May 22, 2006 – Georgetown to Warderick Wells

We continued to enjoy Georgetown and stayed for a few more days, hoping that friends from home might join us for a day or two, and waiting for Side By Side, good friends from Venezuela, to catch up with us. Our friends from home didn’t make it, and just as well, as the weather turned nasty for a few days. A cold front came through, bringing with it periods of strong wind and heavy rain. Fortunately, our anchor held tight and we got nothing more than a good washdown and some bouncing around. We moved across to the west side of the harbour, closer to town, for protection from the westerly wind, and took advantage of the location to finish up our shopping and provisioning, then when the wind dropped, moved back again to the more scenic east side.

Side By Side arrived, having had a miserable night at anchor with 57 kt. winds, then a trip into 40 knots of wind on the nose to get into Georgetown. We were so pleased to see them, as it had been over a year since we last connected in Puerto la Cruz. Since they arrived a week ago, we have enjoyed several evenings of movies and games, and have eaten far too much at potlucks and birthday parties.

We were sad to say goodbye to Keith and Eva, who are still waiting in Georgetown for the part we unsuccessfully tried to bring back for them when we returned from Vancouver. Eva is a very hot volleyball player, and it was fun to watch her high energy games on Volleyball Beach.

One evening before we left, two men came by in a dinghy and invited us to a wedding, taking place an hour later on their boat. The captain of the boat had obtained, over the internet, a license to perform marriages, so that he could perform the ceremony for his friends who were vacationing with him and wanted to be married on the boat. I guess at the last minute they decided they should have some witnesses, so they threw an impromptu party. It was quite amazing to see that two people could get married so easily, and we can’t help wondering how legal it would be. Anyway, we said a prayer for their happiness, and enjoyed meeting some new and interesting people.

On our last night in Georgetown, Keith and Eva hosted a potluck for eight on their big catamaran, Seaview. The downside of owning the biggest boat is that you get to host all the parties! There we met Margie, a new widow, who has chosen to stay on the boat to continue cruising with the help of her daughter. I wondered how she managed on her own, and she answered that she could read manuals as well as any man. We were sorry that our acquaintance would be so short, as she was lovely and very clever. She was intending to go south to Luperon (D.R.) for the hurricane season.

On Saturday morning we left Georgetown with Side by Side (SxS), and had a lovely sail in cool, cloudy weather, 35 miles up the east side of the island chain, where we entered Little Farmers Cut, and anchored behind the island. We went ashore to walk around this picturesque, tiny community (population 50), where the people were friendly, attractive, and optimistic about the future of the Bahamas.

Sunday gave us an even better sail on a beam reach in flat calm water, where we averaged 6.5 knots even with light winds. When a line of black clouds and squalls overtook us, we dropped the sails and motored the last two hours to Warderick Wells, Exuma Land and Sea National Park. This was one of our favorite stops on the way south, and it is still just as beautiful. The sunset was spectacular as we dinghied over to Side By Side last evening. Today we went to park headquarters where we checked in, exchanged books, and signed up for internet, before meeting Tony, Bente, and Dorothy (SxS) for some snorkeling on the reef.

We are feeling very ambivalent about our trip as we get closer to home. We are now on a track where we meet other cruisers heading in the same direction, so the trip has become more sociable again. But the weather is pushing us along, with hurricane season officially opening June 1. Still, we hate to hasten the end of our cruising experience in these beautiful tropical islands. We have one more night at anchor en route to Nassau, then two more before crossing the Gulf Stream to Florida.