February 12-18, 2023
The clock is ticking as Teri and Scott wrap up their time with us. We are heading towards Georgetown, which is where the Hansens will catch a flight to their next adventure. While we’re here, we’ll do some provisioning and a bit of exploring, too.
Sunday, February 12
We hauled anchor and moved from Lee Stocking island (where the Marine Research Center and caretakers cottage are located) to an area near Rolleville in the Exumas.
Once we anchored, we dropped the dinghy and went to an all-you-eat buffet at Exuma Beach Point Bar & Grill ($25/pp). It was quite the variety of choices for us after such limited storage space on the boat – we enjoyed fried chicken, BBQ ribs, pulled pork, baked chicken, rice & beans, sliced chicken, corn, and a vegetable medley (cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, onions).
Afterwards, we explored the nearby cave of a man who lived on the island for years… He made the cave his home and lived there for years until his death.
Bringing just two small pieces of luggage on the boat felt minimalistic to me, but seeing how this man voluntarily lived took things to a whole new level.
Kudos to him, because I could not have done it!
Monday, February 13
Wind is a funny thing… 18 knots on the water can make things treacherous in a hurry. However, 18 knots is the equivalent of about 20.5 MPH on land, and that’s not something we take much notice of. That is just one more way boat life has changed my perspective.
We had a quiet boat day, where our only accomplishment was Paul cleaning the conch. Once we pulled it from the freezer and tugged gently, it easily separated from the shell and Paul got to work cleaning it.
Look at how big it was once it came out of the shell!
Unfortunately, we waited too long, and the conch was no longer safe to eat, so it became seafood. (See what I did there?) 🤓
We gave up on our conch meal and instead decided to explore another small uninhabited island, hiking all around it. It never gets old and I have come to enjoy the solitude.
Tuesday, February 14
Today, we made a brief run, anchoring right on the outskirts of Georgetown. I think the funniest thing I heard today came from Scott. As we came around a bend, we saw all these boat masts off in the distance, and Scott exclaimed “Look at all those sticks!”
He was right.. there were SO MANY boat masts — what seemed like hundreds of ‘sticks’ on the waters surrounding Georgetown in the Exumas.
Once we found a spot to anchor, we dropped the dinghy and went into town where we wandered for a bit, had a beer (or two) and found this cute public library. I can’t even recall which island this was on, so I’m going solely by the date stamp and assuming it was in Georgetown somewhere. All I know is that we had a good time!
Wednesday, February 15
Today was brought to you by the letter L. L is for LAUNDRY.
Teri put her foot down and said we HAD to do laundry as she was out of everything clean- including underwear, so adult responsibilities took precedence today.
We loaded up the dinghy with our laundry and ourselves and slowly made our way to Georgetown to a local laundromat, where we spent the morning getting laundry done.
After THREE weeks without laundry facilities, it took about 2.5 – 3 hours to get everyone’s laundry done. But I didn’t mind spending a few hours at the laundromat- it’s not like have any other demands on my time. 🌊☀️🏝
All the adulting WORE US OUT (just kidding!)
I didn’t take a picture of the actual washers and dryers, but I should have, because the dryers literally had orange flames shooting out the tops… it was absolutely crazy to see. Despite the flaming appliances, we survived our laundry adventures, and even had some fun while doing it!
Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with lunch at Driftwood Cafe Exuma. It’s a place that Bry had wanted to try yesterday, but it had been closed in the late afternoon when we had walked by. We really enjoyed lunch there, and afterward, we made another liquor store run and another grocery store run. We ended our hijinks with a shirt island hike adventure with Bry, Stu, Teri & Scott.
Thursday, February 16
Today was yet another island hike adventure, and we explored the area around Moriah Harbour Cay National Park. The pictures speak for themselves…
Friday, February 17
Saturday, February 18
We’ve gotten in the habit of turning to the cruisers travel network on channel 72 at 8:00 a.m.
It offers a plethora of information- including the time of the sunrise and sunset, high tides and a weather forecast. They also offer a convenient way to connect with others to coordinate ride-sharing to/from the airport, as well as local business announcements and shout-outs. Announcements are broken down into categories: community updates, boaters general information, Regatta updates, taxi corner, buy/trade/sell, new arrivals, new business and the Thought for the Day.
Today, Scott and Teri depart for their next adventure. For their final day in Georgetown, the six of us went to lunch at Driftwood Café again. It was a disappointing experience today with really slow service and indifferent servers. It was one of those occasions when you could tell the owners were not on site.
After lunch, we walked around Georgetown, checking out the various businesses, then stopped to enjoy one last cocktail before Scott & Teri caught a taxi to the airport.
Afterwards, Paul and I decided that the day would best be spent doing a few errands, so we knocked out the errands, then we went back to the boat and did nothing for the rest of the day.
It was eerily quiet without Teri & Scott, but we know they have some seriously fun adventures awaiting them, so we are wishing them lots more fun, even if it’s not with us!
