia and did the Salty Dawg Rally, a 5 day offshore passage to the Abacos (Northern Bahamas) while we toodled down the coast to Miami and crossed over from there. We also caught up with buddy boat Romana who we buddy boated with. Great to see buddy boats again.

You have to see George Town to get it. We have heard that some years there are 500 cruising boats anchored in the harbour. When we arrived, the number was closer to 200. There is a core contingent of cruisers that make their way down to the Bahamas and make George Town their southern most stop and drop the hook and spend the whole winter there. This contingent is highly organized, entrenched in the community and make a point to make a contribution to community. They conduct morning “nets” (a net is an organized information share that is moderated by someone, weather, community announcements, lost and found, help wanted, hellos and good byes, etc.) and as a newbie to George Town, you can find out anything you need to know in seconds if you listen to the morning net, or hail a general enquiry on the radio, something like, how do I find propane to refill my tanks or can someone cut my hair. There is yoga on Volleyball beach every morning (one of the cruisers just offers the class for free), and recreational volleyball everyday at 2. Chat ‘n Chill is an institution here, a delightful little beach bar with a conch salad hut right on the beach. You can take some leftovers from the conch cleaning and feed it to the family of five or so domesticated stingrays that hang out there. If you stand in the water, they will approach and swim between your ankles and let you pet them. It’s a little intimidating when they try to swim over your toes, wouldn’t want them to mistake toes for conch bits!

On the Great Exuma Island side of the harbour, the town of George Town offers a large dinghy dock for visiting cruisers. The dinghy dock is equipped with a spigot where cruisers can fill their jerry cans with complimentary RO water (reverse osmosis water that comes from desalinating salt water). The dock and water were generously provided for cruisers by Exuma Markets. This is the main grocery store for reprovisioning. You can pretty much get anything here. Belgian endive? Pickled ginger? Grainy mustard? It’s all here, just don’t look at the price tag. Local beer Kalik, goes for $45 / 24 (wait, that’s not expensive, that’s the same as Canada.)

Other businesses in George Town include: Scotiabank, Royal Bank (we are CIBC customers, unfortunately they have a very slim presence in the islands), Batelco (phone company), dive shop, liquor stores (rum is CHEAP), more beach bars/restaurants and a couple of little hotels and boutiques. There are small resorts nearby as well.

All told, we ended up staying 17 days in George Town. It has a way of sucking you in. So much to do and see and so easy to get groceries, water and laundry.

Stay tuned for details of visitors to Slow Waltz in George Town.