Georgetown is considered the ultimate destination for many winter cruisers. The Cruiser’s Regatta is held the first two weeks in March and is jammed with activities. We arrived in Georgetown several days before the first day of Regatta. It was quite a sight to sail into Elizabeth Harbor and see the hundreds of masts in the distance. The north entrance is somewhat circuitous and is of course without markers. We paralleled the breakers after our first turn and then dodged reefs and shoals the rest of the way. Perhaps a hundred boats were anchored just of Monument and Hamburger Beaches, the first major anchorage to the north. Next we passed Volleyball Beach anchorage, which is hard to describe. Boats anchored so close together they defy logic. We passed up this exciting spot and dropped the hook off Sand Dollar Beach with maybe 50 or so others. In total there were close to 400 boats anchored in the harbor.

Georgetown is considered summer (winter) camp for cruisers. There is so much to do and everything is very organized. The day starts at 0800 with the Cruiser’s Net on VHF channel 68. Activities are announced and then everyone scrambles to find an open channel afterwards to contact their friends. The dialogue is rather unique and can be quite amusing. “Marylee, Marylee, this is Camelot, you want to go 6-6 and down?” This means go to channel 66 and keep switching down until you find a channel not taken. Generally you can figure many people are switching along with you to listen in.
This is called “reading the mail”. Everyone does it and you can’t keep many secrets.

We have been anchored somewhere in Elizabeth Harbor for three weeks now. Currently we are at Volleyball Beach since the crowd has thinned considerably. When the weather is settled we do a lot of different things. When it is not, we stay close to the boat and try to stay dry on any trips ashore.

Many activities are on Volleyball Beach and revolve around the Chat ‘n’ Chill. Pictured above with Mary and I are Harv and Anne from Camelot and Chris from No Keys. Chris’s wife Louise is taking the picture. Following are photos of Chat “n” Chill” and Volleyball Beach.

I guess the older you get the less likely you are to feel foolish about your actions. This event involved a toilet plunger placed between a woman’s legs and a roll of toilet paper placed between a man’s legs. The woman must get the toilet paper (no hands allowed) and return to her side. This is our friends Dee and Ed from Sea Fox X and the ultimate winner on her way to victory.

We entered the Coconut Harvest event for Regatta. The object is, with a crew of four, in your dinghy, collect as many coconuts as you can in a limited time. You must wear a life jacket, you must use a swim fin on your hand for propulsion and you’re allowed to carry a bucket for defensive or offensive actions.

Harv, Chris and Jim (Imagine from Madison) and I made up our team. We were novices and it showed. We floundered at the start, I couldn’t get in the dinghy (the water dropped off to over 8’ quickly) but we did manage to get seven coconuts. The winners had 106! We didn’t take last. We got soaked and had a blast! In the photo below in the lower left, just right of the lady in the yellow jacket is my butt and orange life jacket, blue shorts and foot to the right is Jim, yellow jacket and bald head is Chris and just beyond is Harv getting ready to try and swamp another competitor.

Goliath had much better success. He entered the Pet Parade and won the most humorous pet. He was dressed up in his “Bad to the Bone” tee shirt and sported a sailor hat. His pet moose rode on his back. The lighting was very poor so we must apologize for no photos of the event itself but here’s Goliath, quite cool before the competition.

We entered the around Stocking Island Race. This would be our first ever race for our boat. Harv, Dee and Ed (Sea Fox X, an O’day 40 from Toronto) and Ned (Journey from Marinette, Wisconsin) joined us as crew. We got a horrible PHRF rating and so were giving time to almost all the boats in our class. After a great start boats began to pass us. We were doing as well as we could but the small sail area that we have was a real penalty. This being a fun event, there were no protests allowed. BUMMER! Out of a class of 10 we took 7th. The wind was brisk at 15 knots or more for the first half but died as we reentered the harbor for the downwind leg. We ghosted along at between 1 and 3 knots in almost dead calm water. A mother dolphin and her baby played in our bow wave. Pretty cool all things considered. I now spend a lot of time thinking about sails and such. I think the racing bug has bitten me.

It’s not all fun and games here. You have your chores to do. Our electrical requirements are being met nicely by a constant wind that powers our wind generator and the sun almost always gives us plenty of power through our panels. Water is a different issue. We can’t make our own water (we may remedy this matter this summer) so I have to haul it from shore. This usually means a dinghy ride from one side of the harbor to the other. Two miles round trip. The trades blow from the east pretty consistently so the trip over is ok but the trip back, when loaded with 28 gallons of water, is usually quite a wet ride.

All services are in town so we make this trip also for garbage disposal, groceries and for Internet. Those of you who haven’t traveled much, you have no idea how easy you have it. Our depth sounder (a necessity in the shallow waters of the Bahamas) crashed during the race. We knew our depths were ok from the charts but I wasn’t going to play Christopher Columbus and use a lead line all the way back to the States. I needed a new interface box. To make arrangements I needed to go ashore and call B&G for support. My cell works here but costs $3!!! I can use a phone at J&K Productions for 15¢ a minute. I waited in line a half hour before it was my turn to use the phone. Well after holding for an hour I gave up for the day. The next day I had shorter waits and got through. Now, how do I get the part here? I found that I can have it shipped to an expediter in Ft. Lauderdale and they fly to Georgetown so it’s back across the harbor, wait in line for the phone and then wait on hold. After three days I have the part ordered and it should be here soon.

This is our center of communications, phone and Internet. I wouldn’t know what to do without them.

So far we have had a great time in Georgetown. We’ve snorkeled, fished, played cards and games, explored the beaches and islands and even had several great sails. My part is in at Customs at the airport so I’m off to hitchhike there. Part Two will chronicle my adventures today and then it is time to move on. Next stop is Long Island and then we will have to start heading back north towards the Abacos and then on towards Florida.

After a relatively short stay at Big Majors we headed south to Black Point Settlement. It is a short sail away and we enjoyed a brisk sail under head sail alone. Winds were 20 knots plus from the aft quarter so we had a wonderful time. Black Point is only six miles or so away so we were tucked in there mid early afternoon.

Black Point is a very small settlement but we had a great time. We spent a lot of time at Lorraine’s Cafe using the internet and eating her fine fare. Lorraine’s mom bakes the best coconut bread and we became addicted. Using it for french toast is the BEST! This is Lorraine’s,

and these are some interior shots of the cruisers enjoying the food and internet.

This is our anchorage on the Bahama Banks side …

and this is the Exuma Sound side.

Goliath has been really enjoying his daily runs on the beach.

After a weeks stay in Black Point we sailed down to Little Farmer’s Cay and anchored overnight before sailing down the Sound side into Georgetown on March 2nd. I will post more details on Georgetown soon. We are still there and will be until my new interface unit comes for my depth sounder.