Well we are off to George Town.
George Town is the ‘destination’ and turn around point for most cruisers, and a stop over and restocking station for the few carrying on. The Bahamian town is over 200 years old and was initially established in August of 1792. Since then it has become the cruising Mecca of the Bahamas. During the high season it has been know to host over 500 boats. Part of George Town’s popularity is its huge harbor with many places for the voyager to anchor, either close to town, close to the volleyball beach or away from everyone and everything.
But before I babble on about the place….we need to get there first.
We left first thing in the morning so we would arrive in daylight hours and pick our way through the coral heads and sandbars that litter the entrance of the harbor. Strong winds were predicted for the days following, but we had very light winds for the passage. We did get a little help from the occasional passing squall. See it is not always sunny in the Bahamas!
We were very lucky with the weather, as all the squalls seem to skirt around us, giving us extra wind but we did not get rained on. Unfortunately our fishing luck was not as good.
We made it to the entrance of Elizabeth Harbour, George Town, with plenty of daylight to spare. Unfortunately we were entering on ‘dead’ low water. A time where we would have the least amount of water between our keel and the sea bottom. And, as big as Elizabeth Harbour is, she is a very shallow body of water. Her beautiful blue water hides coral heads and sand bars.
Our only consolation was, if we did run aground, the tide was only going to go up from here (the water would be rising).
We thought that this spot, across the harbour from George Town, gave us good protection from the predicted strong Northerly winds. And besides, the Chat and Chill beach is meant to be one of the most sociable areas with volleyball courts. And we all know my humans hate volleyball.
So we settled into the place for a short stay before company comes.
Despite the strong winds of the next day the humans were anxious to get into town and pick up some fresh salad goods and fruit. And to have a good look around. The waters in Elizabeth Harbour are quite protected and little more than a short steep chop can develop in here. Not enough to make a dingy ride across dangerous, but definitely WET! I left the humans to do this one alone.
It was our first time in George Town so the entrance, via Victoria Harbour bridge, was quite interesting. It is a tiny entrance channel from the main harbour into this much smaller (lake) harbour around which is built the town. The rule is vessels entering from the main harbour have the right away. Sometimes a ‘bit of throttle’ is needed to get in against the ebb tide.
Once inside there is a dingy dock with FREE water on the left.
This is a busy place so remember your long painter (dingy rope). It is also a very sociable place to meet up with boats you may have met along the way.
The dingy dock and water are organized by the local grocery store.
The grocery store does it’s best to stock a variety of foods, but also tries to reduce wastage. It gets a new boatload of fresh produce and baked goods in every Monday (weather and bank holidays permitting). The ‘pickings’ can become a ‘little thin’ after Monday especially on perishable goods.
Here is an example:
The humans bought some bread on the Monday. Toasted it on Tuesday morning and declare that it was very good and they should stock up on some for guests. They returned to the market that day and the bread shelves were bare.
The town is simple and clean. There is a tourist office, admiration buildings including a post office, school, church, laundry mat, a few restaurants and bars and of course gift shops.
The humans could not resist having a nose in the local chandlery.
We can not stress enough, if you are on a budget, stock up on supplies and spares where ever you can find them at a reasonable price.
With the stocking up and laundry done the humans can finally relax a bit and enjoy the lovely beaches and trails that Stocking Island provides.
Despite the number of boats here we found we usually have the beaches to ourselves, the exception being the Chat and Chill beach, and that does not get busy until the afternoon.
The cruisers here have also set up an extensive network of well-marked trails on Stocking Island with maps available for FREE from the Tourist Office.
If you really want to get away from everyone it is only a short hike across the island to the windward side.
Here you will have all the beaches to yourself and lots and lots of shells.
I can see why this is ‘winter camp’ for such a huge contingency of American and Canadian boats. It certainly offers a little of everything for everyone.
