Georgetown, Great Exuma, Bahamas

Ocean Gem
Geoff & Eileen Mander
Wed 14 Jan 2015 15:50

Date: Wednesday 14th January 2015

Position: 23:31.155N 75:45.546W

 

We eventually stayed about a week in the anchorage opposite Georgetown.  The first few days were spent just enjoying the location, but then some stronger winds came through so we waited for more favourable conditions before continuing.  Our next few legs through the outer islands of the Bahamas would be through open ocean, against the prevailing wind and currents and with very few places to stop so we had to have a reasonable weather window before continuing.

 

What can I say about Georgetown?  Every year it hosts a unique community of cruising sailors, most of whom sail south from the US or Canadian waters to arrive sometime around Xmas and then return to northern waters around April time. Many boats make the round trip annually over an extended period of many years and there are networks of like-minded folk who form social sub-groups.  All sorts of organised social activities take place including daily volley ball competitions on a local beach. There were about 300 boats anchored there according to someone who took it upon themselves to zip around the anchorages counting the boats and then reporting the numbers on the VHF radio net that was broadcast each morning. It was a bit off a zoo really, good fun for a limited period but definitely not somewhere you want to be stuck for an extended period.