Stay Over Days in George Town

—Blogpost written by Bob

Feb 11 and Feb 12

This is our fourth multi-day blogpost from George Town, Exuma.  This one was short because of our plan to travel to Emerald Bay Marina on Thursday.

Tuesday, February 11

The wind was 3 or 4 knots less than was predicted yesterday but it was still in the 12 to 15-knot range. The boat was riding very comfortably at anchor just off Monument Beach in Elizabeth Harbour, protected from the wind by Stocking Island. There was a slight fore-to-aft rocking motion created by the small (1/2-foot high) waves. We were surrounded by beautiful turquoise water—it was 18 feet deep where we were anchored. All the boats in the anchorage were facing southeast, like toy soldiers facing the battlefield.

A small sampling of the boats at anchor
near Monument Beach.

The three bags of ice were working well to keep our ice box cool (as a temporary solution until we get our refrigeration system repaired). We decided to add three more bags of ice by tomorrow afternoon to make up for the continual melting.

We had no agenda for the day. After looking for something to do, I filled our sun shower with fresh water using the portable shower head in the cockpit. The sun shower allows us to conserve water while still taking showers—we use only 1 gallon of fresh water to take a shower!  The water in the sun shower is heated by sunshine while it lays on deck during the day.   

While I was lingering around in the cockpit looking for more to do, the water maker (below) was busy creating fresh water using only the clean seawater all around us and solar-generated energy.

I worked most of the afternoon on email communications, attempting to get all the possible information on our refrigeration system repairs and also getting information to resolve our battery bank problem.  It seemed that the refrigeration problem and its enormous draw on the battery bank created a problem with our batteries inability to return to full charge status.  The good news is that the (Firefire Oasis) batteries are repairable in terms of restoring the capacity.

Wednesday, February 12

First thing in the morning, we rode our (slow-moving) dinghy into town for more ice.  Most of the ice in our fridge had melted during the past two days.  We picked up three bags of ice and 5 gallons of fresh water.  Of course, we got soaked with salt water in the process from the wind-caused waves splashing over the side of our dinghy.  (The wind was blowing at 15 knots out of the southeast.)

When we returned to the boat, I emptied the fresh water into our forward tank and got the fresh water jug ready to take into town again for another 5 gallons when we go in for lunch--we arranged to meet John and Bobbie for lunch at the Driftwood Cafe.  I also filled the small 1-gallon gas can that we carry in the dinghy from our onboard gasoline supply--it was running low.  

When we motored into town for lunch the waves were throwing the dinghy every which way.  The little engine worked very hard to get us where we need to go.  The dinghy motor ran out of gas just as we were entering the narrow entrance to Lake Victoria.  While we were fumbling to get out our oars a fellow cruiser came by and pulled us to the nearby dinghy dock.  Of all the times we could have run out of gas, this was probably the worst time.

We had a nice lunch and walked around town a little afterward where I captured the following images:

A colorful ship than carries
inter-island cargo.

The main street through town near the place
where we had lunch.  Most of the cars are
very small and models that are not
available in the U.S.

As we were leaving to come back to the boat my handheld VHF radio came off my belt and I realized that the antenna was missing--chalk that up to one more broken thing on this trip.  Emerald Bay Marina still can't guarantee us a slip with electricity for tomorrow--what more can go wrong?

Tomorrow at mid-morning, we will (hopefully) travel to Emerald Bay Marina (part of a Sandals Resort about 12 miles away) for our refrigeration repairs and some rest and relaxation.  Stay tuned for more of our cruising adventure...


Thanks for following our blog!

Addendum About George Town, Exuma

We spent 15 days anchored in Elizabeth Harbour near George Town, Exuma. There was a cruising community of about 250 cruising boats during this time. The George Town Cruiser’s Net had multiple community announcements every morning about organized activities that ranged from Beach Church on Sunday mornings (complete with choir) to Ukulele lessons for both beginners and intermediate players. There were poker nights, bus tours, water aerobics, and even an activity called a “man huddle.”  A lot of the cruisers were known to return to George Town year after year--once their anchor dropped in Elizabeth Harbour (sometimes as early as late-November) their boat didn’t move until it was time to head home for the season (usually early April).

For whatever reason, we didn’t feel like we fit in with the George Town cruising community.