Hello from Georgetown, Great Exuma. We have reached the far south of the Exuma chain and we are here in Georgetown to stock up and pick up our friends Al and Alta, who will be cruising with us for 10 or 11 days.
We have spent the past week or so in relatively populated areas, so we are stocked up with fresh food again and ready to head back up the Exumas while our visitors are on board. We ended up staying in Big Majors Spot for three days. While we were there we snorkeled at Thunderball, the caves made famous (apparently) by the James Bond movie of the same name. The snorkeling there was very good although there is a short window when you can go at slack low tide.
At Big Majors we finally met up with our friends Mario and Francine on Leeloo, who we last saw in Miami. We caught up with them over happy hour and one morning Dave, Guillaume and Mario went fishing, so it was really nice to see them again.
Although we were anchored just off Big Majors Spot, all of the services are located at nearby Staniel Cay. I was on a quest to look for a birthday card for my Aunt, who is turning 90 this month, and I figured I would buy the stamp ahead of time so that I could just mail the card when I found it. The charts showed where the post office was, so I set off up the road to find it. After going further than I thought I should have and not seeing it, I asked someone and he pointed out a lady sitting on her back deck, so I went and talked to her. From what I understood of the conversation she didn't have any stamps to sell me, but if I had the card to mail I could give it to her and pay for the stamp and she would mail it. Since I didn't have the card that wasn't going to work, so I said thanks and went on my way. Later on, at the grocery store, I was able to buy the stamps for the card - who would guess that the grocery store would have stamps but the post office wouldn't?
We ending up eating out a total of three times over the past week - which seemed ridiculously indulgent, but that is how it works out sometimes. At the Staniel Cay yacht club Dave and I each had blackened mahi sandwich with salad and fries on the side (we split the sides). The second time there we split chicken wings and fries and although the wings were huge they were a bit too greasy for me. Our third dining out experience was at Black Point at Scorpio, where we went for happy hour and stayed to eat. We split coconut shrimp, grouper fingers and loaded fries with Gwen and Guillaume from Slow Waltz and everything was delicious - especially the grouper fingers. Just over a month in the Bahamas and I am already completely obsessed with food!
Ironically here in the Bahamas we don't eat very much fish. At home we eat fish once or twice a week, but it is expensive and hard to find here and we aren't very good fishermen, so we haven't caught any of our own. As a result I have been trying to get fish as much as possible when we eat out, but sometimes that can be quite a challenge.
As well as eating at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club we got to see nurse sharks and rays up close, as they swim up near where the fish cleaning table is and you can walk into the water to have a look at them if you want to. Rob, a fellow cruiser with a GoPro video camera got some really good footage of them when he stuck his camera in the water and got some close ups.
Here in the Exumas, the people rely on the mailboats (which come 3 or 4 times a month) for fresh food as well as anything else they want shipped in. For the cruisers it is important to find out what day the mailboat is coming and get to the grocery store as soon as possible to get some fresh food before it is all gone. The mail boat was supposed to come to Staniel Cay on Thursday, but they had a problem with the crane, and it didn't show up, so we decided to wait and see if it came in on Friday.
Friday morning we heard the grocery store announcing on the VHF radio that they had fresh food, so we dinghied in and stocked up on all kinds of great things, like lettuce, and celery and peppers and pineapple, but they didn't have any carrots. By 11 a.m. we had everything stowed and we were on our way down to Black Point. As we motored the 8 miles down, the mail boat passed us, on its way from Staniel to Black Point, so we could have waited until we got to Black Point to stock up after all. In fact we did end up buying carrots and tomatoes there.
At home in Canada and in the US, Channel 16 is the frequency used on the VHF radio for 'hailing and distress only'. This means if you want to call another boat, you call them on channel 16 and then pick a channel to switch to as your 'working' channel. In the Exumas, channel 16 on the VHF radio is used by local businesses as a way of letting cruisers know what is going on - it's their way of advertising their services to all the boats in the area. Last week in addition to all the 'regular' announcements from restuarants, stores, marinas etc. because superbowl Sunday was approaching we heard the local restaurants and bars plugging their businesses for the big game.
Black Point is the second biggest community in the Exumas after Georgetown and it is very cruiser friendly. Their busy season is from December to April and they certainly know what cruisers want and need. At the laundromat (the best in the Carribean according to their sign) Ida has a spic and span laundry, cuts hair, sells doughnuts and carrot cake, has internet and sells showers. She even has a dock out front so you don't have to lug your laundry too far. We took advantage of the laundry as it was well over 2 weeks since we did ours.
At Lorraine's cafe you can get internet (which was good enough for me to upload my boat view photos at least) and a meal and her mom bakes bread. We went to get some bread from Lorraine's mom and she invited us into her home and kitchen to get it, so we had an interesting conversation with her and found out that they place their grocery orders directly with companies in Nassau and get them shipped on the mailboat when it comes.
In Black Point they also have drinking water available for free (as opposed to 40 cents per gallon at Staniel) so we got just enough to get us to Georgetown, where it is also free, but plentiful. While we were there we helped one of the locals move his wooden racing sailboat from the main wharf with our dinghy. Smashie (the boat and the skipper's name) will be racing this weekend at the 5F festival at Farmer's Cay.
We spent two nights in Black Point before we moved on down to Rudder Cut Cay, preparing to come to Georgetown. We had a nice sail to Cave Cay and then slowly picked our way past Musha Cay where there are some shallow spots and anchored behind Rudder Cut Cay. We didn't even take the dinghy off the davits that day - we just hung out on the boat, had supper and then went to bed early ready for the passage to Georgetown.
On Monday we headed out into the Exuma Sound for Georgetown. Unfortunately we couldn't sail because the wind was almost on our nose, but we put up a double reefed main and motor sailed down. We arrived and anchored near Monument Beach and got into shore for a short walk before the sunset and bugs came out. We spent two nights anchored there and went into town a couple of times for stocking up on water, groceries, dinghy gas and dumped our trash, as well as to find out why we couldn't get data on our cellphone. It turned out that our 2 Meg of data which we thought we had 'until we used it up' actually ran out after a month whether we used it or not. This was not explained to us in Bimini when we bought it. But now we know, and we are topped up for another month, so we can communicate via the internet when we have cell coverage.
Going to town in Georgetown is quite an experience. Because the prevailing winds are southeast and east, most boats tend to anchor on the east side of the harbour, near Stocking Island. The town is on the west side of the harbour, so in order to get there you have to motor across the harbour, often into some quite choppy waves. To get to the dinghy dock you pass through a very narrow channel under a bridge into a small 'lake'. Once inside the lake conditions are calm, but getting out into the harbour from the lake can be REALLY wet. We tend to expect to get wet on the trip and wear our bathing suits and carry clothes in a dry bag to put over our bathing suits.
Georgetown is located on Elizabeth Harbour, which is a very big harbour, and far enough south that most of the winter 'fronts' that come through have petered out before they get here, so there are a lot of boats and a huge cruising community here. It is very organized, with a morning 'net' on the VHF where they tell people what events are going on and use it as a forum for people to ask questions, get help etc. Actually, I am always in awe of how much cruisers help other cruisers. In the past week Dave helped out in another dinghy rescue one night in Big Majors Spot, went diving to pick up a snorkel a woman had dropped near Thunderball, and helped a woman get her dinghy engine started here in Elizabeth Harbour.
There are a number of different anchorages in the harbour, depending on what you are looking for. For the first few nights we were anchored off Monument beach, which is the northernmost anchorage, because it is well protected and there is access to a short trail over to the east side. We are now anchored off Volleyball Beach, a bit further south, after moving late yesterday afternoon when we were told being told by the Harbour Master that we were anchored too close to the channel. Al and Alta should be arriving this afternoon just after 2 p.m. so the next couple of weeks will be lots of fun with them aboard. I probably won't post another blog until after they leave on 17 February.
We have spent the past week or so in relatively populated areas, so we are stocked up with fresh food again and ready to head back up the Exumas while our visitors are on board. We ended up staying in Big Majors Spot for three days. While we were there we snorkeled at Thunderball, the caves made famous (apparently) by the James Bond movie of the same name. The snorkeling there was very good although there is a short window when you can go at slack low tide.
At Big Majors we finally met up with our friends Mario and Francine on Leeloo, who we last saw in Miami. We caught up with them over happy hour and one morning Dave, Guillaume and Mario went fishing, so it was really nice to see them again.
Although we were anchored just off Big Majors Spot, all of the services are located at nearby Staniel Cay. I was on a quest to look for a birthday card for my Aunt, who is turning 90 this month, and I figured I would buy the stamp ahead of time so that I could just mail the card when I found it. The charts showed where the post office was, so I set off up the road to find it. After going further than I thought I should have and not seeing it, I asked someone and he pointed out a lady sitting on her back deck, so I went and talked to her. From what I understood of the conversation she didn't have any stamps to sell me, but if I had the card to mail I could give it to her and pay for the stamp and she would mail it. Since I didn't have the card that wasn't going to work, so I said thanks and went on my way. Later on, at the grocery store, I was able to buy the stamps for the card - who would guess that the grocery store would have stamps but the post office wouldn't?
We ending up eating out a total of three times over the past week - which seemed ridiculously indulgent, but that is how it works out sometimes. At the Staniel Cay yacht club Dave and I each had blackened mahi sandwich with salad and fries on the side (we split the sides). The second time there we split chicken wings and fries and although the wings were huge they were a bit too greasy for me. Our third dining out experience was at Black Point at Scorpio, where we went for happy hour and stayed to eat. We split coconut shrimp, grouper fingers and loaded fries with Gwen and Guillaume from Slow Waltz and everything was delicious - especially the grouper fingers. Just over a month in the Bahamas and I am already completely obsessed with food!
Ironically here in the Bahamas we don't eat very much fish. At home we eat fish once or twice a week, but it is expensive and hard to find here and we aren't very good fishermen, so we haven't caught any of our own. As a result I have been trying to get fish as much as possible when we eat out, but sometimes that can be quite a challenge.
As well as eating at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club we got to see nurse sharks and rays up close, as they swim up near where the fish cleaning table is and you can walk into the water to have a look at them if you want to. Rob, a fellow cruiser with a GoPro video camera got some really good footage of them when he stuck his camera in the water and got some close ups.
Here in the Exumas, the people rely on the mailboats (which come 3 or 4 times a month) for fresh food as well as anything else they want shipped in. For the cruisers it is important to find out what day the mailboat is coming and get to the grocery store as soon as possible to get some fresh food before it is all gone. The mail boat was supposed to come to Staniel Cay on Thursday, but they had a problem with the crane, and it didn't show up, so we decided to wait and see if it came in on Friday.
Friday morning we heard the grocery store announcing on the VHF radio that they had fresh food, so we dinghied in and stocked up on all kinds of great things, like lettuce, and celery and peppers and pineapple, but they didn't have any carrots. By 11 a.m. we had everything stowed and we were on our way down to Black Point. As we motored the 8 miles down, the mail boat passed us, on its way from Staniel to Black Point, so we could have waited until we got to Black Point to stock up after all. In fact we did end up buying carrots and tomatoes there.
At home in Canada and in the US, Channel 16 is the frequency used on the VHF radio for 'hailing and distress only'. This means if you want to call another boat, you call them on channel 16 and then pick a channel to switch to as your 'working' channel. In the Exumas, channel 16 on the VHF radio is used by local businesses as a way of letting cruisers know what is going on - it's their way of advertising their services to all the boats in the area. Last week in addition to all the 'regular' announcements from restuarants, stores, marinas etc. because superbowl Sunday was approaching we heard the local restaurants and bars plugging their businesses for the big game.
Black Point is the second biggest community in the Exumas after Georgetown and it is very cruiser friendly. Their busy season is from December to April and they certainly know what cruisers want and need. At the laundromat (the best in the Carribean according to their sign) Ida has a spic and span laundry, cuts hair, sells doughnuts and carrot cake, has internet and sells showers. She even has a dock out front so you don't have to lug your laundry too far. We took advantage of the laundry as it was well over 2 weeks since we did ours.
At Lorraine's cafe you can get internet (which was good enough for me to upload my boat view photos at least) and a meal and her mom bakes bread. We went to get some bread from Lorraine's mom and she invited us into her home and kitchen to get it, so we had an interesting conversation with her and found out that they place their grocery orders directly with companies in Nassau and get them shipped on the mailboat when it comes.
In Black Point they also have drinking water available for free (as opposed to 40 cents per gallon at Staniel) so we got just enough to get us to Georgetown, where it is also free, but plentiful. While we were there we helped one of the locals move his wooden racing sailboat from the main wharf with our dinghy. Smashie (the boat and the skipper's name) will be racing this weekend at the 5F festival at Farmer's Cay.
We spent two nights in Black Point before we moved on down to Rudder Cut Cay, preparing to come to Georgetown. We had a nice sail to Cave Cay and then slowly picked our way past Musha Cay where there are some shallow spots and anchored behind Rudder Cut Cay. We didn't even take the dinghy off the davits that day - we just hung out on the boat, had supper and then went to bed early ready for the passage to Georgetown.
On Monday we headed out into the Exuma Sound for Georgetown. Unfortunately we couldn't sail because the wind was almost on our nose, but we put up a double reefed main and motor sailed down. We arrived and anchored near Monument Beach and got into shore for a short walk before the sunset and bugs came out. We spent two nights anchored there and went into town a couple of times for stocking up on water, groceries, dinghy gas and dumped our trash, as well as to find out why we couldn't get data on our cellphone. It turned out that our 2 Meg of data which we thought we had 'until we used it up' actually ran out after a month whether we used it or not. This was not explained to us in Bimini when we bought it. But now we know, and we are topped up for another month, so we can communicate via the internet when we have cell coverage.
Going to town in Georgetown is quite an experience. Because the prevailing winds are southeast and east, most boats tend to anchor on the east side of the harbour, near Stocking Island. The town is on the west side of the harbour, so in order to get there you have to motor across the harbour, often into some quite choppy waves. To get to the dinghy dock you pass through a very narrow channel under a bridge into a small 'lake'. Once inside the lake conditions are calm, but getting out into the harbour from the lake can be REALLY wet. We tend to expect to get wet on the trip and wear our bathing suits and carry clothes in a dry bag to put over our bathing suits.
Georgetown is located on Elizabeth Harbour, which is a very big harbour, and far enough south that most of the winter 'fronts' that come through have petered out before they get here, so there are a lot of boats and a huge cruising community here. It is very organized, with a morning 'net' on the VHF where they tell people what events are going on and use it as a forum for people to ask questions, get help etc. Actually, I am always in awe of how much cruisers help other cruisers. In the past week Dave helped out in another dinghy rescue one night in Big Majors Spot, went diving to pick up a snorkel a woman had dropped near Thunderball, and helped a woman get her dinghy engine started here in Elizabeth Harbour.
There are a number of different anchorages in the harbour, depending on what you are looking for. For the first few nights we were anchored off Monument beach, which is the northernmost anchorage, because it is well protected and there is access to a short trail over to the east side. We are now anchored off Volleyball Beach, a bit further south, after moving late yesterday afternoon when we were told being told by the Harbour Master that we were anchored too close to the channel. Al and Alta should be arriving this afternoon just after 2 p.m. so the next couple of weeks will be lots of fun with them aboard. I probably won't post another blog until after they leave on 17 February.