Trek down to Georgetown

2.9.11

We left Black Point Monday morning after catching up on our laundry. We almost turned around once we got out there, but toughed it out – it ended up being a motorbash!! We were going dead into the wind and the waves, choppy and confused, were slamming into our bow every few seconds. It was annoying and stressful at first, but as with all things sailing, you grow accustomed to it and soon it just became a rhythm that we slipped into.
We made it down to Cave Cay, a small island that was in the works for becoming a large resort. We anchored outside and then dinghied into their protective harbour. We docked and were greeted by the construction workers, who filled our jerry cans and told us about the construction. The project was supposed to be completed 15 years ago – they had been on the island for 18 years total. The island started as just an area of sand at low tide and they dredged all around the island and dredged the harbour to form what is now a decent sized island. There were a few houses built that would later be part of the resort and the crew of 5 lived in those while they were finishing the project. It didn't seem like a bad gig -they get to live in beautiful cliffside resort houses, go out lobstering and fishing most afternoons and explore the many caves around on their days off. None of the boys there seemed to mind their job at all!
Tuesday we headed down to Lee Stocking Island in hopes of visiting the Research Center – they give guided tours of the facility to cruisers. We had a beautiful day, although there was no wind. We went into the Exuma Sound for the first time and had glass-like conditions. We could see straight through the beautiful turquoise blues to the bottom up until we hit 70 feet of water!! It was amazing! I also hooked up our fishing rod and we trolled all day, hoping to catch a Mahi! No luck. But, despite the fact that we had to motor, the weather was gorgeous and we had a great day.
We had trouble anchoring around the harbour at Lee Stocking because it was all shoal – our anchor would not bite. We attempted to anchor twice and then decided we might as well head farther around and pick up a mooring ball. On our way over to the ball, we were finally able to reach the research center on the VHF - much to our dismay, they only give tours Tuesday and Friday morning; we had missed it!
We decided instead of going farther into the harbour, we would backtrack and anchor out near the cut so that in the morning we would able to get up and go.
Wednesday we awoke to perfect sailing conditions and we were itching to get out into the Sound. We quickly loaded the outboard onto the mothership so it wouldn't weigh the dinghy down and made a beeline for deeper water.
What a perfect sailing day! Winds were off our beam at 15 knots and we were speeding along at around 6 knots – at this pace we would be in Georgetown by lunchtime! The weather was great, the wind was perfect and we just sat back and enjoyed the day.
We made it to Georgetown by about 1pm and just as we were about to head into the cut, we got a bite on our line! We were so excited, but when we saw the fish jump out of the water behind our boat we both groaned. We had hooked a barracuda. Ugh. We had thought about pulling the line in a few minutes prior, but hadn't...and now we were going to pay for it!
I got the gloves and a pair of pliers and reeled him in. But when I got him to the boat I realized how big he was – upwards of 30 pounds! And feisty! He was flailing and diving and jumping – no way was I going to stick my hands near him when he was so angry! So I paid the line back out and we drug him the last few miles into the Elizabeth harbour. Once we were in calmer waters, I put on a pair of tennis shoes, stepped carefully on the back transom, pulled him back onto the boat, put my footon him and pulled the hook out. He was much more tired by that point and barely put up a fight. I thought he might not make it, but as soon as I kicked him back into the water he shook it off and high tailed it back to deeper waters. Well, at least we knew our line worked! Hopefully next time we will catch something edible!
We wound our way into the treacherous Elizabeth Harbour entrance and were greeted by hundreds of sticks – we were looking at over 200 masts, all crammed into this small harbour! It was unbelievable! I couldn't believe so many boats were in one place! This is the farthest south that most cruisers travel with many of them staying here for the entire season.
We opted to drop anchor in one of the first anchorages instead of going through the maze of boats. We set the anchor, set our boat up for the next few days and then sat outside and took in our surroundings. Much to our surprise, we were anchored right beside our friends “Quality Time”! What a small world! We joined them for sundowners and dinner – a great welcoming to the harbour. Tomorrow we work on the boat and get her cleaned up for the next leg of our journey.