George Town Bound

1/11 - We departed Staniel Cay at 9:45 this morning a little lighter in the pockets. Filling up with fuel (diesel for the Monk, gas for the dinghy outboard), water and 2 nights dockage definitely took a big chunk out of the cruising kitty. 99.276 gallons of diesel at $4.52/gal; 4.899 gallons of gas at $4.99; 73 gallons of water at $.40/gal; and 2 nights dockage at $72/night for an overall bill of $646.36 – Ouch !! However, we hadn’t filled with fuel since Miami and hadn’t taken on water since Nassau so, overall, not bad.

We had an uneventful, but pleasant short run to Cave Cay. We decided to break up the run to George Town into 2 days, allowing us plenty of time for relaxing. We arrived at the anchorage around 1:00, but decided to stick our nose out through the cut into the ocean to see what it was like. We will be going that way tomorrow. It was pretty choppy through the cut, but seemed to settle down once we were in the Sound. We chatted with another trawler on the VHF that was headed south. He said he was catching lots of tuna – hopefully tomorrow that will be us!! We finally got the anchor down and settled in around 1:30. We spent a nice quiet evening in the anchorage with only us, Second Star and one sailboat.

1/12 – We raised anchor this morning a little after 8:00 and were on our way. The cut this morning was very different from our exploratory trip out yesterday afternoon. It was perfectly flat. The run down to George Town was pretty easy – a little bit of an ocean swell, but very comfortable. Gerry put the lines in the water but, unfortunately, no luck catching any fish. However, our buddy boat was more fortunate getting three hits and landing one.

We passed through Conch Cay Cut around 2:00 and entered Elizabeth Harbor. This harbor is a nine by one nautical mile wide strip of water between Great Exuma Island and two eastern barrier islands, Stocking Island to the north and Elizabeth Island to the south. You can usually find shelter from the wind, on one side or the other, no matter what the direction of the wind. If may require moving from one anchorage to another as the wind direction changes. The anchorages along Stocking Island have names that make them easy to remember: Hamburger Beach, Volleyball Beach, Monument Beach, Sand Dollar Beach, etc. They all seemed pretty crowded to us, but not nearly as full as they become in February/March. At that point we’re told there can be upwards of 500+ boats during the yearly regattas that are held in George Town. Right now the estimate is only 150 so we can only imagine how crowded it becomes later in the season. Many cruisers head straight for George Town, drop the hook and don’t leave for months. They’ve developed a real community here which includes social events, recreational programs and an assistance program with boaters helping each other with problems/needs. They have a cruiser’s net every morning at 8:10 when local weather and ongoing events are announced.

We cruised the area from Hamburger Beach towards Sand Dollar Beach looking for a place that seemed “less” crowded, but yet would give us protection from the forecast winds. We finally decided on Black Rock which is sort of between Volleyball Beach and Sand Dollar Beach. Once settled in we took the dinghy down, picked up Michael and Jana and went exploring the local area. By the time we returned to the boats, the wind had started to build, so we hunkered down for the night.

1/13 -1/15 – The next day (Thursday) the winds were howling so we spent most of the time on the boat. We figured we could get our extension from Immigration on Monday. The dinghy ride across to George Town looked too foreboding. We did venture over to the St. Francis Yacht Club to purchase an internet card, but decided against any other exploring today. On Friday the winds were even stronger and we spent the entire day on the boat doing chores, reading and napping. On Saturday, the winds seemed to have decreased a wee bit so we met up with Michael and Jana and made the trip across the harbor to George Town. We explored the town, had lunch and bought an internet card from a different provider, Harbor WiFi (unlimited access - $15/wk). Before heading back in the dinghy we did some provisioning at the local Exuma Market. While not as big as the market in Nassau, it did have most everything you wanted, including produce, meats and bread. What more could you ask for. Our trip back across to the harbor proved to be extremely rough and wet. We unloaded groceries, washed off the salt and settled down for the night. We tried to watch the Ravens/Steelers game, but our TV reception for that station proved to be nonexistent so we had to be satisfied with monitoring it by internet. (Note: We did not necessarily like the outcome of the game)

Arriving at Cave Cay -- The opening led to a very protected
marina and harbor, but it was more or less privately owned and
you weren't allowed to anchor in the harbor -- we stayed on the
outside where it was also nice and protected

This was the cut out Cave Cay - although it doesn't show
up too good, there were big waves going through the cut.

Another shot of Cave Cay Cut

The sailboat in the anchorage just before sunset

We had a very colorful sunset

It was a beautiful morning as we headed out the
cut on our way to George Town

Arriving at Conch Cay Cut -- the pink houses on the
hill were used as Aids to Navigation to help you
safely clear the cut into Elizabeth Harbor

Passing by the boats anchoraged at Monument Beach

A shot of the area where we were anchored. As you can
tell by the color of the sky, the weather was starting to deteriorate

One of the boats anchored in Kidd's Cove. This
is right off the entrance to Lake Victoria

The entrance to Lake Victoria -- it's very small -- 10 feet
horizontal clearance and 8 feet vertical clearance

A shot looking out from St. Francis Yacht Club

We spent Saturday exploring the town -- this is Exuma Market

One of the local restaurants

Regatta Park area

Nice artwork on one of the local shops

The Peace and Plenty -- where we had a nice lunch
with a great view of the harbor

One of the local churches

A shot of Monument Beach taken from town

While it doesn't look like much, this is where we
bought our internet card. It was primarily a
pet store (with chickens, goats and dogs), plus a car wash