We have been in Georgetown for three months and while we haven’t written many blog entries, there are quite a few pictures on my Facebook page. The link for that is near the top of the right hand column of this website.

While in Georgetown, we made a lot of new friends, kept busy but also found time to relax, and had fun learning to play Texas Hold’em poker. With two months remaining before we have to be back in the States we will leave this week to start heading north. Instead of going up the Exuma chain of islands and crossing to Eleuthera as we usually do, our first stop will be Cat Island and then we’ll work our way up to Eleuthera and Spanish Wells. We’ve never taken this route, but have been told we’ll enjoy Cat Island. I’m sure we will.

A few weeks ago, we took a one week trip south to Long Island and stayed in our favorite anchorage, Joe Sound. We went with most of our poker buddies in four boats,  so there was poker playing almost every night.  The first day we went to Cape Santa Maria, while we were anchored nearby in Calabash Bay, for a delicious lobster salad. One day we rented a van with Tom, Cathie, Vivian and Rena. Dennis and Chris stayed aboard All In and watched Sailor and Zorro. Zorro is a Portuguese Water Dog who lives on MV All In. Sailor met him shortly after we arrrived here and they have developed a very special bond. On our car trip, we visited Stella Maris Resort, had lunch at a roadside restaurant, visited Dean’s Blue Hole (deepest blue hole in the world), had rum punch and Kalik beer at Max’s Conch Bar and Grill, and ended the day with a gourmet dinner at Chez Pierre.

Dean’s Blue Hole, 663 feet deep:

Natural salt water pool at Stella Maris Resort:

View of the Atlantic Ocean from Stella Maris overlook:

Drinks at Max’s Conch Bar and Grill:

Chez Pierre Restaurant:

Joe Sound is a unique anchorage, but not for the faint of heart. The entrance is narrow with a rock ledge on one side and a sand ledge on the other. Seas the Day is almost 25 feet wide, so we have to watch very carefully as we enter and exit with only a few feet on each side. In the Sound, the current is very strong and the anchored boats reverse direction with the tidal change.

The anchorage is a narrow channel able to hold about ten boats. There are four local boats permanently anchored there. At high tide Joe Sound is a large body of water. At low tide numerous beaches appear until the tide comes in again. The scenery changes almost by the minute. The beautiful turquoise water is crystal clear and the sand feels like sifted flour. Below are photos of the crescent shaped anchorage and the Sound at low and high tide. The low and high tide photos are taken from our boat looking at the same location.

When the tide was low we took Sailor, our chairs, a beach umbrella and something to drink to the beach near our anchored boats. The water was the same temperature as the air, 80 degrees.

Sailor and Zorro enjoyed the low tide beaches as much, or more, than we did. Here are a few pictures of them having fun. In the first picture, notice that all eight feet are off the ground as they race down the beach. In the last picture you can imagine them saying, “OK buddy. What should we do next?”

The night before we left Joe Sound we discovered the port rudder was not turning. Mark was able to temporarily fix it. We weren’t looking forward to going through the narrow cut but all was well and it looks like we’ll be fine until we get back to Florida where we can get a part for it. Of course with two engines we could use the throttles to turn the boat but it’s much easier using the wheel.

Tomorrow we’ll dinghy across the harbor to do some provisioning before we leave and fill our tanks with some free water. I’ll also visit Vanria’s Salon to have my hair cut. Mark has done a good job in the past but it has been nice to have a stylist do it while we were in Georgetown.

There is so much we like about Georgetown, but most of all we’ll miss the new friends we have made here. Ask almost anyone who is on a boat and they’ll tell you that the best part of cruising is the people they meet. Every Saturday night we hosted Texas Hold’em on Seas the Day. Since we have two large tables, one in the cockpit and one in the salon, we could easily have 12 people sitting comfortably. As we would get to the end of the game we’d go to one table and sometimes the “losers” would play at the other table. Usually we had friends from five other boats moored with us in Hole 2. On  Saturday we had our last poker game and as usual had lots of laughs, ate delicious snacks, and enjoyed playing with each other. Using a timer on a camera, we captured a great shot of our happy group.

Of course we have enjoyed many stunning sunrises and sunsets while we have been in the Bahamas. We even saw the “green flash” while anchored in Calabash Bay (before we entered Joe Sound) in Long Island. Neither Mark or I had ever seen one and the first night it was spectacular with a very large green flash as the sun set over the water and the green flash even came back a second time before disappearing. The second night we saw it again! Now we are believers.

On Easter Sunday we joined a few friends on the Exuma Sound (aka ocean) beach. We almost missed it but luckily Sailor woke us up by ringing his “poochie bell” to go outside. We were able to race in our dinghy the short distance to a small beach and follow the path over the hill to catch the sun as it came up over the water, a fitting end to our time in Georgetown. We feel very blessed to have worked hard our whole lives to afford this lifestyle and be healthy enough to enjoy it. There is no doubt that the cruising lifestyle is one reason we are healthy.

We are waiting for good weather to leave here, probably in a few days, and sail (more likely motorsail) about 50 miles to Cat Island. We’ll be going with our good friends and boat buddies Cathie and Tom (Interlude). Sailor doesn’t realize that he will be leaving behind his BFF Zorro since they are staying here another month. Sailor’s beach visits won’t be the same. Gone will be the rides to the beach as they stare at each other from their dinghies, then chasing each other back and forth, fetching balls, and of course rolling in the sand.