Some love it and some hate hit. But, nonetheless, we are headed there. On the way, we overnight at scenic, but shallow, Lee Stocking Island. From there south we need to head out into Exuma Sound, east of the island chain, as the banks are too shallow for us.
Our next stop is at the Emerald Bay Marina. This is a real treat for us. The marina offers very discounted rates if you are willing to take a dock with no shore power. That’s not a problem for us as we haven’t seen shore power for months. We find ourselves at the nicest marina we’ve ever seen with floating wide docks, free laundry and wifi, and a club house that reflects the amenities of the nearby Sandal’s resort. Our two night stay includes walking the beautiful beaches of Emerald Bay, biking on the golf cart paths of the exclusive and under utilized water front golf course, happy hour in the luxurious and air conditioned club house, and dinner at the Grande Isles Resort’s open air restaurant that overlooks beautifully landscaped grounds and an infinity pool, and where we witnessed a full moon rise over the bay from thickly cushioned chaises.
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| Relaxing by the pool at Grand Isle Resort |
Our psychic batteries have been recharged, and we are ready to head down to George Town and a less luxurious existence.
George Town is often the final destination of cruisers. Many make a bee line here and go no where else due to its protected harbor and access to amenities. Elizabeth Harbor stretches five miles long between the eastern shore of Great Exuma Island and the western shore of Stocking Island and is about one and a half miles wide. George Town is the main, but not the only, community within Elizabeth Harbor.
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| Overlooking the inner harbor (Lake Victoria) at George Town |
It offers an international airport and thus has considerably more tourist infrastructure than anywhere else in the Exumas. There are resorts of various sizes and along with numerous expatriate villas. The town itself is just a larger version of the settlements we have seen so far, albeit with enough cars that you actually pay attention to traffic. It is here that we finally find a bank with an ATM machine and a full fledged grocery store that stocks some American brands along with produce available on a daily basis. Freighters come into George Town almost every day and there is a twice weekly car ferry. We have definitely returned to civilization although it doesn’t quite meet first world standards.
We have anchored off the western shore of Stocking Island. Every morning sea turtles are grazing right off our boat. There are a series of named bays with sandy beaches along this shoreline and each has its own character, so that the anchored boats spread out several miles along the shoreline. If you hike over the island to the windward side you find the shoreline is one almost continuous sandy beach backed by high sand dunes.
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| Eastern shoreline of Stocking Island |
Off shore are some shallow reefs whose green colors contrast nicely with the turquoise of the sandy bottom areas and indigo of the deeper water. It’s another spectacular Bahamian beach shared with only a few other people.
The controversy surrounding George Town revolves around the cruising community. Currently, there are around 250 boats anchored here, although in the years prior to the recession that number would be closer to 500. At night the perimeter of the sky line is ablaze with constellations of anchor lights. The cruisers develop their own community, also known as daycare for adults, and with it come some elements that people find less than delightful. The VHF radio is constantly blaring and gets pretty annoying after a while. There is a pecking order, and sometimes it can result in some rude behavior. The first timer is on the defensive, trying to make friends without breaking the sometimes ambiguous protocols. But, our experience, so far, has been pleasant. We catch up with boats we met as early as our launching in Annapolis, so it’s fun to hear what others have experienced on their cruises. We make new friends from home ports around the world. There are circumnavigators and long timers that have been coming here for several decades. Most of the cruisers are quite friendly and encourage you to join in all the scheduled activities. And scheduled activities are in abundance. The morning VHF net announces activities which include yoga on the beach, bridge and other games, crafts and basketmaking, volleyball at several levels, and classes and workshops geared towards cruisers with subjects ranging from destinations such as Cuba to free diving, given by a woman who won the Olympic Silver Medal in this sport. All are centered on “Volleyball Beach” a beautiful sandy point of land on Stocking Island shaded by native pines and hosting a fun beach bar and casual restaurant, The Chat and Chill, which has a sign post out front showing distances to other cruiser havens.
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| Chat and Chill, where we enjoyed a Valentine's Day dinner dance under the stars |
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| The home built wooden schooner, Ask For, from Nova Scotia puts on a show for Volleyball Beach |
We are pleased to see that Put-in-Bay is among those listed.
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| Look carefully - only 1315 nm to Put-in-Bay |
Nearby is a conch salad stand where the left over tidbits are feed to some very tame rays that you can pet.
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| Sting rays feel like a combination of velvet and slime |
Burt enjoys the less competitive volleyball league, I am busy making baskets out of palm fronds, we take several days’ of weather seminars given by a well known forecaster out of Florida, attend a talk on boat electrical systems, and Burt meets with a Ham radio support group and takes (and passes) his Ham radio license exam. We take a bus trip to the annual Exuma Horticultural Fair which is a little underwhelming compared to stateside, but still the homegrown produce is impressive considering you rarely see anything resembling grow able soil around here. We attend beach church on Sundays. This is a non-denominational service, replete with small choir and an electric keyboard instead of an organ, held in the shade on the beach and led by volunteers as this year there is no pastor in residence. And finally, we endure some Bahamian immigration bureaucracy to get our visitor status extended another 90 days.
The high point of the George Town cruising season is the annual Cruisers’ Regatta, and it begins while we are here. Plans have been underway since the conclusion of last year’s regatta by a core group of perennial George Town cruisers. There is a theme of cowboy boots and bathing suits, but we never got that memo so the boots and hats were not a part of our provisioned supplies. There are sailboat races, small boat racing, volleyball tournaments, a softball tournament against a Bahamian team, a number of sillier events, and an opening night variety show, dinner, and dance.
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| The cruising kids put on a skit about the night sky at the variety show |
Sadly, the annual Family Island Regatta, a national level competition for the Bahamian sloops, is a month later when we will be heading northward, and thus these activities focus almost exclusively on the non-native cruisers. We are a part of the opening dinghy parade on a day that happens to be blowing 25 knots. With our Ohio and “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flags securely fastened to an extended boat hook, we join the other dinghies to proudly represent our home state only to be drenched by marauding cowboys with super soaker guns – all in fun, though.
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| Conclusion of the dinghy parade |
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| The Coconut Harvest, something that qualified as "silly" |
A few days later Burt participates in the fun volleyball (as opposed to regulation volleyball which get too serious) tournament and his team comes in a respectable third wining us a regatta flag and gift certificate to the local supermarket.
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| The proud third place volleyball team and their regatta flags |
We enjoy watching the in-harbor sailboat race with about 40 boats participating and featuring a downwind leg that went right through our anchorage. The winner of the monohull fleet is Nocturne, a boat originally hailing from the Vermillion (Ohio) Boat Club.
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| Nothing like finding your home in the middle of a race course! |
Our plan is to leave shortly and head a bit further south to Long Island, our first destination outside the Exumas. But, the weather gods have other ideas. The daily weather broadcast states that the next week to ten days will probably be the most significant weather event of the winter season. We are to expect gale force winds for a number of days, very high waves on the open water, and a very small chance of tropical development. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we will be staying where we are in this safe and protected anchorage. Our energies go into last minute preparations such as grocery shopping and disposing of trash. Some people call George Town “Chicken Harbor”; I call it intelligent planning of one’s itinerary.
