Georgetown

With beautiful weather, light winds from the west, we left Cambridge Cay and headed out into Exhuma Sound for a day of travel, all the way to Georgetown, the big town in these parts.  Georgetown is the largest town in the Exhuma chain, where cruisers base themselves for the winter.  There is an airport there, and during the winter over 400 boats will anchor in between the town and stocking cay in a protected harbor.  We spent Christmas week there with less than 100 boats.  We visited the store, stocking up on some needed fruits and vegetables.  However we were just now getting low.  We had provisioned well before leaving the Marina in Marathon.  We only needed fresh fruits and veggies.  We still have plenty of canned and frozen.  The supermarket in town is nice.  And has a nice selection of food and good looking produce.   The prices are at least double in the US, but we are in the Bahamas after all.  To get into town, the favored dock is past a small 8 foot wide bridge.  At high tide we can’t make it under the bridge in the new tender.  It is only 8 feet high at low tide, and then we can make it under.

One day David lowered the dinghy in the water to go to town to the hardware store.  He, Calvin, Isabel, and Madison headed out for an afternoon off the boat.  The battery on the dinghy didn’t work earlier, so it had been on the charger all morning.  They made it into town.  They looked around and asked where the hardware store was.  They hitchhiked the few miles out to the hardware store and got what they needed, and hitch hiked back.  They met some friendly people.  After loading themselves back into the dinghy they undid the lines from the dock, and then tried to start it.  It wouldn’t start, the battery was dead.  They made it back to the dock by using their arms to paddle and then called me on the VHF.  Luckily I was listening and heard them call.  I offered to come rescue them with the tender.  David wanted me to look for the jumper cables to bring with me to try and jumpstart the battery.  I couldn’t find them, so Benjamin and I set out to rescue them and tow the dinghy back.  By the time I made it across the harbor in the tender, they had managed, with the help of the tide and current, to paddle their way outside of the bridge, so I wouldn’t need to pass thru it.  We got them on board the tender, and towed the dinghy back to the boat.  The next day, David and I went to town and bought a new battery for the dinghy so we won’t be having that experience again. 

Georgetown has a Library that we visited another day.  The kids enjoyed picking out a few new books to read for the next few days that we would be there. 

Anchored nearby us was a mega, mega yacht.  Over 200 feet long, and really more ship than yacht.  Again I find it interesting to see such pricy and fancy boats at anchor rather than a marina.  And again I am reminded that they have no choice, other than anchor, but still it is odd. 

We have enjoyed beautiful sunsets every night.  We have also enjoyed the opportunity to get to know some of the other boaters spending winter here.  Some were headed to the eastern Caribbean like us, others have already been there and done that.  It was nice to hear highlights of what to do or not to do. And it was good to make some friends we may see along the way.