Our planned 2 day pit stop in George Town morphed into a 4 day event as we waited for the weather to settle down. Fortunately, the cold weather that folks further north were experiencing never made it this far south; however, the unpredictable windy weather delayed our departure. Our first 2 days were spent doing the usual chores, laundry, groceries, lugging fuel out to the boat and doing some boat maintenance. At least the water maker saves me from having to haul 80 or 90 gallons of water from town. We had anchored on the east side of the harbour for wind protection but this left us with a very wet one mile dinghy ride across the rough harbour waters. By the end of day two our provisioning was complete and it was time to relax.

One thing about George Town is there are always lots of organized events for anyone who wants to get involved. We would be parting company for a while with our friends on White Bird (they had family coming into town) so we spent the last couple of days hiking and kayaking with them. Sandbox was in town as well and we all celebrated Robert's recent retirement in style with champagne and pizza, what a combo! George Town has a well known fish fry twice a week that is very popular with cruisers and locals alike. It's like a miniature food fair with 7 or 8 food vender kiosks selling various fish dishes as well as a couple of small bars for the party goers. After a fantastic dinner of grilled grouper we wandered over to the karaoke bar to check out the show. One of the cruisers is a professional musician who is always a fan favourite however, I think he met his equal that night The crowd was mesmerized by a girl who sang Bobby McGee. If you closed your eyes you would've thought it was Janice Joplin then she followed it up with a rousing rendition of Shania Twain's Man! I feel like a woman!

Finally after 4 days the winds abated and we set off for Cat Island, 52 miles away across Exumas Sound. The start was promising as we set the sails in a beautiful 12 knot breeze in flat seas, however, the forecasters were correct and by mid afternoon the breeze faded away forcing us To motor the last 20 miles to Old Bight. Our hopes were high as we dragged two fishing lines eagerly looking forward to a fish dinner. But alas luck was not on our side and we were forced to pull something out of the freezer for dinner. We had spent a few fun filled days anchored off Rollezz Resort a couple of years ago and we were looking forward to another visit to this little slice of heaven.
There were only 4 boats in the anchorage, a far cry from 180, and as we dropped the hook we both took a moment to savour the tranquility of the place.

Today's picture is of the intrepid hikers on top of Monument Hill in George Town