The harbor at Georgetown has a way of sucking your anchor in and the weather was a co-conspirator in keeping us there. Oh you can dance the Georgetown shuffle and go from side to side in the harbor but do not try to leave through the cut! We ended up spending 17 days there in total before moving north. When the bartender at Chat n' Chill on Volleyball Beach knows you by name, you are in trouble. I have to say we enjoyed our stay except for the days we chose not to put the dinghy down in the chop to save our backs and bottoms from the bumpy ride. There were several of those. We got lots of reading done. Georgetown has most of what you need available if you are not picky about the brand name or the price and if the boat comes in. You can buy Pepperidge Farm bread for $7.95 a loaf so who could complain? Our friends, Sean and Janet Grant, and their daughter, Halli, were on their boat, Caribana and Janet's parents, Nigel and Elizabeth, were anchored close to us off Sanddollar Beach. Quatico, Where II and SolMate were all in the harbor at some time while were there too. It is a very friendly place so there is no problem striking up a conversation in town or on the beach.
On Thursday the 19th, we left Georgetown and headed north to Big Farmers Cay for one night. The next morning we picked our way into Staniel Cay and anchored off the Thunderball Club. The forecast was not favorable for the Bahamas as the low that was forming in the Gulf of Mexico was expected to bring us squalls and winds clocking to the West and NW over the next three days with winds into the twenties with higher gusts. Since most of the anchorages in the Exumas are exposed to the West and West winds are very rare, this created a sense of urgency for all sail and motor yachts and even the locals. Once the tide changed in Staniel and the current reversed, our boat starting spinning like a top on our anchor and we opted to move to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for the night. We had hoped the forecast would downgrade the West wind by Saturday morning but no such luck. As their docks can take full waves over them on the rare occasion the wind is from the West, they clear the marina as soon as they get a forecast for 15 knots or more from the West. We probably could stay another night but we would have to leave by Sunday when the winds would have really increased. The dockmaster made some calls and Compass Cay Marina, a little to the north, agreed to take the boats that were being evacuated from Staniel.
Compass Cay Marina has full protection from the wind and a long,narrow channel to negotiate with markers. Markers are very rare in the Bahamas and are privately maintained. This marina caters to larger motor yachts and is priced accordingly. Most of the yachts are well over 50 feet. You would think we had the luck of the Irish to get a slip considering the forecast but Murphy's Law definitely had a part to play for us yet. We were about ¾ of the way in the winding channel when Kevin said "Eileen, I don't want to freak you out but I think our transmission just went. " We were still moving forward but he could not seem to get any speed over 2 knots. Considering we had to negotiate a potentially strong current in the cut and get our boat into the dock in building winds, our stress level went skyrocketing. We called the marina and let them know we were coming in with transmission issues and they scurried and got us a slip that was a straight shot in from the channel. We lucked out and hit it at slack tide so little current. Preston and Tucker were there to grab lines and assure us we had "No worries". The boat would still go into reverse and it proved to be one of the smoothest dockings we had on our journey. We were safe and secure in a slip. Yippee! Once the adrenaline left us, we were faced with the reality of being in an isolated and expensive marina with no transmission until we could arrange a repair or replacement from the states. At this point, I will let the Captain take over the story. Stay tuned....