Sailing to George Town Bahamas

As forecast, we had another day of 10-12kts from the east-southeast and so we set off from Black Cay at 0815hrs. The conditions were lovely and we had a great beat down towards George Town.

En route we picked up a hitchhiker for a short time.

Looking back towards Conch Cay and the western entrance to the harbour

After beating for about 4 hours we approached Conch Cay and the northern entrance to Elizabeth Harbour.  Elizabeth Harbour is a large protected area, enclosed by Grand Exuma to the west and a number of smaller, off-lying islands to the east.  George Town itself is on Grand Exuma, about 4nm south of Conch Cay.

Careful pilotage so as not to go aground

Passing lots of yachts anchored off Stocking Island

Elizabeth Harbour is really shallow in places, often less than a metre deep, and the channel south from Conch Cay toward George Town winds considerably around the sandbanks and shallows.  With no significant rise and fall of tide to speak of we piloted BV in very carefully, sticking closely to the recommended route, a wavy pink line on our chart.  The route took us past lots of yachts anchored in the lee of Stocking Island. It’s a busy place and we saw more yachts here than we had seen in any other part of the Bahamas so far.

Seawind with Restless anchored right beside her and George Town in the background

As we made our way in from the north, we used the AIS to track Sea Wind making her entry to the anchorage off George Town from the other direction.  They got to the anchorage before us and were all settled, anchored close to Restless, owned by some old friends of Lars, by the time we arrived.  We put in an orbit to check out the depths whilst simultaneously waving hello and accepting their immediate invitation to come over for a beer and a catch-up.

It was great to see Lars and Susanne again.  We had last seen them in Dominica about 13 months before and it was wonderful to spend the afternoon with them, hearing of their many adventures, in particular of their diving exploits in Bonaire and the USVIs.

And with diving in mind, we started to hatch a plan to do some diving and snorkelling together over the next few days.

George Town, Bahamas