Christmas Winds & New Years in Georgetown Bahamas

Picture: Stop to admire the view and a wind surfer on our walk around Lake Victoria in Georgetown.

On Christmas Eve we baked white and sweet potatoes and mixed up the innards to make twice baked for the Christmas day potluck. Tom is a master at the white and Anita used a simple recipe for the sweet, just add 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and butter, dash of salt & pepper and then garnish with a pecan half and bacon bits. Both were a big hit and delicious!

Anita also made a pull apart party bread that came out a bit too dense, but was still tasty.

Christmas Day was the beginning of a five day stretch of strong east winds; over 20 Knots and often gusting above 30. The first couple of days were also rather wet with scattered rain showers. The organizer of the potluck decided to cancel the beach part of the potluck due to the probability of rain. Plan B was to have the small groups meet on host boats. Our group met on Boatel I a 65 foot trawler that is a top-rated bed and breakfast in Toronto Canada in the summertime. Note the picture of the trawler was not taken on Christmas Day, although the picture of us was.

We are not like most other boaters in Georgetown, though there are some like us who move their homes or mothership to the locations where events will happen and plan on short dinghy rides. Most have large tenders/dinghies with big outboards. The change of venue was made after the wind had picked up. Our group had a brief radio discussion about meeting time and location (more than a mile away) for our potluck and we mentioned a concern about our dinghy range into the strong winds. Bill on Charisma offered to pick us up in his dinghy on his way by. This turned out to be a rather wet and very bouncy adventure! Cruisers here have a habit of steering their tenders while standing up and holding the tiller in one hand and the bow rope (called a painter) in the other. Passengers either stand, kneel or hide in the bottom of the boat. We did the latter trying unsuccessfully to keep the hot potatoes and insulated bag on the bow seat. We dried quickly and at least the water is warm! The return trip back was downwind and much drier though still a bit of spray.

Sorry to say I did not take pictures of the wonderful array of food we had. Everything was absolutely delicious: grilled turkey, cold baked ham, green bean casserole, orzo salad, cabbage salad, two kinds of stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce plus the twice baked potatoes and dinner rolls! Topped off by dessert bars and Christmas cookies and candy canes.

The next day is also a holiday here, Boxing Day. So all businesses are still closed. However, we decided to move over to the town anchorage as we had hoped it would be more sheltered. We soon learned it was not at all sheltered. We stayed aboard all day Wednesday and Thursday as it was too rough to attempt getting in the dinghy. Nights were restless due to bouncing and the heat with hatches closed due to rain showers. By Friday we were anxious to get our feet on terra firma, yup we are gonna get wet coming back to the boat, prepare!

We were on a mission! We spent three hours at the BTC mobile office. We first purchased a SIM chip for the iPAD and later a data plan. We will use this as a hotspot when we need faster service than we get with T-Mobile. Then we found a corner to plug in 2 devices at a time and began doing updates on systems and apps on phones, watch and iPAD.

Then we took a walk around lake Victoria to stretch our legs and see the Far side of town. We checked out a few other places for lunch, but decided to go back to a favorite for charcoal grilled jerk ribs, so tasty and served with a small piece of corn on the cob and baked macaroni and cheese.

One more stop at the Exuma Market for groceries then a wet dinghy ride back to the boat. This was one time I should have used plastic grocery bags; my cloth bags were soaked in salt water. Here’s a 10 second video of Tom’s new and improved water transfer system which he did right after returning to the boat. You can see how bouncy it was!

Thanks Dan on Cutting Class for the picture and idea to make this task easier! Tom still plans a few more modifications to prevent the hose from kinking.

Tom started the next boat project: installing an electric anchor windlass. The hole is cut in the deck, foam core routed out, and reinforced with epoxy and filler. He still needs one more finish coat of epoxy and to design, cut and install an interior backing plate. Then the windlass and foot switches can be installed! The electric wires are already in.

We made one more quick trip to town on Saturday morning to use the WiFi in front of the closed BTC office to update computer software, buy those sweet little bananas, and fill the water cans one more time.

Then we raised two anchors; we had dropped a spare when the winds were over 30! And motored back over to Stocking Island. This time we found a really nice anchorage next to the moorings in the channel toward the three holes. The music from the Chat and Chill was not as loud here and we were around the corner in more protected waters.

After beach church on Sunday we moved Lone Star a couple miles down island to Sand Dollar beach. We joined about 60 other cruisers for an early New Years sunset celebration, blowing into conch shells and a bonfire on the beach with lots of appetizers.

We plan to sail to Long Island, Conception, and perhaps Rum Cay as soon as we finish installing the windlass.