It’s been a fun & busy 6 weeks here in George Town, Exuma, but we’re getting ready to depart with the next good weather window.

A visitor! Our nephew Matt was able to join us for almost a week, escaping the cold in Connecticut. While the weather included some rain & wind, he still got in lots of paddleboarding, kayaking, walking the beach, swimming, great conversation & lots of good food & drink!

The above YouTube video is courtesy of s/v Harvest Moon. The audio isn’t great (due to the wind & the limited recording equipment), but the drone footage is fantastic of the harbour area. A surprise guest was longtime seasonal resident from nearby Elizabeth Island, Hugh Taylor (yes, James Taylor’s brother).

Turtles are fairly solitary so getting 3 in one shot is nice!

Sharks circling our boat! No … just some friendly dolphins coming to check us out.

It is said cruising is mostly performing repairs in exotic places, but these were pretty minor. Beginning the upgrading of our cabin lights to LEDs & wondering why our fuel transfer pump didn’t work – it’s impeller was in pieces (fortunately I had brought a spare).

If you look closely, the end of the rainbow is burning the trees onshore – only kidding!

Some great sunset skies.

Lunch with our friends Cort & Max. They are sometimes able to borrow a junker car from a local they know (no shocks, lots of strange noises, borderline brakes & the headliner falling down), but it gets us the 10 miles to the north end of the island where there are 2 fancy resorts with great restaurants.

We’re looking for guidance on a good weather window to beginning heading north, so we consulted the adjacent Sandals Resort Weather Station.

While it was another good stay in George Town, times are a changin’…

Our various hidey-hole anchoring areas are now off-limits as part of a newly designated national park. While 370 boats (currently) are here & needing protection from the winds, some are stuck simply anchoring in the middle of the large 1 x 8 mile open harbor bucking up & down in 2′ – 3′ waves (when cold fronts come thru). The park has installed some moorings, but not in areas we want to be in & one has already broken free…

The U.S. current “border crisis” has adversely affected the Bahamas with twice the usual number of Cubans, Haitians & others flocking to the U.S, with some making it only as far as the Bahamas. While nothing to do with cruisers, the Bahamian Customs & Immigration has never before cracked down on cruisers as they have this year, including such things as going boat-to-boat checking paperwork. One cruiser here was held & deported without even being able to take his boat.

Since we zoomed directly down to George Town in January, we’ll take our time heading north thru the Exumas & the rest of the Bahamas.  One major issue for us is extending our visas, just before the 90 days we were given. While I can often plead my way into obtaining 120-day visas (so we don’t need extensions) – not this time.  To complicate things, there are limited immigration offices along our route & you can only appear up-to 4-days before expiration & never after (especially now). The precise timing, along with weather concerns, will require some careful planning on our part.