33. Georgetown

The next we had a brisk sail on the Exuma Sound to Conch Cay Cut where we entered Elizabeth harbour and made our way to George Town. The sailing community is spread on both sides of the harbour with some 200 to 300 boats.

On the town side is Kidd Cove. George Town is spread around a small lake, Lake Victoria and you enter the lake through a narrow passage cut out of the rock.

There is a large dingy dock where you can get R/O water (reverse/osmosis) for free. About a 1 ¼ across the harbour are the anchorages of Volleyball Beach, Hamburger Beach and Sand Dollar Beach where most boaters anchor. Our friend, Gerald, from Katie had been in George Town for several weeks and he came out to meet us and guide us to an anchorage right in Volleyball Beach which is close to where all the “action” is. Unfortunately every time we went across the harbour we got soaked and ended up wearing clothes that dried quickly.

Below Gerald and I are in front of the dinghy dock on Lake Victoria in George Town.

George Town is an organized boating community with a boaters’ net broadcast every morning at 8:00 over the VHF. This net informed everyone of all the events that were scheduled for that day and for several days to come. I attended Pilates and yoga sessions, learned how to play Man Jhan (I am not sure how to spell it) and how to weave a basket. Roman attended fishing and dingy repair workshops as well as played volleyball. We both relaxed in the hammocks
under the casseria trees which are very tall trees reminiscent of a large maple tree with its branches but possessing the weepy soft needles similar to a white pine. They make great climbing trees and children climbed up and jumped off holding onto swinging ropes.

In George Town, in the community centre, Roman and I attended an all day weather seminar held by Chris Parker, the Bahamas and Carribean weather guru. I even bought his book.

Many of the boaters are musicians and held sing-alongs and impromptu concerts on the beach.

On Sundays we attended Beach Church which is a non denominational service run by boaters (none of whom are ministers or priests).

I sang in the Beach Choir which was led by a very talented boater, Bill, (off Charisma).
He had a Masters in Vocal Music and was one of the best choir directors that I have ever sang with. One Sunday I did an opening prayer which I had heard at one of my retreats at Mount Mary’s in Ancaster. I amended to fit in with the boater’s community.

We climbed the highest point of Lee Stocking Island which has a monument with no plaques or signs. No one seems to know what it stands for.
We walked along the seashore, picked seashells and swam on the other side of the island where there were no boats anchored. Unfortunately there are no pump outs in the Bahamas and boaters expel their raw sewage straight into the water. We fill our tank and everything goes through a macerator before our sewage is let out but some boats jump dump straight from their toilets into the water. That is why we swam only on the Exuma Sound side as shown below.

Since our antenna went swimming in the salt water, we have not been able to get WIFI from any distance at all. While most boaters could get the Harbour WIFI form George Town for a weekly rate of $15.00, we had to pay $2.00/ hour or any part of an hour. The internet service would not support Skype; the service was intermittent and we both wished for our WIFI antennae. Roman hopes to fix it when we get back to the States. Next year, I would like to make sure that our family have both Skype and a web cam so we could not only talk to them, but also see them.

We arrived just in time for the George Town Annual Cruisers’ Regatta which is a week of racing, games and festivities. We crewed on Just Imagine in the around Stocking Island Race. There were eight of us on board and we had a blast. Roman had the hardest task of looking after the head sail or jib. Cheyl entered the baking contest with her beer bread. I actually baked bread on board as well but not during the race.

One of our photos won the best “people” category photo contest.

Here we accept the trophy-a bottle of rum.

We also got mention of our “action” shot.

The Coconut Race was hilarious with teams of four, wearing a life jacket on any part of their body, in a motorless dingy with only fins for paddles trying to collect as many coconuts as possible.

The second part of the game was balancing coconuts with different parts of the body. I would have liked to participate in the Coconut Race but my hip and back were sore.

It was hard work watching!

We were part of a Scavenger Hunt team of six and although we won nothing, we had a fabulous time and went all around the islands, our boats and even into George Town across the bay for the Scavenger Hunt items.

Every year, for the Cruiser's Regatta, there is a theme and this year it was black and white. We made masks for the masquerade and many of the boaters had elaborate costumes.

Elizabeth from Viking Angel modelled her coconut outfit.

while I was one of leaders in the I Love Regatta Racing number in the Opening Night festivities. Then we danced away until boaters 1:00 a.m. which is really only 10:00. All boaters tend to follow the “early to bed and early to rise” routine. And no, that is not me dancing!

Here we are, the party group -Robin and Cheryl from Just Imagine, Morris and Elizabeth from Viking Angel and of course, Roman and Olha from Moya Mreeya.

There was a Pet Parade held during Regatta. Cruisers make a great deal about their pets. Many have dogs of all sizes and shapes and many have cats. Shadow from Just Imagine has a personality all his own.

We met so many boaters that I have no more room for boat cards in my holder. I’ll have to get another one when we get back to the States. One of the most delightful and talented people we got to know was a young lady named, named Angel, on the boat Fawkes. She played the electric keyboard and was part of a very talented group of boaters “White Folks on Boats” who played and sang in the Heritage Island Music Festival. which took place the last weekend of Regatta. We attended the festival which featured “rake and shake” Bahamian music. “White Folks on Boats” also gave a concert for all the boaters on a large catamaran while all the dinghies rafted around it. People danced to Black Magic Woman in their dinghies and surprisingly no one fell into the water.

You have to be very careful with maintenance on the boat. In the picture below, on the boat anchored just in front of us, the clamps on the thruhall rusted away and the hose came off and the boat took on water to a point where he had to call for help. He was very lucky that this happened in the anchorage. Many came to help bringing pumps. He had sunk down about six inches as you can see in the photos. If this had happened when he was out on the ocean, he would have sunk!

All good things come to an end and on Saturday, March 15, we made arrangements to leave at first light for Cat Island. Here is our last night in the harbour off Volleyball Beach at sunset.