GEORGETOWN AT LAST!
April brings us to our new summer home, Georgetown, Exuma, Bahamas. We have decided to cruise the Exuma Cays and Out Islands for the summer, using Georgetown as our home base. Next fall (after hurricane season) we hope to continue our trip south through the Caribbean.
We have a mooring here in Georgetown for the summer in one of the "hurricane holes" to run into in the event of a major storm. We will stay within a couple of day's sail of Georgetown, making runs to Long Island, Cat Island, Conception Island and also cruising to all of the beautiful cays of the Exumas that we did not get a chance to stop at on our way down.
Marc has a little side job watering plants and shrubs of friends we met who have a place here on Great Exuma, who have gone back to Oregon for the summer, and I am going to volunteer at the little local library here. We love the little town of Georgetown and beautiful Stocking Island across the harbor with its gorgeous, secluded beaches and numerous great hikes over the island to the ocean side. There are lots of boats here now because of Regatta Week coming up, but the locals say that there will be as few as 5-10 in the whole harbor during the summer months.
GEORGETOWN AND STOCKING ISLAND
Our beautiful anchorage at Monument Beach, Stocking Island.
The town of Georgetown is about a mile and a half off in the distance...a long dinghy ride..but as Marc says,
"Its not such a bad commute!
The beautiful quiet beaches of Stocking Island. Most of the time we have this beautiful five mile stretch of beach to ourselves.
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The anchorage at "Chat 'n Chill at dusk. When it gets dark the anchor lights at the top of each mast look like tiny little stars on the horizon.
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 A little tiki hut that some cruisers built on Flip Flop Beach...a great place to bring a picnic or BBQ or just hang out after a swim or hike. Here's Marc, Polly and Nick at the "bar". Not that there's anything here to buy...it's a BYO! |
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The monument above our anchorage...up on top is a beautiful view of both the anchorage in Elizabeth Harbor and the ocean on the other side.
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One of the many paths that lead from the harbor side to the ocean side of Stocking Island
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One of the many beaches on Stocking Island |
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Laundry Day! It's an all day affair...loading up the laundry into "dry bags" so they don't get soaked on the half hour dinghy ride across the bay, once at the dinghy dock unload, then a 20 minute walk down a half paved, half dirt road lugging our bags, wash and dry and hang out on the chain link fence next to the laundromat, then time to load it all back into the dry bags and make the return trip. Whew! We try to do laundry only once every 2 weeks or so, and make do in-between by hand washing lighter items on the boat and hanging them on the lifelines to dry. |
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As beautiful as it is here, I do have to say that we have been struggling with the heat now that summer is starting to kick in. The other day it was 95 with high humidity....brutal. I especially have been having a hard time with it. We try to stay out of the sun as much as possible (not easy in the Bahamas) and I never go anywhere without my trusty umbrella and a hat and shades. We sit in the water a lot too, chatting with friends or just hanging out to bring body temperature down. My favorite place to cool off is in the cucumber department at the Exuma Market (which is one of the few places in Georgetown that is air conditioned) The small air conditioner above the cukes is the coldest one in the store. People who see me there often must think I am VERY picky about my cucumbers! |
NICK AND POLLY ARRIVE!
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Nick and Polly, our friends from home came for a weeks visit! They stayed at a little beach side cottage for three days on Stocking Island next to where we were anchored and three days with us here on the boat. Soooooo good to see them and to hear all the news from home! |
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Coming back from a hike and swim on Stocking Island |
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Awwwww.....taking a swim on the ocean side Stocking Island |
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Sunset before dinner at the Higgins Landing Cottages where Nick and Polly stayed, our boat is anchored in the background. |
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Wine time! Before dinner at the beach bar at Higgins Landing |
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Such luxury! A full sit down gourmet meal with Nick and Polly at the cottage resort where they were staying. The owners are a husband and wife team and they have no employees....the two of them do everything. She is an organic gourmet cook and the food was outstanding...such a treat after eating on the boat for 8 months! |
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A Bahamian historian from Nassau occasionally flies into Georgetown to lecture on Bahamian history and culture at the beach at Chat n' Chill on Stocking Island. He happened to be here when Nick and Polly were here. Born and bred in the Bahamas, he was full of information. history and local lore of his beloved Bahamas. |
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The lecture venue... two long picnic tables under the trees on the beach at Chat n' Chill! The audience was mostly cruisers...our boat's at anchor in the background. |
BBQ on the beach with our new friends Tom and Robin from Folly Beach, SC
We have acquired a cool southern drawl since hanging out with them....
They are traveling in their trawler aptly named "Southern Trawl"...love it!
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BBQ and sunset at Flip Flop Beach |
The next installment of photos will be of
THE NATIONAL ISLAND FAMILY REGATTA!!!
Here's a sneak preview...
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Exhibition day before the REAL races begin...that's Marc out on the board (7th from the end?) with the rest of the crew on "Tida Wave" which went on to win the Regatta a week later. These Bahamain boats are all hand built, no electronics, cotton sails and come from all over the Bahamas to compete. They graciously invite any interested cruisers or locals to crew on their boats for one day only before the actually races start, to see what it's like to race on one of these boats. Marc had a blast! But said it was HARD and quite challenging...lots of scrambling, scooting, leaning, balancing with each tac. It was a 2 ibuprofen night that night!
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Tida Wave rounding the first mark.
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The view from the spectators stand at Regatta Point |
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Marc "Sittin on the dock on the Bay" with some locals watching the last race of the day. |
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Three boats converge on the mark at the same time! It's amazing they don't crash into each other...so exciting to watch them make the turn...booms flying, guys yelling, scrambling out on the boards to balance the boat. Crazy! |
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Food and beer vendors setting up their tents along the waterfront for Regatta Week |
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More views of the race... racing boats and dinghy spectators jockeying for position before the start. |
Lining up and dropping anchor to get ready for the start. There are typically 3 races a day, for 4 days.
There are 3 classes of boats and each class races once a day. Class A boats are the smallest, Class B at around 16ft, and Class C at 28 ft. These are Class C boats.
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Little boys lining up for the closing ceremony and parade on the last night of Regatta. All the local families turn out, the children dressed in new clothes and all spiffed up for the event. The children are adorable and oh so polite and friendly. |
The Bahama Police Band is the main attraction of the parade. They travel from Nassau and members of the band come from all over the Bahamas to rehearse and perform.
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Notice the little girl marching with the drum major's staff held high in her hand. It looks like she's going the wrong way, but in fact she is actually turning the band around...once she passes through the ranks they all turn around and follow her in formation up the road! So cute! |
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A sad sign that Regatta is over ....some of the racing boats loaded onto a tanker headed back to their prospective islands of origin until next year. |
SOME PHOTOS OF OUR HOME TOWN FOR THE SUMMER
GEORGETOWN, EXUMA
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Dinghy entrance into Lake Victoria from the anchorage. This leads to the dinghy dock which is our access to the little town of Georgetown. |
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Dinghy dock, Lake Victoria It's pretty empty on this day, but during regatta dinghies are sometimes lined up 3 deep along both sides of the dock |
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The Red Boone Cafe Our very own "internet cafe". You can see cruisers using their laptops/phones etc. at the picnic table on the left. It's where I am sitting right now working on the blog. The blue building in the background is the grocery store |
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Exuma Market Our grocery store for the summer...and it's air conditioned!!! |
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Top to Bottom Hardware Store Georgetown's version of Roger's Hardware...everything you could imagine in a 15 x 15 ft sq. space. Marc just picked up some screens for the 2 overhead hatches in our boat.... |
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The Georgetown Library This is the little library I have started volunteering in twice a week. It's actually a great little library...not automated, no card catalog but a nice collection (all donations). I wish I could get my hands on all of the children's books that were discarded in Brunswick 5 years ago when the libraries consolidated! If anyone has any children's books in good condition that you want to get rid of please consider sending them to The Georgetown Library, Georgetown, Exuma, Bahamas! |
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Georgetown Primary School K-6 Junior High and High School students go to the one high school on the island which serves students from all the different settlements on the island. |
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We took a "vacation" from our vacation and sailed up to Lee Stocking Island for a few days. We came across this beautiful little beach right around the corner from our secluded anchorage. |
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We hiked from the beach up to Perry's Peak, the highest elevation on Exuma at a whopping 123ft. above sea level! |
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The view from on top of Perry's Peak |
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Marc has learned how to shimmy up a palm tree...haha. |
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Alderaan at anchor off of the deserted dock at the now defunct Marine Research Lab Center. It closed a few years ago due to lack of funds which is so sad. It left behind a few very functional and nice looking cottages which are now uninhabited, a big dock, and an airstrip that is now of course abandoned. It was a beautiful anchorage, but we wished so much that we had been able to visit when the center was open and functioning. |
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Who said we don't have all the conveniences of home?! |
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The abandoned airstrip |
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Hike across the island to the ocean side. |
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Sunset at Lee Stocking Island |
