Wet dinghy ride to visit George Town

Tuesday 18 Feb, BHS day 49: Walk through George Town, food shopping, and VHF DSC problems.

We were glad we took down our large sunshade last evening. The wind was gusting 20kts in the early hours.
After breakfast we take the 1.2nm dinghy ride across the bay to George Town, along with Ian and Michelle. With the cross wind and waves we get soaked with spray, but Oana was smart enough (as usual!) to wear her “CSI” coat. She calls it that because it’s a long white coat and makes it look like she’s about to investigate a crime scene 🙂

As we get close to the town the choppy seas are at their worst with the waves reflecting off the town shoreline. The entrance to the inner pool is only 3m wide, under a low road bridge. Waves crashing one side, total calm the other. It makes for an interesting entrance and we very nearly collide with one of the side walls as I try to control the dinghy. Considering there are over 300 boats in the anchorage there are only a handful of dinghies at the town dinghy dock, situated into this protected pool. Maybe we should have been smart like the other cruisers and come over in the water taxi rather than dinghy? Still, we saved ourselves $30 and I got a free salt water shower. Oana jokes that she can rinse lots of clothes for $30!

We wander through the colourful but rather shabby little town and comment that it’s pretty much like any other Caribbean town, unlike other settlements we have seen in Bahamas, that were much tidier. We pass the “cruisers supermarket” which is right next to the dinghy dock and it is (as we have been informed by other cruisers) rather empty. A shop attendant tells us the food boat came in and they might have some of the fresh produce on the shelves by 4pm.

Our first stop is the newly opened Driftwood Cafe where we sit and indulge ourselves in their air conditioning. It’s a very nice place, quite upmarket by the Caribbean standards, even if a little expensive.
While having coffee we comment on how the locals are generally not making too much effort to get business from the 300 anchored yachts. Yes, there is the water taxi service and bars, but why not have delivery services to the boats, like seafood, water, pump outs, ice-cream, laundry etc. Or maybe cruising folks are just too tight with their money compared to charter yachts we’ve seen in other islands (there are zero chart yachts here).

After coffee, we visit the Peace & Plenty hotel across the road, which has a wonderful view from its pool terrace across to the anchorage and electric blue water in-between. It is a rather basic hotel, with no beach, and as we see guests checking in we wonder if they even realized what they booked. Just doesn’t have the Bahamas feel or look to it. Maybe we come back for evening drinks one day.
We also briefly stop in the hardware store, Top to Bottom, which from the outside looks like a container. But once inside, is one of those Aladdin’s cave shops, with lots of very useful items. Only one item on our shopping list, underwater epoxy, but they do not have this product so we walk away empty handed.

Our next stop takes us a little out of town. Oana has spotted a resort on a beached peninsula. The walk up the busy road feels a bit precarious, almost like we ae no longer used to traffic! It turns out that the fancy looking resort is actually a half finished project, now just rotting away to elements. The shells and roofs of all the buildings are complete, with first fixing of plumbing and electrics completed, but then just abandoned. By the rust and corrosion it must have been like this for at least 10 years. It’s yet another failed resort project to add to the many others we have seen in the general Caribbean. And we wonder why this one was never completed. Was it a money laundering scam? Drugs money that ran out? A corruption squabble? Who knows. But one thing for certain, these wasted projects are all an environmental disaster which seriously uglify the natural beauty wherever we see them. And they are everywhere in these islands. So sad these beautiful islands and subject to human mess.

Back in town we stop at the customs office to get information about checking out formalities. Then pop into the Exuma Supermarket, the cruisers supermarket right next to the dinghy dock, to see what they have. Not to our surprise, the fresh fruit and veg shelves are all empty. But the delivery boat has arrived this morning and apparently the shelves will be replenished by 4pm, or tomorrow.
So we continue through the town, looking for a place to rent scooters. We are sent from one place to another and finally end up at Bal Sounds, only to find they closed at 1pm.
We also visit the next supermarket way further in town, where locals shop, which at least has some things to buy. And we are pleasantly shocked at how inexpensive it is compared to other Bahamian food stores. Maybe even cheaper than USA prices.

By now we are rather hot, so the four of us settle into a street bar for a cool beer. The atmosphere is quite nice and it soon turns into couple beers each and lunch.
During lunch we announce our latest thinking of end of season plan. Plan-A was to get to Panama by March and head through to the Pacific by April. That’s now out because we’ve spent so long in the Bahamas. Plan-B was to sail upwind and summer-haul the boat in Trinidad, returning in autumn and sailing to Panama via the ABCs. But that upwind passage (or the “thorny passage” as it’s called) is not too appealing, plus Trinidad is a bit more expensive than we thought.
The newly hatched plan-C is to head back up to Chesapeake and summer haul in Herrington again. Then high-tail it to Panama in the early autumn. And why mention this to Ian and Michelle? Well, Ian is looking for someone to help him across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in May/June, starting from the Chesapeake. So with my visa already granted by Oana, I offer to help him. A west-to-east crossing would be both interesting and a good experience. So for now, the plan is in the incubator, let’s see how it develops. We’ll likely be up to plan D, E, …..G before the end of the season!

Appropriately numbed by the beer and sun, we head to the supermarket, which by now has its fresh produce shelves full. Perfect timing because it looks like the word is not yet out. We had expected a mad rush, but it’s actually still quiet. We walk out adequately provisioned with fresh produce, all at reasonable prices, and head to the dinghy which is conveniently located just a few metres away.
The ride back was clearly going to be wet, so I offered Oana to take the water taxi, exempting me from later prosecution 🙂 but she declined. We brace ourselves heading back out through the narrow entrance into the choppy seas that are now coming against us. Within the first 50m we, and the shopping, are all soaked! But once wet, there is really no problem getting even wetter as we go back to Cloudy in our bumpy wet ride, giggling and taking video.
First thing to do when we get on board is soak and rinse all our cloths. But the provisioning is done and out of the way which is a good thing. Maybe we go back for a top up later, but if we don’t manage to, we certainly have enough on board to get us to Grand Cayman.

During the evening, while Oana works on blog, photos and video editing, I tackle our VHF. Ian has called me on Ship to Ship DSC and I had received it OK. But when I tried to DSC call him back, it did not work. I tried another boat and same problem. So our Furuno VHF does not seem to be transmitting DSC, which is a bit worrying for an emergency situation. I take out and connect our emergency (spare) antenna but it still does not work.
Yet when listening on Ch70 on my hand held VHF I clearly hear our radio transmit a call signal. I just cannot work out why others cannot receive it? Puzzled, I finally give up. Looks like I need an electronics technician. Or more likely the VHF radio will need to go for repair. Anyway, glad we discovered this issue. We never normally use DSC so it wouldn’t have been good to discover the problem only when we need to transmit an emergency situation. Which of course we hope will never happen.