March 7-12

The realization is beginning to settle in that our adventure must come to an end at some point, and we have mixed emotions about that. It has been a fabulous experience, every step of the way, but it will be nice to get home as well. On Thursday, we began to retrace our steps, sailing from George Town to Jack’s Bay Cove on Great Guana Cay.

The first thirty-five miles of this leg were on Exuma Sound, which is essentially the ocean. The wind had been blowing briskly the previous few days, and so it was somewhat rolly and wavy trip. We passed through Galliot Cut just south of Big Farmers Cay and sailed the last twenty miles on the Exuma Bank. The Bank is one of the finest cruising grounds in the world (I may have made that up) and we had a wonderful romp to Jack’s Bay Cove.

The next day we sailed to Big Majors Spot, an anchorage we enjoy and that provides pretty good protection from approaching fronts. It is always slightly unnerving to be sitting in the cockpit on a gorgeous evening watching a distant band of clouds approach, knowing that there are winds and squalls of 20 to 40 plus miles per hour associated with it.

On Tuesday we sailed back to Jack’s Bay Cove with Jean-Michel and Ann to explore some coral heads we had seen earlier. Corinne was anxious to try snorkeling, and I have a spear which I have not yet taken off the boat. We had a great afternoon, and saw a large variety of fish, as well as a very large sea turtle, just resting quietly on the bottom. I am beginning to think that the fishing may have to wait until next year, though, because besides not knowing how to use the spear, I can never tell for sure which kind of fish might be good for dinner.

However, we did not leave empty-handed. Jean-Michel found two large conch which we brought back to shore and ‘cleaned’. We were rather skeptical about what came out of the shell, but a couple of nights later Jean-Michel and Ann prepared a fabulous dinner of conch fritters.

We returned to Black Point that evening. It is time for one last dinner at Lorraine’s Café and another morning of laundry and Internet. Black Point is a delightful community and perhaps our favorite stop.

February 24 – March 6

George Town is essentially a six-mile long harbour situated between islands along a northwest to southeast axis. There are anchorages on both sides of the channel, and boats will sometimes move from one side to the other to seek protection as cold fronts pass through.

We anchored off of Monument Beach, also known as Hamburger Beach, where Dora has been cooking hamburgers for thirty years. She has a picture on the wall of Johnny Depp when he was there filming Pirates of the Caribbean.

No, that’s not Johnny, it’s Kenny and his pirate wench, Amy. Amy has developed a tradition of observing Pirate Friday, usually on Friday, but with Amy you never can be sure! This was also Kenny’s birthday and a fun night. Amy tells us that when Kenny is not privateering he is an exotic dance instructor.

Next along the channel is Volleyball Beach, the hub of the cruiser’s social scene. It is hopping from morning to nightfall, and even later on dance nights. Every afternoon people gather to play volleyball, swap stories with old and new friends and perhaps have a cool drink.

One morning Corinne and I took the dinghy down to Sand Dollar Beach, near the bottom of the Elizabeth Harbour channel. We had hoped to find elusive sand dollars washed up on the beach, but had no luck. This view, though, looking out from the beach, shows some of the 290 boats in the harbour.

The VHF radio net on channel 72 at 8:00 am each morning announces among other things, the activities for the day. Corinne and I attended excellent sessions on forecasting the weather, purchasing marine insurance, sailing through the Far East, sail trim, … We missed the bridge lessons, the yoga classes, trivial pursuit and, yes, the exotic dance. We did get to a couple of the cocktail gatherings on the beach and jam sessions by a number of very talented folks.

From where we were anchored it was a two mile dinghy ride to George Town. It was often a rough and wet ride. In town we were able to get water from the dinghy dock at the grocery store, Exuma Markets, do our grocery tshopping and pick up fuel. We found that the best bread comes from Mom’s Bakery, the purple van in the picture. Mom is in George Town three days a week and includes a large hug with each purchase.

Internet access, and our link to home, is not accessible from the boat, and somewhat erratic from other locations. We discovered J&K Computers which provides excellent access. They charge five dollars a day, which is much cheaper than the two Kaliks we would purchase at the bars with free access. It is also very popular.

The Cruiser's Regatta is upcoming, but we are going to head north when the weather is good and stop in at some of the places we passed by on our way down.