Escaping George Town

We arrived at Elizabeth Harbour just over a month ago and it has been home base for two family visits and a variety of unexpected boat projects.

The island has three grocery stores, a NAPA Auto Parts / General Store and a very nice chandlery at Browns Marine. George Town proper has gas, diesel, restaurants and more. It was truly overwhelming going to the dinghy dock for the first time and seeing so many people and cars after months of remote islands.

The cruising community here is huge! When we arrived, there were more than 400 boats in the harbor. The daily Cruisers Net broadcast is on channel 72 every morning promptly at 8 a.m. They discuss the activities for the day, which usually include things like yoga, water aerobics, pickle ball, volleyball, music and rotating specials at the local restaurants.

We even got to experience “Alt Net”, which apparently only happens once a year, toward the end of cruising season. It’s a 9 p.m. adults-only broadcast that pokes fun at the morning cruisers net. Imagine a bunch of sailors telling dirty jokes with fake accents over the radio and then multiply it by 10. It was very entertaining!

The community built here during season is unique. There’s beach church on Sundays, events for kid boats and even a concierge who will bring fuel or water out to boats. Many cruisers come to Elizabeth Harbour and stay for the entire season. As with all things, the structure has positives and negatives.

There’s a process for everything, from how you enter Lake Victoria on a dinghy to the specific location you can pay to discard trash. The goal is to help cruisers be good stewards and respectful guests to the local community. The season-long cruisers have built a very special connection to the local community. Naturally, we always want to make sure we’re doing right by the locals.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to turn the established “structure” into a pesky HOA. Overall, the busy harbor is not our ideal vibe.

Nevertheless, there are many more positives than negatives. We stocked up on groceries and diesel, ate a few meals at local restaurants, found some necessary boat products and met up with cruiser friends. The town served its purpose beautifully, but next time we won’t stay so long.

Long Island

We finally waved goodbye to George Town, crossing south of the Tropic of Cancer to make our way to Long Island. This was our first move outside of the Exuma chain since January and we’re so excited to explore some new places again.

After a beautiful sail east, we landed at Calabash, which is a lovely bay on the northern end of Long Island. There’s a charming little resort with cottages along the bay but not much else around. It's exactly what we need to detox from the crowds.

On our first full day at Calabash, we decided this place will likely land on our Bahamas top-five list. We did the five-mile walk to the Columbus Monument / Lucayan Memorial, dove the surrounding reefs and had a cold drink at the local restaurant.

There’s a lot left to explore on Long Island and we plan to spend the next week here until we get weather to sail north to Cat Island.

Check out all the trip details with the SeaPeople link below:

Off to Calabash Bay!

Kicking off the weekend with a half-day & motor sail over to Calabash Bay. The ocean was a bathtub with 5-10 kts of wind and a long period swell. It wasn’t a great sailing day but it was exactly what we needed to get back in the groove. The Exumas were incredible! George Town has been home base for a whole month. 🤯 We hosted my parents and sister, who all flew down from New England. It was the first boat life experience for all three of them. Everyone survived and nobody got seasick, so we’re pretty stoked. Our last guest flew out on Wednesday and we’re thrilled to be on the move again.

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