George Town, Exumas - The Bahamas

The entrance to George Town is very well marked on the charts. Andrew followed the magenta line closely. We use Aqua Maps and Navionics for navigation and Andrew has noticed that at times they are quite different, so a beady eye is also necessary to make sure we don’t run aground or hit the coral reefs.

As we came into sight of the mooring fields, yes there seem to be a few, all we saw were lots and lots of masts.

We were relieved to find that the harbour was huge and although there were apparently more than 411 boats (last count), yes there is a person who keeps track how many boats there are in the harbour! – there was plenty of space to drop anchor.

We had barely got the anchor set when a chap stopped at our boat in his dinghy. His name is Reed and he also has a Montevideo which was anchored just in front of us. He is sailing south with his wife and two sons. He came aboard and had a look. He said his boat has a very different layout.

There are so many boats that at night it looks like a landscape of fairy lights with all the anchor lights on. Not the clearest pictures but you get the idea.

After a couple of days of sitting on the boat doing nothing but admin and cleaning, we went ashore to find the shop. The dinghy ride across was quite long and bumpy. You have to go through an archway to get to the dinghy dock. Initially we avoided the busy regular dock and tied up on the other side. We walked to the supermarket which was very well stocked. We bought a few things and then walked around to the other shop which seemed to be a bit more expensive than the first one. This is where most of the cruisers were shopping, maybe that's why.

Rubbish is a huge problem on the islands, so we try hard not to accumulate too much. We try to get rid of compostable type waste overboard when we are under way, but the rest has to go somewhere. It is frowned upon if you chuck vegetable peelings overboard in an anchorage. Apparently, according to some wise person on the Bahamas Facebook group, it washes up on shore and then rots!? 🤷 

We had a good chuckle at the waste disposal system at George Town. You put your rubbish in the back and pop your payment through the window. Nobody is monitoring this at all. This would never work in South Africa!

Cash on the seat

Busy dinghy dock

Main Street

Reed popped past our boat one morning and invited us over for a coffee. We had plans already so we arranged to go over later in the afternoon.

It was weird being on the same make of boat with a completely different layout. We have two lockers on the back of our boat above the main cabin which they don't have. These lockers, called Nick's lockers, were installed by Paul and Maureen, the previous owners. They have been a godsend, giving us so much more locker space for tools, spares parts and rope. 

The layout inside their boat is very different to ours. They have a cabin in the forepeak which connects to a cabin on the port side, where the kids sleep. On the starboard side is another cabin, separated from the port side by a bulkhead, where the parents sleep. Their chart table is in the same place as ours. Although the galley is in the same place it felt bigger than ours. I think my cupboards are deeper. They only have one head which is where our quarter berth is. Their saloon is aft, where our main cabin is. Their layout works very well for them with two young children on board.

See the pics below for a visual explanation.

After an hour or so of chatting about the plans for both families, we left them and popped across to Ben on Kintaro, who had just arrived.

We had arrived in the middle of the George Town Sailing Regatta. There was a lot happening such as around the island races, conch horn making, dinghy races and coconut collection to mention a few activities. We heard all about these activities, amongst other information given on the morning net, which went on for over an hour every morning. It was the longest net we have ever come across. For those landlubbers who don't know what a "net" is: every morning someone gets on the VHF and announces things like the weather, lost and found, people arriving and leaving, things to buy and sell. The net controller is usually another cruiser and we have listened to the net in most of the places we have been. It is a great place to get local information about a new island.

We went ashore to see what it was all about.

Pig roast

Chat 'n Chill

Queueing for beers

Coconut collecting race

We went for a hike with Yindie and Ben. I say hike but it was more like a scramble with a few hills. Of course we had our slip slops on. 

Ben and Yindie

We had read about the Art Trail and wondered what it was. People make artistic structures, for want of a better word, out of flotsam and hang them in the trees and bushes.

It got a bit rolly and it was quite funny listening to the complaints on the VHF about the bumpiness. It was NOTHING compared to Calabash Bay and we have had far worse in other anchorages. Even so, we hunkered down for a few days and waited for calmer weather.

We joined Yindie, Ben and Pedro at Chat 'n Chill to celebrate Yindie's birthday and say farewell. They were leaving Ben the following day and flying back to Australia.

Laura, Andrew, Pedro, Yindie and Ben

We caught the final activity in Regatta week which was a Decorate your Dinghy drive by. 

It's five o'clock somewhere

After a few days we decided to move closer to Monument Beach. Although there was quite a bit of space we ended up anchored close to the channel. Occasionally a big ship came past which was a tad nerve wracking, but we had left enough room.

I hope this video works. Please, let me know if it doesn't.

We went for a walk up to the monument and down the other side. It was beautiful and wild on that side. 

Kintaro

Andrew and I took the dinghy way across the bay to find the meat shop. It was quite a long dinghy ride into a beautiful bay and then we had to walk about a kilometer up the road. Although it is called Prime Meats, they sold all sorts of other things as well. The only thing they didn’t sell was eggs! We bought what we needed and went back to the boat. It was a very wet and bumpy ride, which is not my best thing. In fact it is one of the things I hate! I don’t mind getting wet, but I don't like it when you are bumping through the waves and it feels like your teeth are going to rattle out your head while your spine is bounced about. Not my idea of fun.

Finally on Wednesday, 6 March, we left George Town and headed to Lee Stocking Island. Andrew was very nervous as it was our first entrance into a cut and they can be shallow. One has to watch the tide and waves and the depth all at the same time.

In my next blog, read about our new found knowledge about anchoring in a cut when the tide is going in the opposite direction to the wind.