Georgetown At Last!
04 April 2010 | Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas
Terry
It seems forever since I have blogged but most of that is due to no internet connection out in the sticks here in the Exumas.
We left Nassau on March 24th and everyone was glad to see it pass away in the wake. It rained in Nassau, the marina was under construction and so the kids had no place to play and in general everyone was pretty down in the dumps. I would actually call Nassau a low point. After the passage over I think expectations for finally being in the Bahamas were very high and then with the weather a bit nasty, the marina a bust and nothing much within walking range to do everyone was pretty let down. Its not that there is nothing to do in Nassau, its that everything there is very expensive and we are tight on cash. The best plan turned out to be what we did: get the heck out of Dodge!
We left out early in the morning and threaded our way out of Nassau harbor to the east with Michele on the bow calling out the coral heads to dodge. We set sail south across the banks and prepared to cross the Yellow Bank. This is an area of fairly shallow water with lots of coral heads that we had to cross on our way over to Highborne Cay toward the top of the Exuma island chain. Its really no big deal but given we had never done visual navigation through shallow coral before and we have an aversion to smashing Lillie Mae's keel into a coral head we were a tiny bit apprehensive. It was needless.... Michele on the bow easily spotted the coral heads and we dodged a few without any drama. Piece of cake.
After a very nice 35 mile sail we arrived in the anchorage at Highborne Cay and the kids were in the water almost before I had the anchor set! Highborne seemed nice but wanting to get to Georgetown quickly and hopefully find more kid boats we did not linger and the next day we set off for Staniel Cay, about 35 miles down island. We sailed most of the way but toward the end the wind died so we motored into the anchorage just off the beach around the corner from Staniel at Big Majors Spot.
This was a really cool anchorage, well protected from easterlies and we spent a couple of great days there. The kids snorkled and swam, we dinghied over to the beach where a family of wild pigs makes a life of scarfing free meals from cruisers (Michele posed with the pigs and proclaimed the beach "Pigs in Paradise"....she said, "I am a 10 on this beach!), we dove on coral seeking lobster without luck but still fun. We also checked out the famous "Thunderball Grotto" and it was a big hit with the kids. This is a large cave accessible from the water and with holes in the roof that let light in. It is a protected area swarming with fish and with lots of amazing coral plus the light plays on the water inside and makes it really gorgeous. It gets its name because filming was done here for some climactic scenes from the James Bond movie Thunderball.
While at Big Majors, Taylor said she had seen a large fish hiding under the swim ladder. I got into the water to change the zincs on our Frigoboat keel coolers (fridge and freezer stuff) and sure enough I spotted a 2 foot Remora hanging around under the boat. I chased him around the bow and as I was about to swim back under the boat to where I had been working, I saw an 8' Nurse Shark swim by right under where I had been. I know they are pretty much harmless and it was no big deal.... But I did get out of the water for a few minutes! So now I have seen my first shark in the water, next time I will not be so surprised.
After a few really fun days at Big Majors, we sailed south a bit to Great Guana Cay and Black Point Settlement. I wanted to check this place out as it is a large Bahamian island settlement that is not tourism based or focused. There are about 300 inhabitants in a very pretty and quaint little village. The day after arriving Jackson, Taylor and I decided to go ashore and go on a hike. Michele stayed behind because her knee is still something of a mess and she cannot walk any long distances. Besides, she was dying to clean the boat. (that's a joke people)
We had heard that there was a path that lead out toward the end of the island and some cliffs that overlooked Dotham cut leading to the deep water in Exuma sound. I wanted to check this out as I was thinking of using this cut to exit the banks and sail south in deep water to Georgetown. We walked down to the beach and watched the large swell roll in and break on the huge rock cliffs and beach. We found no path but decided to walk toward the end of the island anyway along the shore. Heading out, the scenery was gorgeous and the going fairly easy so we walked on.... Sucked into a gorgeous trap like flies to sticky paper.. The easy going soon changed. We found no path but holding out hopes we would run into it at any point we climbed some pretty steep and rocky cliffs, crossed over some tidal zones complete with wrecks at low water, waded through waist high brush and picked our way through areas of bushes and scrub brush over our heads. We fought off marauding pirates and survived attacking prehistoric wildlife. Well, maybe not but we did see some lizards and birds and some really funky looking plants. It was quite the hike and adventure... the word "lost" was used in a questioning manner by both kids at various points. Everyone got tired, we drank all our water and ate all our food and both kids really had to dig deep to push on and find our way back to civilization. Finally, while backtracking from the cut, we found the path and knew we had an easy way out. I was VERY proud of both kids for keeping their heads up, willingly pushing on despite being exhausted and overcoming what was some pretty difficult terrain. Talk about adventure....this was a great one for the kids! (We were not in danger or anything... its not that big an island and I had the hand held VHF radio with me and chatted with Michele during our "ordeal").
Chris Parker the weather guru we listen to every day on the SSB radio (sort of anyhow.... The reception is often a joke) was warning that a very strong cold front was going to blow through so we decided to leave Black Point Settlement and go south about 6 miles to seek better shelter at Little Farmers Cay.
We picked up a mooring ball and put out an anchor in preparation for the coming bad weather (I did not trust the mooring ball as it was anchored only to a couple of chunks of concrete on the bottom, no sand screws). The wind gusted from the south up to 30 knots as the front approached but the front itself pretty much fell apart as it arrived in the central Exumas. The northern Bahamas got some pretty bad weather but all we got was wind that clocked around to the west, northwest and then north to northeast at about 15 knots plus a morning of overcast. Jackson, Taylor and I went ashore to the small village (less than 50 inhabitants) on Little Farmers and the kids now being seasoned explorers we walked all around checking things out. No thoughts of calling Bahamian air/sea rescue this time around! In the afternoon Taylor and I went fishing but not catching and we prepared to leave on the high tide out Farmers Cut early the next morning so we could take advantage of the northerly wind and sail southeast the rest of the way to Georgetown.
We cleared the cut into Exuma sound early the next morning and had a good 6 hour sail to Georgetown in calm water. The entrance to Elizabeth Harbor in Georgetown is said to be a bit tricky with a number of reefs to dodge and as we arrived at low tide it was certainly shallow (less than 7 feet in places... we draw 6 so we had little clearance to spare) but using the exact waypoints from the Explorer charts we had no issues.
As we passed the anchorage at Monument beach I spotted Splendid, Alex and Sams boat whom we last saw in West Palm Beach. We circled back and found a nice spot just down from them, set the anchor and splashed the dinghy. I motored over and surprised our friends, Guin and Taylor were very happy to once again have each other as playmates.
The next day, an "arts and crafts" event was organized by Sara on Avalon around the corner at Volleyball Beach for all the kids here. Currently there are about 120 boats anchored up all around Georgetown and there are a good number of kid boats with kids of all ages. This get together was simply designed as a vehicle for all the kids to meet up and break the ice for them to play together. It was EXACTLY what we have been hoping for! Both Jackson and Taylor met kids of a similar age and got to play and now we have met a number of other kid boats and play dates are easily organized on the beach.
It is seriously gorgeous here. We are anchored about 75 yards off the beach. The water is a stunning aqua marine and varies in color with the water depth. The beach is perfect, great sand and shallow, a stunning playground for the kids. We have good protection from the prevailing easterly winds, the ocean side of Stocking Island is a very short hike away and we have Monument hill with its statue plus all the interesting foliage right in front of us. There are volleyball courts, trails to hike, a playground over in the town and many great beaches plus plenty of fishing spots not far off. We are making friends with folks on a number of boats and in general are having a great time. The kids have fed stingrays that are like tame little water puppies. They swim right up and nudge you hoping for a tasty tidbit. We have spent a good bit of time with Alex and Sam plus Taylor and Guin have really had a great time playing. Georgetown rocks!
G-town really is an interesting place. The town itself is largely geared toward the big boating community. Everything you may need is available and easily accessible... grocery stores, farmers market, marine stores, fuel, ice, alcohol, laundry, garbage disposal, wifi internet, tons of neat shops and galleries, barber..... a full blown town and it seems most of it geared toward not just tourism but specifically the cruising boaters. The people seem very nice too.
We arrived very late in the "season" here. In early March they had the "Cruisers Regatta" here and close to 400 boats were in the anchorage. In a couple of weeks it will again get very crowded as the "Family Regatta" will be happening. This is a series of races for Bahamian built and crewed racing sailboats and it is a very big deal with boats and crews coming from islands all across the Bahamas. When we were in Black Point settlement we met a guy building a couple of race boats (pictures in the Exumas gallery). They are traditional wooden construction hand built "work boats" that the Bahamians race very aggressively including hiking out on large boards and such.
Georgetown is its own small "Cruisers City". There are literally hundreds of boats that come here every year. Many of them arrive here in late November and do not leave until late April. The majority of the boats have retired couples aboard and the entire place is in many ways a floating retirement community. There is a "Cruisers Net" on the VHF radio every day where events are announced along with the weather and lots of other stuff (some of it is pretty funny...). They have a Bridge club, poker games every Thursday night, volleyball leagues, a beach church with pastor and bible studies and a never ending stream of organized and semi-organized events going on. The entire community breaks down and exits before Hurricane season builds with everyone going their separate ways only to reconvene the following November/December to start the party all over again.
While we are decidedly on the young side around here, the entire scene here is pretty neat. These retirees are living a very active and fun lifestyle in a drop dead gorgeous location and without doubt their overall cost of living is far less than it would be attempting to fulfill a similar lifestyle back in the States.
We went to a sunrise Easter service on the beach this morning and we are getting together with 4-5 other kids boats for a potluck brunch on the beach around noon. We will celebrate Taylor's 7th birthday with these folks and Michele is making cupcakes. The kids were thrilled that the Easter Bunny found there here and Taylor got a Barbie snorkler for her birthday. I am going to play with the sailing rig on my paddle board and in generally we are looking forward to a day filled with beach fun.... Just like yesterday.
It's a hard life I know, but someone has to do it.
We have no firm plans at this point. We may head further south.... We may stay here until sometime in May and then start drifting north again. We may buddy up with another kid boat and go cruise around who know where. We may have folks from home come visit here, they may not make it. No plans... no problems. We in da islands mon!
I uploaded a bunch of photos in the Exuma Gallery, check them out!