Easy Living in George Town

We have been in George Town for almost a month but will be leaving in a few days to venture down to Long Island.  George Town is the capital of the Exumas and its largest town, although all is relative in the Bahamas.  

Exuma government building in George Town with Elizabeth Harbor in the background

 

Close by the government building is Regatta Point, home of the National Family Islands Regatta in late April.

 Here there are more cars than golf carts, but there are no stop lights anywhere on the fifty mile long island and the roads are crumbly and pot holed. Yet, at some times of the day, you actually need to be attentive to traffic which incidentally drives British style.  Downtown is centered around Lake Victoria, a naturally occurring lake with a small manmade outlet (more like a large culvert that can accommodate dinghies) into the harbor proper.  

The dinghy dock in Lake Victoria provided by Exuma Market - sometimes it is so crowded that dinghies are stacked three deep

 

Beautiful St. Andrew's Anglican Church on a hill overlooking Lake Victoria

 In town we can find groceries at Exuma Market 

Interior of Exuma Market - not a glitzy American grocery store but it stocks most of what we want

where a freighter comes at least once a week, hardware and boat supplies at Top 2 Bottom, two banks with ATM machines - the only ones in the Exumas, computer help and relatively inexpensive international phone calls at J & K productions, a Betelco office, an all-in-one barber/beauty shop/fish market, and various stalls for fruits, vegetables, straw work, peanuts, and conch along the road.   

The local straw market where you can find locally made straw goods, t-shirts printed in China, knickknack also from China, and fresh Exuma grown vegetables

There are several souvenir shops catering to the surrounding resorts, restaurants, bars, and liquor stores.  I do laundry at the Corner Laundromat on Lover’s Lane. 

The Corner Laundry on laundry day.  Lee, the proprietor is a typically delightful Bahamian

You can get diesel and gas to jerry jug back to the boat, and trash disposal is available at one of the gas stations for $2 per bag. Slightly out of town is a new high school and the continually “under construction” hospital that may finally open next year. (Even in “developed” George Town, health care is an issue. A fellow cruiser had to be airlifted to Nassau and eventually to Florida when she tore out ligaments in both knees.) Several times a week we make the over a mile long dinghy trip to town for necessities, and if the weather is calm we can even go in for the evening. On one such night we go in for a dinner at the in-town resort, Peace and Plenty, 

Street side view of the Peace and Plenty Resort. The backside overlooks Elizabeth Harbor and sports a lovely patio bar and swimming pool

and then head over to Eddie’s Edgewater for a night of Rake and Scrape music and dancing.  In an other worldly experience, we are entertained by Bahamian renditions of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “Brown Eyed Girl” while locals entice the cruisers out on the floor for some lively dancing.  One favorite of the crowd was an older man dressed in a tux trimmed with fake zebra hide and wearing some very flashing carnival beads – quite a show!

Eddie's Edgewater - home of Rake and Scrape and a much livelier place on Monday nights

But, most of our time is consumed with activities on nearby Stocking Island. Stocking Island, along with several smaller Cays, provides the northeastern barrier of Elizabeth Harbor.  Sheltered from the prevailing easterlies, harbors accommodating over 300 anchored boats this season extend along the shoreline. 

The Monument anchorage with close to 100 boats in the height of the season  - at night the anchor lights form an entirely new set of constellations

Everyone has their favorite niche; we like anchoring off volleyball beach as we have easy access to activities on the beach along with WIFI from the St. Frances Resort. 

View from our boat of the Volleyball Beach anchorage - Chat and Chill is in the center of the picture while the St. Francis Resort is behind in the distance

Others prefer the quieter anchorages off the Monument and Sand Dollar beach.  We spend our mornings doing chores onboard or exploring the windward beaches, with afternoons devoted to Burt’s obsession with volleyball and the basket making classes I give under the nearby casseria trees. Several days a week I exercise by walking in knee to waist deep water between the beaches along Elizabeth Harbor, discovering starfish and sand dollars along the way.  Some evenings are spent with friends at Happy Hours and onboard dinners while other times we just prefer to enjoy quieter sunsets alone on our own boat.   

One evening we are invited to our friends Van and Lauren's boat for a dinner of fresh mahi-mahi. They caught this fish in Exuma Sound - 59" long and many meals worth.  Before they are caught and die, a mahi-mahi is fluorescent green and blue, a spectacular fish in the wild.

Come sunset, the conch horns blow, including the one Burt made for Exuberant. It is a simple but enjoyable way to spend a month.

It’s Regatta Time for the cruisers, and our laid back existence takes on a fevered pace.  We limit our involvements to just a few activities.  Burt is invited to skipper the hot, 42 foot trimaran, Triad, for one of the races. It is an all day race through Elizabeth Harbor, out the pass into the ocean, and around the windward side of the island.  I am perched in our hammock chair to watch the start nearby, but soon the boats all disappear into the ocean.  

Triad just before the start - note the beautiful sail shape.

Meanwhile, a dolphin adopts our boat.  It swims in clockwise circles around our hull, taking three breathes at the bow where I am sitting and then diving deeper to go around our transom.  This goes on for two hours when it inexplicably changes direction and goes counter clockwise for another hour.  At that point another boat comes in and anchors nearby.  The crew immediately gets into the water to swim with the dolphin which they claim is talking to them.  After this interruption, the dolphin finally swims away leaving me wondering what in the world that was all about.   

The friendly dolphin that kept me company for three hours with its compulsive behaviors

Shortly thereafter the racing boats begin to enter the southern cut and Triad has a twenty minute lead on the next closest boat, despite their start in the last fleet, an hour after the first start.  Triad has creamed the opposition, and the boys celebrate their win at an after race party at St. Frances Resort.   

The victorious term from Triad

Volleyball also figures heavily into the week, and Burt’s Fun Volleyball (as opposed to regulation volleyball) team wins first place in the tournament, leaving with prizes of flags and rum.  

And the victorious volleyball team

Mid-week there is an Arts and Crafts Show and along with the painters and jewelry makers, I display some of my baskets, including two pine needles baskets.  I learned this new technique while in Marathon. 

Two of my pine needle baskets - the brown colored one is incomplete and awaiting more thread that is back in the States

There are numerous other parties and activities, but a soul can only handle so much.  We enjoy the closing night dance on the deck of Chat and Chill, dancing part of the time on the beach with swaying palms as the deck is just too crowded. 

With regatta over, we are enjoying quieter days, relishing the gin clear waters, powder soft sand, unpopulated windward beaches, and good byes with friends that are beginning to work their ways north and back to the States.   

Just a short walk across Stocking Island is the ocean.  We spent over two hours walking along this beach and never saw another person.

On an otherwise calm day, the ocean swells make interesting patterns when they interact with the coast line. Note the pink colored sand.

We are in no hurry as reports from the northlands indicate winter is still in full swing.  We will head further southeast to Long Island and then begin to recalculate our options.