George Town, Great Exuma Island

January 30, 2020 - February 4, 2020

The wind picked up during the night and by Thursday morning we were rocking and rolling from a westerly wind.  We moved the boat in behind Galliot Cay to give us some protection from the wind.  Since we didn’t want to be crashing into waves for 39 miles, our planned trip to George Town had to be delayed.  It was a lazy day, but I did some cooking to provide meals for a couple of days.  We are getting very low on fresh produce and bread.

Some past photos that I haven’t used in my blogs:

I never expected to see a sign like this in the Exumas.

I took this picture in Lorain’s Restaurant in Black Point.

A great example of the beautiful flora of the area

When is the last time you
saw one of these in the states?

Friday turned out to be a perfect day for our ocean passage from the Galliot cut to Conch Cut where we entered Elizabeth Harbour.  We anchored off Stocking Cay just west of Monument Beach across the harbour from George Town. Our first outing was to find ice for Bob’s celebratory bushwhacker.  We wound up at the Chat and Chill Restaurant and Bar.  With instructions not to come back empty handed I walked from the beach to the bar.  They did not sell bags of ice or have the ingredients to make a bushwhacker so I used my charm to talk the bartender into selling me two large cups of ice (for $3).  At least I didn’t come back empty handed and with the ice that was left by the time we got back to the boat I made Bob his bushwhacker.  Unfortunately, our dinghy engine was overheating on our way back to the boat and Bob figured it had to do with the water cooling system, namely the water pump.  Of course, we didn’t have the parts on board to fix the problem.  The Bahamas are a fabulous place for exploring, boating, and water sports, but not for any kind of breakdown.  What  can we do????? Since our dinghy is our only transportation to get off the boat it is essential to our happiness and comfort.

Saturday proved to be immensely frustrating.  First, Bob was unable to top off our BTC account (pay for our next month’s service) remotely as he was instructed to do.  Next, he was unable to make a telephone call to BTC to get help with the problem.  Third, our only option to solve the phone issue was to get to George Town and a retail store that could help top off our phone and with our dinghy out of commission that was impossible. Bob did get through to the Yamaha dealer in town, but no mechanics were on duty on Saturday or Sunday. Next, we got the idea to hail the water taxi companies to take us into George Town, but we couldn’t get a response from any of them. If we had phone service we would have had a better chance of reaching them.  It was a real catch 22 or a scene from The Twilight Zone. So, we did what any good cruiser would do - had lunch and chilled for the afternoon.  Since nothing except bars and restaurants are open on Sunday in the Bahamas we will have to wait until Monday to solve any of our problems.  Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

On Sunday morning on the cruiser’s net (a daily broadcast to help local cruiser’s) we found that a small Honda outboard was available and we made arrangements with the sellers to purchase it.  At least now we will be able to get around. He also finally successfully topped up our phone!!!! The day was windy so we decided to stay on the boat to watch the Super Bowl. Great game and the Chiefs won 31-20.  

We visited George Town on Monday and were surprised at it’s bedraggled state, so many of the buildings were in disrepair. When we turned north to explore that area of town we found much better conditions. There was a colorful open air market that sold local crafts and souvenirs. I also visited a lovely clothing, local crafts, and local artwork shop. We were able to purchase all of the items we needed and have a nice lunch at Driftwood Cafe. 

One morning we took the dinghy into Monument Beach to explore.  My plan was to climb to the top of the hill which surely had spectacular views of the islands.  I made it half way up and turned around to take photos.  When I saw how steep my descent would be I chickened out and started back down the hill clinging to plants to keep myself from sliding down.  Later when I looked at the spot I had stopped climbing I realized that the rest of the climb would have been easier. Too bad I quit.

This is Monument Hill which is the highest
point on the island.  It has a white obelisk
on the top.

The beach in front of the hill was wide.

It seems to be the custom to write
on the beach using rocks.

I took this photo from Monument Hill, but
it's hard to see the words created with rocks.

We saw over a dozen starfish on
our travels in the dinghy that morning.

The restaurant at St. Francis Resort and Marina
served us a wonderful lunch.
Bob claims the conch fritters
are the best he's had this season.

Our view from the restaurant

We took a path behind the restaurant
to the beach on the ocean side.
This shot is looking south.

This shot is looking north.
There weren't even a dozen
people on this gorgeous beach.

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