George Town, Great Exumas, is a cruiser's paradise.
It has all the amenities of home in a fun, carefree atmosphere. The dinghy dock is calm, convenient, holds many dinghies and has free reverse osmosis (RO) water! There are grocery stores with a continuous supply of fresh produce and great selections; a meat market where cuts are to your specifications and they pick you up and bring you back to the dock; propane is available at the power plant, at the dinghy dock, drop off at Namaan Forbes, or Rodney will pick it up and deliver it to your boat. There is a charge for trash, which is unusual in the Bahamas. Trash is $2 and located next to Red Boones next to the dinghy dock. Laundry is easy and affordable. Ask any cruiser and these are the things they want. But wait, there is more - restaurants, regattas, festivals, straw markets, farmers markets, volleyball, yoga, aqua fitness, dominoes, hammocks, hiking trails, reefs, lobster, conch, and a sense of community with a high participation cruisers' net each morning. Also, it is beautiful ... Yes, it's easy to put your anchor down and stay.
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Monument on top of Stocking Island across from George Town
Monument Beach is a popular anchorage |
George Town harbor is really Elizabeth Harbor, which is 9 miles long and 1 mile wide, and offers many small anchorages all around the harbor - Monument Beach, Sand Dollar Beach, Flip Flop Beach, and Hamburger Beach, to name a few. The harbor lies between Great Exuma Island and Stocking Island and typical depths are 8-10 feet. When the wind blows from the east all the boats move to the Stocking Island side for protection and calm water; then, when it blows from the west, the boats move to the George Town side. It's called the George Town shuffle. We chose to anchor near George Town and dinghy to either side. George Town had all the shops, and Stocking Island had all the fun. Plus we didn't mind a little rocking, as long as there wasn't any rolling, so the boat was comfortable.
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| View of George Town from our boat in the anchorage |
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Going into George Town on the dinghy you go under a little bridge
Watch out for traffic, incoming traffic has right of way. |
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Tie up at the floating dinghy dock with a long painter.
Free RO water on pole to the right. |
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Family Island Regatta is Bahamas island racing. It's near the government dock,
Notice the supply boat in the back ground. Deliveries almost daily. |
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Young Bahamian sailors practice for the Family Island Regatta.
They sail past our boat practicing. |
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Looking toward Stocking Island across the crystal clear blue harbor.
Notice the white caps, rocky but not rolly. |
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| Monument Beach anchorage |
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Beautiful beach on the 'other' side of Stocking Island, the Exuma Sound side.
When it was calm, we explored in the dinghy. |
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| Another beautiful beach on the Exuma Sound side. |
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In George Town, we saw 34 sunrises over Stocking Island.
We stayed awhile. |
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