Black Point Again

Back in Black Point


Our friends from Colorado, Don and Gretchen joined us on April 23. Zach flew out the next day. It was Family Island Regatta time. We were able to see one day of racing and got to enjoy some local food and drink at the festival.

Our move north is now underway. A 55 mile sail to Black Point was the first leg. The weather has not cooperated and has been blowing out of the north, the direction we have to sail. Yesterday we took a short trip to Staniel Cay to snorkel in Thunderball cave. There was a great variety of fish and healthy coral. Today we are back in Black Point ready for an early morning departure for the island of Eleuthera. With some luck we will be in the Abacos several days later before the next round of squalls comes in.

Hope to include pictures next time. Didn't bring the computer to shore.

Enjoying Georgetown With Abe and Zach

Enjoying Georgetown with Abe and Zach

The past two weeks we’ve spent hiking, snorkeling, sailing, and enjoying the area around Georgetown with Abe and Zach. Zach arrived on April 10^th to spend 2 weeks. The next day Abe flew in for a week vacation. We spent their first morning here fixing the generator. Thankfully the parts they brought us, along with Dave’s help, got things working again.

Time flew by. We took them to Sand dollar beach and found 4 sand dollars on our walk. We hiked all of the trails and beaches. David, Zach and Abe took the dingy out to the coral reef to go snorkeling. Zach saw a 2-foot nurse shark along with lots of other fish and corals.

We took them to Chat and Chills for the Sunday pig roast and 1pm talk with a local Bahamian about the history of the Bahamas. We met Dave there several afternoons at 4 for volley ball games. After the games it was in the ocean to get all of the sand off and cool down.

There was snorkeling in the hurricane anchorage where there is a cave. The fish are used to being fed so bringing food for them gets them to come out and surround you. There was also a small reef to dive on too.

We had wonderful sunsets and dinners together on the boat. What a great week that ended all to soon when Abe had to fly home on Thursday.

We have been enjoying Zach’s company. Saturday night we went into town to the community center to hear Fabian Cousteau talk about the new national park here in Georgetown. He is here to help repair a reef that was hit by a boat. The organization is reseeding with corals that they are growing special beds. They hope to have the reef repaired with in a year and back to flourishing in 3-5 years. After the talk everyone went to a special barbeque at Peace and Plenty, a restaurant and inn right on the harbor front. Thankfully the moon was bright. It made the 1 ½ mile dingy ride across the harbor back to the boat less intimidating than a pitch black night.  The wind had picked up so it was a wet ride.

The past few days we anchored off of the Monument on Stocking Island. We have explored more of the beaches and trails on the northern end of the island. Saturday we walked down a beach that was a ½ mile long. When we got to the end we expected to find Gilligan and Mary Ann. There was a fire pit all sent up with benches, a grass hut with a bar under it with more benches. Gilligan and Mary Ann must have been out for a walk. Since there was no alcohol behind the bar Mr. Thurston wasn’t there either.

Sunday we went back to Chat and Chills for the lecture. There is always a different crowd on the beach. Some musicians were there and before the lecture there was great music. David and Zach went back to the cave to snorkel, had conch salad, then took another path to the beach for another great walk.

As we were finishing this blog edition over the VHF came an announcement “is there a Veterinarian out there”. I answered and asked what the problem was. A local person said his wife’s dog was hit by a car and wanted me to look at the dog. This meant another long wet dinghy ride back into town. The owner ‘s dog was a small dog-named Cinnamon. Fortunately her injuries were not life threatening. She had a fractured pelvis with no apparent complications. She should do just fine with some time.

Off to check out the boats that have arrived for the regatta.  

Another Nice Beach

Family Walk on the Beach

Sponge and Fish

Large Sea Star

Conch

Volley Ball Squad Dave,Dave,Abe and Zach

Zach and Abe going for stole in shallows

Angel Fish

Georgetown Bahamas

We have been in the Georgetown for the last 10 days or so. We departed Long Island with a 15-17 knot breeze on the beam. It was a nice fast sail. The Georgetown area offers several different anchorages each with it’s own character. Our first and favorite is Sand dollar beach, a gorges expansive white sand beach. It is named aptly on our first walk we must have seen 100 sand dollars. It was just after a full moon so the tide was lower than mean. The shelling is good. Stocking Island has many well-maintained trails leading over to the ocean side of the island.

The next anchorage goes by several names, Volleyball beach or Chat n Chill. Both are descriptive. There is sand volleyball court and a beach restaurant called Chat n Chill a real Bahamian beach bar restaurant. This past Sunday a local historian came and talked about local customs and the history of the islands. A great place to relax and learn. The fact that we were drinking Kalik beers and eating conch salad didn’t hurt.

Monument is the next anchorage. It to is on the west side of Stocking Island. At the top of the hill sits a large concrete obelisk structure. The beach is nice and there are trails to the other side of the island. We have yet to explore more here.

Red Shanks is a very protected anchorage that requires some sight navigation to weave through some coral heads to enter the anchorage. When there you have the feeling you are out in the middle of nowhere, however you are only 2.5 miles from Georgetown. There are a lot of small island to dinghy around

Georgetown proper is on Great Exuma Island and offers services such as food store, restaurants, trash disposal and laundry.

We just finished up a week with Naomi and Hans. The visit was great. It’s so nice to spend quality time with the people who are important to us. This week Zach and Abe will be joining us.

This past week has also been memorable but in a negative sense. The first problem was a leaky generator. Hans and I spent several hours trying to fix it to no avail. The good news we found a fellow cruiser named Dave on a boat called Mist. He is from Tasmania and seems to be a most resourcefully mechanic. The boys are bringing us some supplies that should help us restore the generator to health. The next problem was less technical but not much fun to deal with. The out flow pipe from the aft heat was blocked. Hans and I tried for hours to unblock it but were unable to solve the problem. This meant that the hose had to be replaced. Sound simple but it is not. First hurdle is to procure the hose. No simple task in the rural Bahamas. After a 2.5 mile dinghy ride into town and visiting several business I found someone who had the hose. The problem was to find this place. I dinghy to where I was told to go but it wasn’t there. After having to drag the dinghy through the mud and hitch hiking to the store I had the hose. Next job installation. Working in very tight places we finally got it into place. It turns out that the pipe was full of mineral deposits narrowing the opening to nothing.

Today we said goodbye to Naomi and Hans. Tomorrow we welcome Zach and the next day Abe when we will be off to explore the area with them.

Geo Nova Under Sail from LI to G Town

Geo Nona At Anchor Stocking Island

The rocky Coast

A pristine beach