Month: January 2012

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By George (Town) we arrive!

Deemed by many to be the cruising Mecca of the north Atlantic, George Town promises and delivers an experience to be remembered and repeated time and time again. Elizabeth Harbour sits between Great Exuma Island to the west and Stocking Island to the east. The anchorages are along the beaches of Stocking Island: Monument Beach, Honeymoon Beach, Volleyball Beach and our spot, Sand Dollar Beach. While 200 boats rest peacefully throughout the harbor now, 99% of them at anchor, by mid-Feb to mid-March nearly 400 will be packed into the harbor for fun, games, hikes, meeting old and making new friends and simply enjoying life on the water.

We liked the looks of Sand Dollar Beach; less boat traffic and less beach activity than the others, also reasonably good holding in mucky sand. We did what cats are required to do and that’s get in close to shore in shallower water and drop the hook. Maybe a bit too close in; 4.2 ft at low tide was acceptable, but if the wind switched to out of the west we’d be in deep- no, shallow do-do.  The next day we moved about 2 boat lengths south along the beach and out just enough to place us in 8ft. I lost count of the number of attempts we made to get it right- ‘cuz hey we also had to be positioned properly with regard to the two boats behind us.

Unless you are anchored in Kidd Cove right near the entrance to Lake Victoria- the hub of George Town you’ve got yourself a mile-plus dinghy ride. We won’t mention the continued problematic chaps on Bunting – nooo, the problem side doesn’t get lifted off out of way because the Velcro/Hypalon patch worked soooooo well- unh uh. Many who spend serious time in GT have adopted the GT dinghy stance, made necessary by the very long, often wet ride into town or even to one of the beaches from your home base.  We’ve noticed that boats will leave their spot to spend the day in Kidd Cove then return and re-anchor just to avoid that fun slog in to town.

Looking across to Volleyball Beach

 

George Town Dinghy Stance

 

Lake Victoria has one narrow entrance point and when the wind is up the swells can catch you off guard; luckily the incoming dinghies have the right of way. On our second trip in (Sat) we had visions of water over the bow as we plowed up to the entrance.

Entrance to Lake Victoria, GT

The main road and businesses ring the lake and just about everything one would want or need is here. We joined the library for $3/yr and that got us books to swap and books to take out- return whenever you can! Exuma Markets provides a long dinghy dock as well as good water with a hose hook-up. At the Shell Station you can purchase diesel and gas for approx $5.75/gal- ouch- just dinghy up and fill your jugs. Yes, the price is high, but Chub Cay was $6.05 and in Nassau we paid about $5 for diesel. The goal is to fill up our diesel tanks once more before we cross back to Florida, not counting an occasional 5 gal jug of diesel to replace what we use to run the genset.

Wi-Fi is available in town and some boats are lucky enough to get it from the harbor. We have finally learned not to judge a business by the building.  J&K Productions, operated by Julius and his wife is the place for a good internet connection, technical assistance, spare parts and getting more air time uploaded onto your phone. For the next week the blog is coming to you from Chez Julius- not free as you may recall, but a reasonable $15/week. Maybe I should ask for Wi-Fi donations rather than Bahama Mamas!

Various activities take place on the beaches and are announced on the net at 8am each morning. Sat at 3pm was a jam session on Sand Dollar of string instruments so we timed our beach walk then enjoyed the music for over an hour.

String jammin' on the beach

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..and a few more days

When we arrived at Black Point 15 boats were anchored; by Monday night the number had doubled; guess many were not comfortable rocking in the swells where they’d been.

The supply boat, per Lorraine, was due to arrive on Tuesday; our continued presence depended on the weather. We’d either jump 10 miles south to Little Farmer’s Cay or wait and head over to George Town, a long 50 mile run J Monday morning I got excited to see a ship headed in, but it was only a work truck ferry. Black Point has a medium sized dock with a small concrete ramp to one side; none of this could accommodate the ferry. In The Bahamas mon, they make do and much is not as we’re used to in the States. The ferry made one attempt then tried a second spot; a carved out section in the rocks where it could nose in and drop the ramp at a rock ledge. Gotta hand it to these guys; they make it happen.

Ferry attempt #1

This ferry gets it right

Thanks to the wind blowin’ 22kts we found ourselves boat bound Monday;  what better time than to work on the dinghy chaps, again! How many times have I heard “this is the last time” ???  Right. Well this time we had the solution and amazingly the materials to pull it off- oh not really pull it off, rather, make it stick.  Russ figured we’d better solve the problem before George Town where we’d likely have long rides in.

Cool weather means baking time and once my part of the chap project was done I whipped up a sour cream coffee cake using the very expensive organic sour cream I bought in Nassau.

Tuesday morning brought in a cargo ship/ferry to the rocky landing spot; not sure if food was delivered or not. The wind continued to deliver though but at least it was a manageable 14kts and the ride in was fine. A stop at Lorraine’s for our wi-fi fix and a chat with our anchorage neighbors, Anne and Harv on Camelot, a Victory 35. They’ve been at this FT cruiser life since 1996 and with 22 grandkids (most back in WI) Anne is ready for a change. The letters after her name on their boat card are “FM, CCBW”. Took me a minute to figure out they meant, First Mate, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer! Wish I’d thought of that one; a bit of cruiser humor is a nice touch.

Dinner was out at Deshamon’s, a very pretty place with a covered porch dining area in front and a small inner space followed by a small bar and kitchen in back.  Sausage pizza was the affordable choice- when we hit George Town the first stop will be to deplete the ATM, then Exuma Markets… followed by the liquor store and finally a dive/sport fish shop for an Hawaiian sling- lobsters mon. Diane, along with her co-owner and husband, Simon whose rum punch drinks were coconutty delicious, tipped us off on how we can get the fresh catch of the day on Wed.

Wednesday dawned beautifully and the kind of day we love at anchorage. Lots of sun to make solar power and barely any wind. Many boats departed for Little Farmer’s Cay to stage for a shorter run down to George Town, but we opted to go bright and early Thursday with the hope of some wind to at least motor sail.

We waited and watched the dock all day, until finally the very small fishing skiff came in and Russ zoomed over to see what he could purchase. 15 mins later he was back with dinner- 2 beautiful lobster tails- cut off from the body and cleaned in seconds. No claws on Caribbean lobsters you may recall. We ate one with our pizza leftovers and froze the larger one for a surf and turf meal in George Town.

Russ scores two tails!