|
|
Sunday, March 12th - George Town, Bahamas
One might refer to George Town as the cruising mecca of
the Bahamas. The "harbor" is a 9-by-1 mile wide
strip of water between the mainland of Great Exuma
Island and two east-lying barrier islands, Stocking
Island and Elizabeth Island. It is the
southernmost harbor in the traditional cruising grounds
of the Bahamas. Any further south than this gets
very primitive and requires ocean passages. Many
cruising boats in the Bahamas originate in Florida and
don't make it any further than George Town. Some
people stay here for years. Others make it their
southern most port of call before returning north.
Some intend to go further but turn around and come back
to George Town after attempting the more challenging
passages to the south. Virtually all the boats in
transit to or from the Caribbean stop in George Town, as
it is the first or last place for fuel, decent
provisioning and good protected anchoring before the
Turks and Caicos or the Abacos.
The Exuma island chain in the southern Bahamas is a
series of small islands or "cays" that extend for 95
miles from northwest to southeast. They offer
fabulous cruising along both their eastern coasts along
the open ocean and their western coasts which face the
protected, shallow waters of the Exuma Bank. There
are many cuts in the reefs that run along the east coast
of these islands that allow you to cross from one side
to the other with relative ease. Wind and big seas
make these cuts more intimidating to navigate, and
regardless of the weather, you want to pass through them
in good light. There are many attractions all up
and down the chain including caves, snorkeling,
beautiful unspoiled beaches, bubbly pools, aquariums,
fishing and everywhere crystal clear blue water.
The Abacos is a similar chain of islands that run
northwest to southeast in the Northern Bahamas.
The Exumas are much less populated than the Abacos and
George Town is by far the biggest port in terms of both
protected anchorages and available goods and services.
A
unique community has developed in George Town as a
result of all these factors. The harbor is teeming
with some 400 boats, although there is room for plenty
more. The most popular anchorage is off of
"Volleyball Beach" where many cruisers' activities are
held. The land is actually private, but all the
activities are sanctioned by the owner who also operates
the "Chat-N-Chill" bar/restaurant on the beach.
Arlene is the presiding bartender and she is a
real.......character. Enormous and mean, patrons
.jpg)
are forced to wait, for at least ten minutes, until she
graces you with a gruff, "What?" before they order
their food and beverages. If you are lucky, the
order gets transferred to the grill man. If not,
you just have to hope that Arlene notices that you have
been sitting there for an hour while others who ordered
after you have long since eaten and gone. We did
not dare question her when this happened to us.
This was a long-term relationship we were establishing
which would be even more agonizing if we were to somehow
get on Arlene's bad side. As far as I could tell,
every side of Arlene (and they are all ample) is bad, so
I didn't dare dig any deeper. The fare is simple;
burgers in tin foil and a do-it-yourself fixings bar,
roast chicken and french fries served on Styrofoam
plates. On Sundays they do a pig roast for $20 a
head. We decided we would eat better on the boat
and skipped that scene most days and nights. At
any rate, the owner, KB, who is reputedly married to
Arlene (why else would she have kept her job?) seems to
have worked out a very profitable arrangement with the
ever-present cruising community. He allows
everyone to use his beach provided no food or beverages
are brought from their boats. Everything must be
purchased from the Chat-N-Chill. There are four
permanent volleyball courts set up and frequently in use
by all age groups. Sam and Kari told us about a
pick-up game they played with an 80 year-old cruising
woman!
Luckily, Volleyball Beach is only one of your hang out
options. It is a great spot to anchor, especially
with two older kids on the boat. They were able to
run in and hang out by themselves while the rest of the
crowd trekked over the island to the ocean side beach.
As Bruce and Alison said in their
update, the beach is virtually empty. Much of
the shoreline is peppered with reef, but there is one
spot a quarter of a mile west of the path that offers a
wonderful little swimming area where we all boogie
boarded, surfed and swam while enjoying the solitude and
spectacular colors all to ourselves.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
We
spent most of the time while the Cunards where here
anchored at Volleyball Beach. We listened to the
morning "Cruisers' Net" on VHF channel 72 just to get an
idea of what was going on that day. Each morning
at 8:10am there are a series of organized announcements
broadcast over the radio. Cruisers volunteer to
spearhead "the Net" for a week at a time. They
standby on channel 72 for ten minutes while people call
in and ask to be put on the announcement list for their
desired category: "Regatta Week," "Business," "Boaters'
General," or "Taxi Share." We happened to arrive
just before the start of Regatta Week and the Net was
hopping. They had Build-A-Boat contests, Sail
Around the Island Races, Harbor Races, Small Boat Races,
Children's Day, and of course, Volleyball Day, to name
just a few of the organized events put on during the
week. The morning weather report on the Net was
followed by announcements about the day's activities and
requests for volunteers and supplies to facilitate them.
Business announcements give the local merchants an
opportunity to plug their goods and services to the
large community of boaters. By far the most useful
and amusing category of announcements was "Boaters'
General." John Martin on Jaimie used it to find a
home for a slew of children's art supplies and toys he
was unloading from his about-to-be-sold boat. The
local school wound up benefiting tremendously from a
four and a half year build up of goodies they had
stocked for Skylar and Jaimie. We heard one
guy looking for an anchor that met certain
specifications and just happened to have the perfect one
for him. There were announcements for lost
sunglasses and beach chairs, or a pair of shoes that had
been found. Our favorite was the lady who's cat
had suddenly developed an allergy to the Purina Cat Chow
that she had stocked for her furry friend. She was
interested in finding a suitable alternative and
requested that cruisers with cat food put a small sample
in a plastic bag with the brand name written on the
outside as well as their boat name. She went into
a long and involved explanation of her planned
methodology for dealing with this enormous challenge and
enlisted the support of her fellow cruisers in restoring
her cat's serenity. I'm not sure how it all turned
out, but she sure did help us start out the day with a
chuckle, if not a gut splitting outright laugh.
"Exuma
Markets" is the grocery store in town and an important
center of activity for everyone. They maintain the
dinghy dock where everyone ties up on their way into
town. They also maintain the dump-
.jpg)
sters (you can see them off to the left, red) where the
cruisers all deposit their trash. They also
provide free water to fill up your jugs on the dock for
those who don't have a watermaker onboard. Every
Tuesday the produce barge comes and the shelves are
stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables. If you
ever try to go shopping on a Monday, you quickly learn
to plan your provisioning around the Tuesday delivery.
Even the "Peace-N-Plenty" restaurant we went to for
lunch before the Cunards left for the airport last
Tuesday was out of half of their dishes pending the
arrival of the new supplies. They have a mail drop
spot in the grocery store where people deposit their
mail for any US-bound travelers to take with them and
drop in a mailbox Stateside. The aisles of the
grocery store are perpetually jammed with boxes of goods
to be unpacked. I did once see a crew of three or
so workers stocking the shelves with no noticeable
difference to the general clutter in the store.
Luckily, no one is in a hurry so you just wait until you
can squeeze your cart through the maze of boxes and
other shoppers to the next spot you want to stop,
blocking the way for others in the process.
I
couldn't help compare my experience there, as the
checkout lady first went off to the store's main office
to find the price for the two avocados I bought and then
to run my credit card, to a lunchtime run to Sam's Club
in Annapolis. The couple behind us took the
opportunity to chat and exchange stories of their
daughter in Switzerland and the wireless access they
have found in the harbor, without a bit of annoyance.
Still being relatively new at this, I couldn't help but
apologize for causing a delay. I can just picture
the eyes rolling and sighs of frustration if this were
to happen back home while people are hurriedly picking
up a few items on their lunch break or on the way home
to get the kids from school. I can remember the
feeling in my gut as I felt that same frustration
standing in the "wrong" line AGAIN at the grocery store.
There is something good to be said for being in a crowd
of people who have the luxury of time to go with the
thirst for happiness. It is much easier to quench
the thirst when you don't have any daily deadlines
looming over you.
Enough of George Town, for now. We are awaiting
our friends on LEGARIS, a
lovely German couple with a
seven year-old girl onboard, who should get here
this afternoon. We'll hang for a few days while
they recover from their trip from the Turks and Caicos
and then travel with them for a while exploring the
Exumas.
We
hear that our friends back home in Annapolis are
enjoying near-tropical temperatures. I guess
spring is just around the corner. Enjoy!
All our best to all of you,
Christy, Joe, Cassie and Juliana
Next entry
>>>>>>>
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.
|
|
|
|
