It's just a Short Walk: Passing the time in Georgetown

As of our last blog, we had ducked into the Marina at Emerald Bay a few days prior to Donna and Sterling's arrival in anticipation of nasty weather stirring up the inlet.   The weather was a false alarm but we hung out anyway and enjoyed the amenities of this lovely spot.   When our guest's arrived, we did a quick exit and short motor trip south to Georgetown.   The anchorage off of Stocking Island was jammed with boats and we anchored off Hamburger Beach (to the left of the powerboats in the picture below).   At last count that week there were close to 300 boats in the anchorage. Yikes!   However, the hiking and views are always good there and everyone has to experience Volleyball beach and see the hurricane holes at least once.   A night or 2 there is more than enough for us and we moved the boat over to the Georgetown side of the anchorage to reprovision and see the town.   Georgetown is the largest town in the Exuma chain and the probably the fourth or fifth largest town in the Bahamas.   However, is still is a small town and clearly it is the gathering places for boats in the Exumas.

Our biggest surprises in Georgetown were the dolphins swimming around the boat a couple days, a sea-plane doing what appeared to be training take-offs and landings right in front of us in the anchorage and a small octopus that was attached to the anchor when we were leaving to pick Donna and Sterling up.   We also got a not so fun surprise one night when another boat anchored too close for comfort.   In the picture below, we anchored an appropriate distance from the other sailboat and the very large powerboat decided to anchor between us while we were in town.   On the Georgetown side of the water where we were, there was plenty of room and other choices for this boater.   The powerboat was even closer to the other sailboat that it appears in the picture. This is not a comment on powerboats; we've had plenty of sailboats snuggle up to close too!   Don't know what some people are thinking at times.   This may not be our favorite stop because of the crowds but it is always entertaining!

Right around the corner from Georgetown is one of our favorite anchorages, Red Shanks.   The water is a bit shallow at low tide going in (5 ft mean low water) but Joe motored the boat in with no problem and we shared the anchorage with only 5-6 boats each night and had a great time exploring the shore by dinghy and on foot.   For me, the highlight of this anchorage is always the giant starfish.   The picture below is actually from last year but the giant red/orange critters were still there this year.   Truly spectacular to see.

All in all we had a great week catching up with friends from home and swimming, snorkeling, eating, drinking......What else have we got to do?