We arrived into Georgetown area of the Exumas in the early afternoon after an uneventful trip down Exuma Sound. This is a good thing since the only way to Georgetown is to venture on the east side of the Exumas where there is more exposure and deeper water. Uneventful is a good thing. We passed the couple from New Bern we met in Bimini leaving and we chatted a moment on the radio. They told us that the boat count was over the 300 boats in and around Georgetown. Most boats actually anchor along Stocking Island across from Georgetown and Elizabeth Harbor. As we entered the area we were speechless as the anchored boats just went on and on. These boats are here for the annual GeorgeTown Cruising Regatta, a mecca for cruisers in the Bahamas. Many people come straight to Georgetown each year and spend their entire time in this area. We found that for cruisers with children this was an even better place to get lots of kids together and parents could play. According the Chat ’n Chill website, a beach bar located on Stocking island where most of the Georgetown Crusiing Regatta fun can be found. The regatta and area are described this way. 'Since 1980, cruising yachtsmen and their families from around the world have been gathering in George Town, Exuma, Bahamas for a multi-day event called the George Town Cruising Regatta, which takes place every year in late February/early March. Initially beginning as a sequence of boat races, the event has evolved to a succession of fun parties, games, contests and boat races. At the epicenter of the eclectic gathering, was Kenneth Bowe, better known as K.B., the Bahamian-born proprietor of the Chat ‘n’ Chill and owner of the nine acres of unreal beach on which many of the regatta activities take place. “I figured out what the people wanted and what they needed,” he said. “I separated the wants from the needs and started with the needs. From there, the business has gone straight up.” “Without K.B., there’d be no George-Town,”' According to Caribbean 1st website: "The Georgetown Cruising Regatta includes ten days of activities for visiting cruisers and Exumians on Stocking Island, Elizabeth Harbour and George Town. You can enjoy two days of sailing, as well as spectacular onshore activities, such as conch-shell blowing contests, a variety show, softball competition, and lots more family fun-filled activities." We chose our anchorage along the west side of Crab Cay know as Red Shanks anchorage. Vacation Soup website (which seems to be down at the moment describes the area below: Crab Cay "The largest island within Elizabeth Harbour is Crab Cay. The appeal of Crab Cay is partly its location. It is protected by a string of offshore islands so hurricane surge is not a problem. The many small soft powder sand beaches that dot the shores of the 200 plus acre island shores invite you to take advantage of the wonderful, warm climate of The Bahamas." As we arrived into the Red Shanks anchorages we spotted Barefoot which we met in Rock Sound and they gave us some advice about the area, the regatta and Channel 68. A well-organized “Cruiser’s Net”, where each morning, local businesses make announcements, the latest weather information is provided and cruisers can ask each other for help with just about any problem and make trades. We settled in and watched the sun go down. The next day we caught up with Erin and Chris from Barefoot over at Chat ’n Chill beach for the Coconut Toss and enjoyed laughing and meeting some new friends. Next, finally we were able to find our friend, Scott’s brother, Chris , and his Canadian friends on a beautiful powercat, Fruition, . We enjoyed sundowners and our new Canadian friend would act as Club commodore and plan our first Red Shanks Yacht and Tennis Club gathering on the beach because the tide is right. This anchorage is best described in The Thornless Path by Bruce Van Sant so check out this book for sure if cruising is in your future. I shared the description in the video above. At the evening sundown gathering of the Red Shanks Yacht and Tennis Club we met Val and Menno aboard S/V Eyra from Wilmington, NC and they invited us to hike and explore Crab Cay. First on Crab Cay is exploring the Walker Home Ruins described below from the Vacation Soup website above. "Back in the late 1700s the Walker family needed to leave their home in Eastern North America because they had supported the British, the losers in the American war of independence. The family, along with their slaves, sailed to set up home on the land provided to them by the King of England, on The Exumas, a group of islands in the central Bahamas. The Walkers set up home on the island of Crab Cay inside Elizabeth Harbour. Their properties were built using local stone. As was the custom, the kitchen was a separate building from the living quarters. This was the practice due to the risk of kitchens burning down due to the presence of open fires, plus the need to keep the heat of cooking away from the living area. They tried to develop their land by growing cotton but after some years they gave up and moved on. The ruins of their home still exist to this day." This is a good time to recommend Winds from the Carolinas by Robert Wilder. This fiction novel follows the Cameron family as they move to the Exumas from the Carolinas after the British lose the American Revolution. Many around Georgetown believe this novel is based on the Walker family and their ruins left on Crab Cay. I enjoyed learning so much about the history of the Bahamas. Remains of a Luxury Resort...... (Vacation Soup Website) The first sign we were getting near what is left of the resort and start to develop Crab Cay is the canal. A place we would snorkel in several times while in Georgetown just to swim with the turtles who find this a place to eat and hide among the rock walls created when this canal was dredged. Again Vacation Soup updated my knowledge of this area. "After the end of World War II, the story goes that a group of very wealthy individuals decided that they wanted to invest their funds in land. Not just any land, but in tropical islands. So they chose a trusted member of the group and he spent some years traveling the globe and buying tropical hotspots. After their targets were met the purchaser was rewarded by the group by allowing him to choose two islands as a reward for his diligence. He chose Crab Cay and Elizabeth Cay, both islands in Elizabeth Harbour In the Exumas. Fast forward 40+ years and the tourism industry is booming. Wealthy investors led by Michael Jordan descend on Exuma with a view to buy and develop Crab Cay. Word reaches the press that the asking price is ten million. The investors decided to walk away, but the government heard the rumors and informed the island's owner that according to their records he had not paid the property tax which had accumulated, a figure reaching millions of dollars. The Crab Cay owners was therefore forced to put the property on the market. Eventually the island sold to the Murphy family. One of, if not the largest pig farming enterprises in the US. The Murphys put together a consortium with CN Luxury and drew up plans for Crab Cay. By 2007 they intended to build a world class development, with a hotel, and Italian style hub with luxury restaurants, spa sports facilities and high end shop with high end multi-million dollar homes spread along the shoreline. Then, of course there was to be a major marina, capable of taking the world's mega yachts. The whole project was planned to be "the pre-eminent island destination in The Caribbean". The plans were eventually passed and work began on the dredging for the marina. Work progressed for some time then came to a halt and the project stopped. All that remains is a beautiful bridge, built in the Italian style, which joins Crab Cay to the mainland of Great Exuma. Known locally as "the bridge to nowhere”."
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There was a magic about the sea. People were drawn to it. People wanted to love by it, swim in it, play in it, look at it. - Cecelia Ahern. After leaving Black Point we headed down to overnight at Rudder Cut Cay on our way to Georgetown to get a glimpse of the mermaid. Our research had us leaning toward snorkeling her first thing in the morning, but as the afternoon progressed the winds laid down so we decided to venture out during slack tide to see if the current would be too strong for us to snorkel and then allow us to leave earlier in the morning. Rudder Cut Cay is owned by David Copperfield and here is some history from the Bahamas Cruisers Guide
"Rudder Cut Cay was once owned by an insurance entrepreneur in Florida who lost the island to the Florida Insurance Commission when the company failed. A large house crowned a hill on the S end of the cay. There remains a large dredged boat basin with an inlet on the center of the cay on the W side. All the structures, docks, support buildings, houses were in ruins as of 2016. Visitors on land are discouraged and there are occasionally guard dogs that roam the island." There were tons of signs posted everywhere but we saw no one just cruisers who ventured in to hang out on the beach. Journey has such a shallow draft we were pretty much in the a small cove protected, so we thought....The storm during the night would challenge this anchorage choice. According to the Bahamas Cruisers Guide: "Musha and Rudder Cut Cays are two of several private cays in this area owned by world famous magician David Copperfield. Musha Cay is a private exclusive resort. Rudder Cut Cay is uninhabited and provides the private airstrip for guests at Musha Cay." According to the website Atlas Obscure: "A STRANGE SURPRISE WAITS BENEATH the waves for snorkelers splashing through the waters around magician David Copperfield’s private islands. Just off the coast of Rudder Cut Cay, swimmers will find a life-sized sculpture of a mermaid lounging atop the sandy ocean floor. The mermaid waits near the bench of a baby grand piano as if beckoning divers to sit down and play her a tune. The stainless steel sculpture is hidden about 12 to 15 feet below the surface and can be a bit difficult to spot when the current stirs up the sand and clouds the water. It makes discovering them on a clear day feel all the more magical. Snorkelers capable of holding their breath for a while like to swim down and pose atop the bench as if they, too, belong in this underwater world. Copperfield, who owns multiple private islands within the Bahamas, commissioned the artwork from Jason DeCaires Taylor and had it sunk as a quirky surprise for the few, exclusive guests who stay on the private island or those who take boat trips to snorkel off the shore." After snorkeling the sculpture we explored the island from Shelby including the dredged boat basin I shared earlier before heading back to Journey. We are so glad we made this decision to snorkel in the afternoon because before daybreak we would wake to a thunderstorm and winds swinging us toward the rock wall. As soon as day broke we pulled anchor and got out of there! We are Off to Georgetown tired and hopeful for a quiet spot in Crab Cay, otherwise known as Red Shanks near Georgetown, Exumas. We will be catching up with old friends and making some new ones. My soul is full of longing for the secrets of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow We left Staniel Cay ready for some more beautiful exuma adventures at the Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay. Southern Boating describes the area this way: "Great Guana Cay is centrally located in the Exuma island chain, just south of the busy hub at Staniel Cay. But it’s a world apart from Staniel in character and represents a true slice of life in the Out Islands. The small town at Black Point Settlement sits on a wide bight facing west over the vast banks stretching to the Tongue of the Ocean. The residents of Black Point are among the friendliest you’ll encounter, and the community is heavily geared toward serving the needs of visiting cruisers." Our first adventure ashore was from the government docks which gave us a great view of Journey from the shore. We checked out the signs and began walking passing the school and the library. Of course the educator in me had to check these out. We decided to stop at Emerald Sunset View for our first beer. We met the owner, Pappy and had a beer with an. Awesome view. Next up was a visit to the blowhole which is a short walk from the anchorage: Again Southern Boating website provides a great directions and descriptions of this short adventure from the anchorage. "A short fifteen-minute walk northeast from the government dock will take you to a beautiful ocean beach across the island. Turn left at the dock, then right on the dirt and gravel road that leads across the island. At the top of the hill on the left is a natural blowhole. Big swells that run on Exuma Sound vent spectacularly through the hole. A little further up the road, you’ll drop down onto the beach. It’s a nice spot to catch some sun and do a little beachcombing." Now it is time for Allie’s Big Adventure. We set out on what I believed to be a short hike to White Horse Cliffs. Up the hill around the anchorage we took some great shots of Journey. My adventure lead to trails that ended. Cliffs to traverse down and up. Across water in which we were thankful for low tide to reach the top of the cliffs near the Dotham Cut. The view was spectacular…… While observing from the cliffs we found what we believed and was a quicker way back to the anchorage by way of a road, but we still had to wade through knee deep water and my entire adventure took 5 hours. Opps! But we did discover two blue holes but we never made it back because the terrain was just too rugged for a do over. Another special thing about Black Point were the sea turtles that fed on the grassy bottom in the anchorage. They never seemed to stay around when I went snorkeling off the boat. But enjoyed having their picture taken while we viewed them from the boat. When we took Shelby in we usually spotted more visitors in the water like this stingray and nurse shark stalking the docks for food. The sunsets were spectacular as we had a perfect view to the west each evening. Our final adventure is to to explore the southern part of the Black Point on Great Guana Cay. We believed we could make a circle but for sure wanted to see the white castle along the southern shores of Black Point and visible from the waters known as Little Bay. We set off down the paved road passed the turn for the airport and through a neighborhood almost to the other side of the cay. As we were walking along a pick up stopped and asked where we were headed. His bed was full but he said hop in and I will take you part of the way. We learned their was a wedding on the sands off Little Bay and he was carrying table and chairs out to the beach. Also, a yacht was anchored in Little Bay. He dropped us at a crossroads and we were off to the castle. After viewing the castle which had signs posted not to trespass. We later learned the bartender at Scorpios lived there. Scoprios host a cruisers Happy Hour three times a week. He mixed a mean rum punch. we laughed about me being a trespasser earlier on his property. I didn’t read anywhere not to venture out to the castle so I am now telling others who want see this that they prefer you not visit the castle. Our suggestion is to take your dinghy around the island on a windless day and see her from the water. As we followed the trail we felt would make a circle we ventured down and found a quiet beach areas to swim and explore. Saving starfish maybe saving starfish not sure why they were out of the water on the sand. Then finding another trail we made it back to Emerald Sunset View for stop and some much needed caffeine. The absolute best part was meeting Mama. We were told to buy her coconut bread and after the first loaf we wanted more. It was the best we had in the Bahamas by far. She was a super friendly lady who invited us into her home. Showed us her kitchen and her bread pans. This is a must stop if you get anywhere near Black Point buy the Bread!!! The sun is setting on our Black Point adventure. We are sad to leave but it is time to swim with the mermaid at Rudder Cut Cay. Spend time in Black Point and you’ll easily make friends, and it’s a sure thing that you’ll be invited to attend Sunday church services. Many cruisers stay here for weeks and come back again and again. |
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