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Tuesday, February 28th - George Town, Bahamas
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I
posted
a new photo page today from the Peace N Plenty
Hotel in Georgetown. We arrived here on Saturday
afternoon, sailing straight for about 24 hours from Mayaguana.
Our attempt to check into the Bahamas in Mayaguana was
unsuccessful. The office was full of people
standing in line for all sorts of business like paying
phone bills and getting copies of marriage licenses, on
top of which they told us that we would have to get in
touch with the local police to come out and inspect our
vessels. We decided to skip that hassle. We
navigated our way through the two mile bank known as
Abraham's Bay. We had entered through the eastern
cut the previous evening and exited via the western most
exit. We stopped for lunch and a swim along the
eastern coast of the island and then headed off for Rum
Cay.
Our sail started out in very mellow conditions, actually
it was a motor for the first few hours in nearly flat
seas. It reminded me very much of our first three
days on the Caribbean 1500 rally. The feeling of
serenity being on such a calm ocean is in stark contrast
to the violence and apprehension that can accompany a
rougher passage. The conditions were perfect for
cooking up my fish stew, which actually turned out to be
more of a soup or chowder than a hearty stew. At
any rate, the kids and Joe all polished it off so I'm
happy to add it to my repertoire. We have loads of
Wahoo left in the freezer so it is good to know I can
cook it without facing too much resistance.
The wind did fill in nicely and we cruised through the
night on a very enjoyable passage. We were due to
hit Rum Cay at about 5am in the dark of the night.
The forecast was for a cold front to pass through the
area Sunday night. We wanted to stop in Rum Cay
but it was not an official port of entry so technically,
it would be illegal for us to go ashore there. The
plan had been to stay in the marina so that was a little
questionable. We thought we might continue on to
Conception Island, another 20 miles away. As we
explored that idea, we realized that the anchorages
there were totally unsuitable for any kind of unsettled
conditions. We didn't want to get stuck in a nasty
blow with nowhere to go so we made a 3am decision to
just push on to our final destination, Georgetown.
The stress of the upcoming cold front, having to anchor
in Rum Cay in the dark, worry about checking in, and
making our date to meet the Cunards on the second pushed
us to just get where we needed to be. About an
hour after it was decided, the wind and seas started to
build, reinforcing the wisdom of our choice.
By
the time we hit the cut in the reef into Elizabeth
Harbor and Georgetown, it was blowing 25 knots and the
seas were 8 feet. Our guide books warned that the
Conch Cay channel can be impassable in those conditions.
We talked it over with Johnny, who has made the trip
numerous times, and decided to call a pilot boat to lead
us in. It was a bit extravagant, at $250, but we
decided that the extra insurance was well worth it.
Jaimie agreed. As we followed the Harbor Pilot
through the cut in the reef, we watched another
catamaran sail straight through. Wow! That
was humbling.
The cold front that was threatening did blow through on
Sunday night. We made our way at high tide to a
nice protected anchorage behind a little island.
We have been rafted up beside Jaimie, as they clean out
their boat in preparation for selling her. Our
waterline is slowly falling as theirs rises. They
have been most generous in offering up all sorts of
goodies from kid books to a fabulous library of movies
on DVD, music, and more boat parts and hardware than you
can imagine. We are dreading the day we have to
say goodbye to them. They have been wonderful
companions and we will miss them terribly.
Before we have to face that, however, we will enjoy
introducing them to Bruce and Alison and watching the
kids all romp around the beach. In only two days
the Cunards arrive and the kids are already loosing
sleep in their excitement.
I'll try to get them to write an update while they are
here so you can see what they have to say. I got a
great response from Aunt Kim's update so I thought we'd
try it again.
Love,
Christy, Joe, Cassie, and Juliana
Next entry
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Many thanks to our
friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up
the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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