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Written by Trudy and Graham |
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We were curious to learn more about George Town. Why is it that cruisers arriving in the area suddenly become uncontactable? How did it earn its alternate name of Chicken Harbour? What causes so many boats to become permanent residents through the winter months? As we traveled down the Exumas islands chain, we met and enjoyed the company of numerous likeminded cruisers. Although the morning Cruiseheimer’s SSB Net (8152khz @ 8:30EST) allowed us to keep in contact with many of these new friends, we were always puzzled by the conspicuous silence following an arrival in George Town. After our own arrival a few weeks later, the answer became very clear: the 8:10 am George Town VHF Net provides more spurious radio chatter than any sane person can deal with in one day. The whole VHF Ch.68 radio experience really needs to be experienced to be believed – especially the proliferation of self appointed Deputy Dawgs monitoring the airwaves for an opportunity to pass comment on the tiniest procedural infraction. Did they not learn in Radio 101 that somebody stuck on transmit cannot hear all their helpful advice? Similarly, is it really worth stressing over an absent-minded boater forgetting to change to a working channel before discussing sports results with his buddies?
The local George Town environment supports those who do not readily understand the complexities of their boat’s systems, as there is nearly always someone prepared to help when something breaks down. With 400+ boats in the area, most spares, manuals, email addresses and parts were readily available to those in need. Local businesses actively support the cruising community, and make it relatively simple to get parts shipped from the USA. Due to a mix up over delivery methods, our own mail arrived six weeks before we did, but Exuma Markets (the local supermarket) held the package without question while other facilities might well have returned it to the sender. When we eventually collected the package, Mike the proprietor mentioned he’d been following our progress via the many cruisers with whom we had shared an anchorage.
Shell demonstration on Two or three times a week the Nassau mail boat would bring fresh vegetables, groceries and palettes of alcohol to supply the locals and cruisers alike. George Town was the first place in the Exumas we obtained larger (10kg) bags of flour, dried milk, UHT milk and marmalade. In the smaller out-island stores, we’d found only minimal provisions the day the mail boat arrived, and hardly anything useful at other times. Even in George Town, the more desirable items like McVitees Digestive biscuits (unobtainable in the States) became impossible to find after we bought all of them on our first day in town. We did enjoy finding Bahamian stores selling many of the British “luxuries” that we missed while living in Northern Virginia. So why were we so keen to leave? We had had a fantastic time socializing every night, but after a while we found the hectic pace left little time to read, write, fish or simply enjoy life. I did have the pleasure of having my first few yoga lessons on a beautiful beach with a marvelous teacher, but equally, Graham was ready to explored new territories where he could find fish and lobster without having to free-dive to 25 feet. The convenience of accessible supplies makes the daily cost of living substantially higher in George Town, and with Graham frequently coming home empty handed from his fishing trips, we ended up eating quite a lot of our canned goods.
Shell collecting on eastern shore of Stocking Island Moving on to Calabash Bay, then Conception Island and San Salvador gave us some insight how George Town gained its reputation as Chicken Harbour. With few protected anchorages, and all trips being open-ocean passages, normal daily conditions are markedly different from those in the Abacos and Exumas. During our trip, we experienced 6-8’ waves in moderate winds, and continual swell in the anchorages even on the calmest days. Arrival at a new destination usually required good light and high proficiency “reading the water” in order to pick a path through shallow coral patches to find a safe spot to drop the hook. A great many boats do become permanent harbour features in George Town through the winter months, but despite the convenience and active social scene, for us it became just another stop along the way rather than a final destination. Crew: Trudy and Graham Norbury, and their cats Sylvester and Shadow
Written 21st February and edited 13th March, 2003
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