The island to the east of George Town, Exumas is called Stocking Island. There are many beaches on this lovely island and lots of places to anchor nearby. For most of our time in the George Town area, we anchored Sava near, and got stuck on Stocking Island.
Stocking Island Exumas
Since this is a big area for cruisers, we tried to participate as much as possible to meet other sailors and learn from them. We went to the places they go, tuned in to the net and went to events for cruisers.
The Daily Cruisers’ net
Every morning at 8am, we tune in to the George Town cruisers’ net on VHF 72. This 30 minute conversation is led by one volunteer sailor and all the other boaters participate.
We arrived in George Town last Thursday. George Town is the capital of The Exumas, where we’ve been sailing the last couple of weeks. It’s a popular spot for cruisers, with great anchorages, beautiful scenery and a lot of amenities. If you come here, especially by boat, read on for places to go in George Town, Bahamas.
Nassau to George Town map
About George Town
George Town is a town on the island of Great Exuma and is the capital of the Exumas. It is the site of an annual sailing regatta, but we were about a week late for that event. Even so, when we arrived in George Town there were 100s of boats in the area, and fortunately lots of different spots to anchor.
A view of one of the anchorages near George Town Bahamas
Overstaying in George Town
We had planned to stay less than a week but circumstances change. We were waiting for a part for our engine and our windlass broke yesterday. The windlass lifts and drops the anchor so we need to fix that! Yesterday morning we moved to an anchorage closer to town so we could pick up the part that was supposed to arrive. After dropping the anchor, the windlass started letting out more chain on its own. The control box wouldn’t work so we had to flip it off at the switch. Brian has been trying to fix it and only when he does are we leaving.
Here are our recommendations of places to go in George Town.
We all knew going into this that I had a huge amount to learn on this boat. Now it’s time for me to fess up and reveal the big mistakes I have made in my first months aboard Sava. I’ve made some mistakes on the sailboat, and I doubt they’ll be the last, but we’re still having fun!
Mooring
The Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park offers mooring ball facilities, which are generally more reliable than anchoring on your own. The mooring ball is attached to an anchor, and you attach your boat to the mooring ball. While Brian drives – slowly – as close as he can to the mooring ball, I am supposed to hook it and tie it up to our boat. Easier said than done.
One time, I caught the mooring but couldn’t hold it as we drove over it and I dropped the hook in the water. I grabbed our net and fished up the hook to try again. Then I caught the mooring and broke off a piece of the hook. By this point, a man in a nearby boat had gotten into his dinghy and picked up the mooring for me. All I had to do was throw him the rope and attach it to our boat. Even that I almost did incorrectly. You have to run the line under all the rails – which Brian had to yell to me – because if you don’t you can rip the rails off the boat.
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