The settlement of George Town is welcoming and hospitable to boaters and geared to supplying cruisers with provisions and other essentials. It is small, but packed with businesses catering to the boating community. It is like a mini Nassau, you can find almost any grocery or supply item, at a price of course, most items run anywhere from 25% to 100% more than what you would pay in the US. Thankfully, we did a good job of provisioning in the U.S. and have limited needs. It is fun to go into town and just poke around in the shops. There is a straw market in town where you can purchase straw baskets of all sorts. The women who work the market, sit in the square weaving their baskets and display their goods. They create such beautiful pieces.
Kidd Cove, so named for Captain Kidd, boarder the town where many boaters find it convenient to anchor. It is shallow and somewhat tricky to manuever in and out of Kidd Cove, so we never attempted it. The dingy was a suitable transport for us when we needed provisions and supplies from town. Most boaters felt the same way as you can tell from the crowded dingy dock in town.
With so many boats in the harbor, the water here is less than crystal clear, so we would hike over to the Exuma Sound side of the island to swim. The sound beach is long and wide with beautiful white powder soft sand. The water is all shades of blue and clear to the bottom to about 30 feet. The water is shallow close to the beach with lots of sand bars, making swimming here delightful. There are some rocks just off the beach side which create tidal pools and great swimming holes. We enjoyed walking the beach and then swimming in one of the many shallow areas. As a matter of fact, our favorite spot is long and narrow, with a rock wall protecting us from the deeper sound water. It resembles an Olympic size pool!
The big event in George Town is the regatta and festival kicked off on March 6th and wrapped up on March 13th. The festivities kicked off with a dance, the theme was ‘Prom Night’. There was a conch blowing contest for kids and adults, dance contests, a bonfire, and lots of fun for all.
The week was packed with fun and Monica certainly enjoyed the week and participated in many of the events. In addition to her team winning second place in the sand sculpture contest, she got to crew in the main regatta aboard a Stevens 47' by the name of 'Tookish'. Although they did not win the race, they sure had fun. The scavenger hunt on the final day of Regatta week provided big challenges and lots of laughs for all. The week wrapped up with a variety show in which many of the cruisers participated. We were amazed to find so much talent in the cruising community.
My brother John flew in to George Town to spend a week on board with us. We had planned to spend a few days in George Town, then make our way to one of the out islands close by. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate keeping us in George Town for the week, which was fine as we all enjoyed ourselves. We took long hikes over Stocking Island off which we were anchored, snorkeled on the reefs in the harbor, swam and walked the sound beaches, and thoroughly enjoyed our evening happy hours complete with rum punch and conch blowing.
After he returned home, John put an email together for our parents recounting his visit with us. John, a professional journalist, has a way with words and his description of the week spent in George Town is worth the read. Please continue on to the next page to read his account, describing his week in George Town.