Georgetown, Great Exuma, Bahamas

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We made it to Georgetown and are anchored in Elizabeth Bay on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas. Not much new since our last update but we do have internet so we thought we could download some pictures.

One incident did occur in Conception that we wanted to share that involved some marine life. We had just landed our dinghy on the beautiful beach and saw a huge dark spot in the water. We had seen the dark spot a couple times before and it was this big turtle who swims for awhile and then pokes his head up. We had not been able to get to him in the water soon enough to see him underwater, but he was so close this time we thought for sure we could catch a glimpse. Well, Kim thought she could. She grabbed her mask and snorkel and jumped in the water swimming after it. About 5 feet from the big dark spot she realizes its not a turtle but a SHARK. At that point she stands up in the water (3 feet deep) and starts running to shore. It is very difficult to run in the water - and Mike says Kim's knees were touching her chin. She still had the snorkel in her mouth and didn't stop until her feet were in the sand. Mike had this puzzled look on his face and says 'Why did you come back you were so close?' Kim takes out the snorkel and says "ITS A F#&%ING SHARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mike had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. We think it was a lemon shark and at least 6 feet long....phew.......no more chasing shadows. It's not that the shark would of attacked, we've seen sharks in the water before when we have been snorkeling and even diving, but I never purposely went chasing one at it's dinner time (5:00 pm)...... We also saw large stingrays and very large barracudas in the anchorage. There were a couple of trunkfish that hung around the boat and every morning we fed them a hot dog bun - they loved it.

We arrived in Georgetown Thursday the 5th. We need to stock up on some groceries, do laundry, get propane, gas and diesel then wait out the new cold front coming in and then we'll decide what's next. Here are some pictures. The order of the pictures is reversed, we started in West Caicos and ended in Conception. We will try to add Georgetown pictures before we leave.

CONCEPTION


This is the beach at Conception Island at the bay where we were anchored. This spot is where Kim had a close encounter with the shark! This was the main beach that we went to but there were others all over the island.




It was a short walk across the island to get to another beach, then you could keep hiking and climbing.






There was a trail on the windward side that went to the other end of the island. Someone had put up ropes that you could climb. The views were spectacular and the beaches were all white powder. We had a blast climbing all the ropes, it was like an adult playground. There were also many reefs on the windward side.



We had to walk through some heavy bush to find this other beach. While on this beach we were buzzed by a helicopter, it was all black or dark green and no markings. We think is was a military helicopter, but we don't know where it was from.

There was a wreck on our anchorage beach that had been there a very long time. The pieces were stuck inside the rock, like the rock had formed over the wreck. There were loose pieces also and the picture is of the ships windlass (a windlass is the equipment that brings up the anchor chain). The chain was very large. The picture to the right is the windward side of the island.

Here's Ka'imi at anchor in Conception, all by herself. The anchorage ended up getting very crowded before we left for Georgetown.





RUM CAY

This was our anchorage at Port Nelson, Rum Cay. We were here 13 days waiting out a cold front.






These are pictures of Sumner Point Marina, and the art works of the artist Bobby Sumner.

The turtle is going to an art show in New York City and was priced at $134,000.






An octopus and a mermaid in the making behind that.











MAYAGUANA


The Customs Office on Beach Drive.

The Town well on Beach Drive.

The town church on Beach Drive.








WEST CAICOS

We were on a mooring ball when we left West Caicos that was very close to the shore. They are dive moorings and we only stayed on it for a couple hours to get some rest before we headed out to Mayaguana. The sail nice, we got out the spinnaker again.

Wishing you a Happy Easter, Cheers Mike and Kim on Ka'imi