We left Emerald Bay and made our way to George Town. It was a short 10 mile sail, but long enough for us to make fresh water to top off our tanks.
George Town is a major cruising hub and for many, this is their end destination. Many drop their anchor and stay in George Town until the hurricane season chases them away. For others, this is a great resting and resupply stop before moving on.
As we pulled in, I was shocked at how many boats were already here. I haven’t seen this many AIS targets on my chart plotter since New York. Who knew there were so many other people living on boats like this.
There are many places to anchor in the George Town area. Since I don’t have a go fast dingy, I wanted to be closer to Lake Victoria and the town dingy dock. You can anchor in front of the Lake Victoria entrance, but with the prevailing easterlies, it’s always rough. That spot is mostly occupied by rowers, the cruisers who don’t have a motor on their dingy, or they have an electric motor that can’t make it to and from the more protected anchorages.
I do have a motor, so we anchored at the closest protected anchorage, Stocking Island just off the famous bar restaurant Chat ‘N Chill.
Since Chat N Chill is on Stocking island, a boat is the only way to get their. It’s all powdery white sand and you beach your dingy and tie up to anything. They picnic tables shaded by pine trees, volleyball nets, and walking ropes. The conch hut thats on the beach is constantly throwing scraps into the water, feeding the friendly rays. They have many events scheduled, and a lot of folks come and hang out, no need to buy anything. In the evenings, the light a bonfire to try and keep the no-see-ems at bay.
Since George Town is a major hub, you run into a lot of folks here. On our first day, while we were walking down the road, we ran into Knot Head. It’s nice to know that he made it. We lost track of each other when we changed phone numbers when we got to The Bahamas. We exchanged updated numbers and I’m sure we’ll be seeing him some more this winter.
The next day we ran into friends we met in Alice Town in Eleuthera. Since they’re regulars, they pointed out the good stuff. Later that day, we ran into a young couple and their 3 kids we met in Spanish Wells. Living on a boat is hard, I can’t imagine doing it with a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old.
We even ran into famous people. While we were shopping, I turned the corner and there was Sheryl Shard from the Canadian TV series Distant Shores. I wanted a picture, but I’m sure they get a lot of that and are tired of it, so I left them alone.
Shopping in George Town is supposed to be the best outside of Nassau, but I prefer Rock Sound. There are 2 stores in downtown that good, but the best is the Prime Island Meats, but it’s over 3 miles out of town.
After shopping we decided to go for a walk on one of the trails on Stocking island. We also stopped at Chat ‘N Chill to see what’s going on.
Kurt & Sue Sail 