Emerald Bay and George Town

February 27 – 28 The Marina at Emerald Bay

Tuesday February 27 we sailed until the wind gave out and then motored the balance of the way to the Marina at Emerald Bay.  I’m not quite sure what the history of the marina is, but I think it is/was part of a 500 acre Emerald Bay master plan that includes Sandals, a Greg Norman designed golf course and Roker Point Estates. Roker Point estates appears to have got as far as serviced lots with canals behind most lots at which one could dock ones boat.  Unfortunately only a couple of houses appear to have been built.  It may be because the entrance to the marina and canals is exposed to the northeast (next stop Africa) and even when it is relatively calm, a nasty surge that jerks the boat fore and aft and sideways against its mooring lines, continues to push its way into the marina.  We stayed two nights, provisioning during the day in between, and couldn’t leave quickly enough.    We did have a nice Bahamian buffet at the nearby Grand Isle Resort the first night, a real treat after quite a few nights on the anchor.

March 1 – 9

George Town, Exumas

Thursday March 1 we took the roller coaster ride over the swells out into Exuma Sound from the marina turned south and headed for Conch Cut, the entrance to Elizabeth Harbour aka George Town.  The charts have about five waypoints leading through the reefs which we followed while confirming by the colour of the water that we were not being led astray.  It continues to be a bit disconcerting transiting cuts to have breaking surf on either side while the water ahead and behind is relatively calm.  Safely into Elizabeth Harbour Aquila put on their AIS so we could find where they were anchored, and when we got over the number of boats anchored in the harbor (approx. 250 boats), we went to join them.  We’re not the greatest judging exactly where to put the anchor down to be far enough away from the boats ahead and behind, so it took us two tries to anchor, and even then we weren’t that happy with our positioning … oh well, everyone is close in George Town!  We stayed on the boat to make sure that we didn’t too close to anyone and called it a night. 

Next morning Karen noticed a power boat leaving, opening up what looked like a nice big spot so we quickly upped anchor to go and take their spot.  Five (really) tries later we were unable to get the anchor to hold (a first for our ROCNA) or we weren’t happy with our positioning, so we decided to move from Monument Beach down the harbour towards Chat n’ Chill aka Volleyball beach.  First try and we were set … a nice distance from everyone around us!  We spent the day cleaning the boat so it would look spiffy for Alyssa (and let’s face it, a good cleaning is necessary every once in a while), walked the beach, had a beer at Chat n’ Chill and then went to town to pick up Alyssa.  Very uncharacteristically for the Bahamas, her flight was early … so after hugs and kisses and a drink at Peace and Plenty (who couldn’t take us for dinner because three staff had failed to show) we strolled over to Blu at the yacht club and had a surprisingly good dinner.  And to top it off, they played an amazing mix of jazz during our meal!

The rest of the week is really a blur … in no particular order … climbing to the Monument originally used for navigation at 100 feet above sea level, and walking the beach on Stocking Island.

Stocking Island Monument

Drinks, Rummy Cube (a fun version of rummy with tiles) and cribbage with Aquila and Shooting Star at Chat n’ Chill.

Volleyball beach (Chat n' Chill) signpost

Dinghy ride to check out snorkeling spots in the harbour which due to wind and waves were pretty churned up; trips into George Town for shopping, water and fuel.

The Small Boat races organized by the George Town Cruising regatta, where Alyssa and I managed mid fleet finishes in the rubber dinghy Blind Rowing and rubber dinghy Downwind Sailing, where contestants had to create their rig using “whatever”. We fashioned a mast and sail much like the Optimist dinghy and definitely had the prettiest sail, having used a flowered bed sheet! Apparently no points were awarded for style though.

Tangled up with Shooting Star in Blind race

Late start to the downwind rubber dinghy race

Lunch at St. Francis Resort located on Stocking Island overlooking the anchorage.

Alyssa at St. Francis

A very relaxing (read long) lunch at the Lumina Point Resort Lookout restaurant.

Renting a car to drive around the island, punctuated by incredibly delicious “surf and turf” (a hamburger topped with cracked conch) burgers at Tropic Breeze restaurant on Little Exuma.

Alyssa and Hugh at Tropic Breeze

Tropic of Cancer beach

And sadly, leaving the boat at 0730 Friday morning to dinghy into town and drive Alyssa to the airport for her return trip home.  While we are sorry that we didn’t get to take Alyssa “up islands” to one of the smaller cays, we think we gave her a pretty good taste of what “winter camp for adults”  is like in George Town.  We loved having her aboard.

Next, we plan to head over to Cat Island on our way back up to the Abacos to meet Trevor and Kate. Not long after that our odyssey will end with the boat on the hard in Fort Pierce … even one day at a time, it’s all coming too quickly for me!