Coming into George Town, Monument Hill and the start of the George Town Harbour anchorage
View from hiking trail on Stocking Island, Exuma Sound.
Moxie is here at the anchorage at Sand Dollar Beach. If the weather was fair, this was our favorite anchorage, close to town and Volley Ball Beach.
Us at the Chat and Chill Bar and Grill, Volley Ball Beach.
You see a lot of these types of signs in the Bahamas. This ones on Volley Ball Beach.
We suppose this is where the name came from...
Some of our cruiser friends on Volley Ball Beach. This is during the George Town Regatta.
The George Town Regatta opening concert. "Too Drunk to Fish", a cruiser's jam band, got the concert off to a good start.
Us with our friends at the regatta concert. Gill and Sharlene to the left of Debbie and Ken to her right. It was a cool evening, with the temperature in the mid 60's.
A dingy raft up in George Town Harbour. Over sixty where there at one point.
Pizza and Sundownwer's on Moxie. L to R. Jeanne, (Sail Away), Theresa, (It Will Be All Right) Tarra, (Scout), Gerry, Brian, (Scout) Richard, (It Will Be All Right) and Ken, (Sail Away)
Sting Rays, off Volleyball Beach, Waiting for Conch guts from the Chat and Chill Salad Bar. There was supposedly a hammer head shark, waiting for the Ray's.
Our cruising friend Tara, with Phinneus and Pickles.
Sea Turtle off Sand Dollar Beach, swimming beside Moxie.
1st Place, Class C, In Harbour Race, 2015 George Town Regatta. Gerry and Crew Brian Flanagan. Missing is crew George Evans.
Gerry getting ready for the "Round Stocking Island" Race.
Gerry, Debbie, (behind the camera) Tara and Brian at the start of the "round Stocking Island Race.
Our friends Theresa and Richard crewing on "Grand Crue", some of our competition in Class C in the Round Stocking Island Race. We got a second place finish, though arguably we won our class, but because it was a "friendly cruisers race", there was no way to protest. Anyway we were happy to get 2nd. Grand Cue finished 3rd. We were very happy with the way we did the race.
Long Island Cruiser's race. A Hylas 49, "It's Only Money" passes us down the home stretch. The crew, Christianne and Frank, a couple of Brits, donated a prize to the smallest boat to sail from George Town to Long Island. Guess who the smallest boat was?
Gill and Sharlene and crew on First Love leads the way to the finish line. There were just 33 seconds between the first place boat and third place boat!
Moxie cleaned up at the Long Island Rally Race: second in Class B (Sloop Class), a very generous donated prize from the biggest boat to the smallest boat (us) and a door prize. We also enjoyed a dinner and another dance after the awards.
George Town is the Mecca for cruisers in the Southern Exumas. Near-by, Red Shanks is a protected anchorage-comfortable for a few boats- our first choice due to a strong cold front. We came in there after S/V Scout, S/M Southern Grace and S/V Shinola- there were over 35 boats holed up there for the blow! Gerry dingied to town to get a few supplies and we stayed there for a couple of days . Later, we managed to get to town a couple of times and to go out for supper by dinging to the restaurant “Cheaters”. ( the first time for Cher’s B/D) After the wind settled, we were invited to join our friend on S/V Sail Away on Long Island, about 30 miles south east of George Town. We sailed into rough water with breaking waves at the south entrance to Elizabeth Harbour, but were warned off by a fellow boater who had turned around after hitting some very bad waves,-damaging the bimini and dodger as well as losing his dingy. S/V First Love turned around on that chop as well. The following days were spent socializing – we had a pizza party on S/V Moxie and enjoyed many sun downer evenings on friend’s boats . Of coarse, there are the usual chores of laundry, banking ,shopping, and water top –ups - which Georgetown provides as a cruiser friendly town. For this week the boat count in the harbour went up to 375! We ventured out to the Sand Dollar Beach anchorage for a few days and found out what all the buzz was about- an awesome metropolis of boats and lots of fun at Volleyball near–by!
Another front with winds gusting in the 30 knot range was forecast to come through, which necessitated another move to the shelter of the Red Shanks Anchorage. We had friend there and made a few more-esp. Diane and Warren ( an old salt) from S/V Sunset Dreaming from NS, and Theresa and Richard from S/V It will Be All Right from Kentucky. Our spot, though safe, was a bit uncomfortable. Our friends on S/V Shinola and S/M Southern Grace helped us move to a better location further in at the same anchorage. In the meantime, Gerry celebrated his 70th birthday twice, once with a gathering of friends on a beautiful center cockpit Morgan Classic, S/V Persistence , owned by Tom and Chris ( a couple of ‘Hurt’n Albertans’ –far from it-actually! ). The next evening we had a celebratory dinner on S/ M Southern Grace, with George, Cher and Morgan who ‘dug deep ‘ and provided a BBQ of lamb ,VA steaks and chicken-love those freezers -which we do not have!
· The George Town Cruising Regatta was in full swing from Feb 16th-28th. We attended the opening event- a variety concert-on a windy, cool- for the Bahamas (65 F.) ,evening. It was a great turn out-we were able to put faces to many names on the cruisers net-channel 68( the radio channel for up-dates on events here). Because of the windy weather, boats anchored in Red Shanks got the local water taxi (Elvis)- saving us from a long, wet dingy ride at night. There were all kinds of events going on all week in the vicinity of “Chat and Chill” ( a bar and grill on the beach)-including beach volleyball, beach golf, treasure hunts, the coconut challenge, bochue ball, children’s events, small boat races and the sailboat races. To be closer to the action we moved S/V Moxie back into the main harbour- in the lee of Stocking Island- ‘Sand Dollar Beach’-a short dingy ride to ‘Volleyball Beach’ ,”Chat and Chill’ and St Francis Marina. It is just a 5 minutes ride to the dingy dock in Victoria Lake ie. George Town. We are meeting many friends made along the way here , especially NS and other CAN boats. Gerry entered the sailboat races with Brian from S/V Scout and George from S/V Southern Grace for crew – with great results - first in class! The Next was the round Stocking Island race with Tara and Brian from S/V Scout crewing with Debbie and Gerry (got a 2nd place). We also entered The Long Island Race as part of a rally with over 35 other boats . Long Island put out the 'welcome mat' for us cruisers and we appreciate the effort that the locals and the more seasoned cruisers put in to organizing this visit. It was lots of fun-although a few boats did not make it due to boat complications ,wind on the nose and choppy waters on the way. ( S/V Scout-seasick doggies? )
We will go back to Georgetown to have a 'Good-bye" with friends , then we plan to start slowly heading northward, visiting islands we missed in The Exuma Chain and on to Eleuathera and a visit to The Abaco’s before returning to the mainland early in April.
Another front with winds gusting in the 30 knot range was forecast to come through, which necessitated another move to the shelter of the Red Shanks Anchorage. We had friend there and made a few more-esp. Diane and Warren ( an old salt) from S/V Sunset Dreaming from NS, and Theresa and Richard from S/V It will Be All Right from Kentucky. Our spot, though safe, was a bit uncomfortable. Our friends on S/V Shinola and S/M Southern Grace helped us move to a better location further in at the same anchorage. In the meantime, Gerry celebrated his 70th birthday twice, once with a gathering of friends on a beautiful center cockpit Morgan Classic, S/V Persistence , owned by Tom and Chris ( a couple of ‘Hurt’n Albertans’ –far from it-actually! ). The next evening we had a celebratory dinner on S/ M Southern Grace, with George, Cher and Morgan who ‘dug deep ‘ and provided a BBQ of lamb ,VA steaks and chicken-love those freezers -which we do not have!
· The George Town Cruising Regatta was in full swing from Feb 16th-28th. We attended the opening event- a variety concert-on a windy, cool- for the Bahamas (65 F.) ,evening. It was a great turn out-we were able to put faces to many names on the cruisers net-channel 68( the radio channel for up-dates on events here). Because of the windy weather, boats anchored in Red Shanks got the local water taxi (Elvis)- saving us from a long, wet dingy ride at night. There were all kinds of events going on all week in the vicinity of “Chat and Chill” ( a bar and grill on the beach)-including beach volleyball, beach golf, treasure hunts, the coconut challenge, bochue ball, children’s events, small boat races and the sailboat races. To be closer to the action we moved S/V Moxie back into the main harbour- in the lee of Stocking Island- ‘Sand Dollar Beach’-a short dingy ride to ‘Volleyball Beach’ ,”Chat and Chill’ and St Francis Marina. It is just a 5 minutes ride to the dingy dock in Victoria Lake ie. George Town. We are meeting many friends made along the way here , especially NS and other CAN boats. Gerry entered the sailboat races with Brian from S/V Scout and George from S/V Southern Grace for crew – with great results - first in class! The Next was the round Stocking Island race with Tara and Brian from S/V Scout crewing with Debbie and Gerry (got a 2nd place). We also entered The Long Island Race as part of a rally with over 35 other boats . Long Island put out the 'welcome mat' for us cruisers and we appreciate the effort that the locals and the more seasoned cruisers put in to organizing this visit. It was lots of fun-although a few boats did not make it due to boat complications ,wind on the nose and choppy waters on the way. ( S/V Scout-seasick doggies? )
We will go back to Georgetown to have a 'Good-bye" with friends , then we plan to start slowly heading northward, visiting islands we missed in The Exuma Chain and on to Eleuathera and a visit to The Abaco’s before returning to the mainland early in April.
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