Jump in and paddle out to collect as many floating coconuts as possible. Two golden coconuts give you an extra 10 pts for each one

For the 38^th year, the annual George Town Cruising Regatta took place in and around Elizabeth Harbour.  Although the number of boats anchored were much less than the last few years, the weather cooperated quite well for the 13 days of fun, frolic, sailing and games galore; both for kids and adults.

We managed to watch some of the fun, which gets a big kickoff at the Variety Show usually held in Regatta Park but this year due to the John Bull Cup races, Peace and Plenty did the honors and the buffet lunch.

Good variety at this year’s show!

You can see the Bahamian sloops at anchor to the left

And finally near the end, the Junior Junkanoo parade

Racers getting ferried back to shore

Part 2 of coconut challenge

March 9th was the in-harbour sailboat race and we just so happened to be moving from Rolle Cay over to Monument, near Cort’s Place. We did our best to keep out-of-the-way during the floppy hanky warm-up time.

Some pre-race fun maneuvers- Endangered Species, Triad and a third sailboat. The Committee Boat on the right

Whisper is over taken by “didn’t get boat name”, with s/v Compromise catching up

My favorite part of the sailboat racing, other than pretending to participate, is the commentary. When boats register they complete a sheet that lists background and current info about the owner and crew members. Other tidbits of interest such as “about your boat name” or number of years coming to George Town (27 for s/v Whisper!) are encouraged. The stories help fill dead air and we always enjoy them.

Even when we cruised here in Ortolan, we didn’t seriously consider racing her, which was good because we always needed to begin the trip north before Regatta began. My latest light bulb idea is to convince Ortolan’s current owners to race her in-harbour with us as crew.  They are racers with many years of sailing experience, now on a fast Maine Cat. What a great story for the commentators to tell, especially when you add in that their former sail cat was a PDQ and we now own a PDQ power cat.  Maybe we could call it a belated “big” birthday gift for me. 🙂   Ok, call me crazy now.

Anchored behind Rolle Cay- the dark shade rolling over us

As I mentioned in the prior post, Elizabeth Harbour contains oodles of anchoring space; however our view is often from the more protected (read “out of the way”) spots but at least we move around unlike some boats whose anchor has become one with the sandy bottom.

Years ago, as in 20 or more, before the Chat ‘n Chill arrived on the part of Stocking Island now called Volleyball Beach, boats didn’t anchor in the harbor as we do now. They anchored in the more protected areas such as behind Crab Cay and the Red Shanks Cays. The Red Shanks Yacht and Tennis Club was the thing, with regular beach parties and the placing of conch shells up on the rocks.

–But ever since Chat ‘n Chill opened- I mean who doesn’t love a beach bar with T-shirts dangling from the rafters, warm beer and lousy food that you order yelling over someone’s shoulder because the TV is blaring music vids- oh and house music too. Trust me, it’s vacationers who keep the place going, not the cruisers.

When we arrived on Jan 24th the boat count was roughly 170; pretty empty for end of January. By mid- Feb the count had swelled to 230; less than average. By March 4 the count was 256; 40 less than the recent average. Hard to say why. Could be due to Regatta a week later, or not a single miserable cold front the entire month of February. Much of the time it seemed like boats were leaving for points south faster than ones arrived to take their place.

Anchored at Monument near Cort’s Place- looking toward Great Exuma and George Town

During all of February, not a single cold front got pushed down here so the Easterlies- no, not Easter Lilies!-  reigned supreme. That meant the wind would blow 10-20 most days out of the East with some days northeast- ish and some southeast- ish.  On one hand consistency is good and on the other, variety would be preferred. With no L&V winds that often precede a front, sometimes lingering for days, we had precious few days calm enough to anchor in the main anchorages, let alone dinghy anywhere we wished.

Looking at Stocking Island from Rolle Cay. We did this a lot!

Disappearing land as rain and dark clouds arrive- Stocking Island

Underway from Monument to Rolle Cay. Higgins Landing light-colored bldgs- (For Sale), Lumina Point taller one and brown ones to the right

First Exuma rainbow this winter

Bouncy trip down Elizabeth Harbour heading to Elizabeth Island (sits next to and south of Stocking Island)

Today, so calm, even a houseboat can do it

The anchoring hole behind Chat N Chill is called the Fruit Bowl; all the house boats (rented/owned by French Canadians) have names such as Mango and Papaya but you need to say them with the proper accent like- Pa Pie Ya, Man Go 🙂  On calm days they venture out; kin folk.

Moon rise over Crab Cay from the Litter Box (get it? cats go there) at Feb Point, George Town

The Litter Box isn’t as glamorously named as The Fruit Bowl, but then again, we didn’t name it.

Bahamian small boat racing off Feb Pt during John Bull racing weekend

The calm before the windy in the Litter Box- a few fruits tossed in for fun

Looking at Chat n Chill and the popular sign totem. Behind the trees are the beach volley ball courts

Honeymoon Beach- lies in between Monument Beach and VolleyBall Beach- are you lost yet?

Meanwhile, back in the Litter Box…

Feb Point- choppers always checking- they know when you are sleeping, they know when you are … oh they know too much!