Friday, March 2, 2012 on to Georgetown - Elizabeth Harbor

Cave Cay (23 54.114/76 16.170) to Stocking Island (Georgetown) Monument Anchorage (23 31.819/75 46.247) Departure time: 7:30am Arrival time: 3:49pm 41.9 nm traveled.

The weather news from Chris Parker this morning was not good… All the weather models are predicting strong sustained winds for the next 8 days or so. When he says to expect 20-30 knot winds…that’s worrisome, especially when he mentions 35 knots sustained possible and plenty of gusts in that area. He almost spit out the word “tropical wave” gah…those aren’t supposed to happen in the winter! I don’t particularly like the idea of beating into the winds and seas but today is probably the milder of the days so we headed out at 7:30am. Going through the cut, we got up to 4 knots speed at 2000rpms then once through the cut I throttled up to 2500rpms and we were doing a whopping 2.5 knots into a current and bucking the waves/wind. Azaya is a faster boat than us and I started to envy their speed. Before long, they were a blip on the horizon and then we couldn’t seem to make radio contact with them. We averaged between 3-4.5 knots most of the day in choppy water (4-6 ft) until we approached Emerald Bay. Then it started easing up a bit and we gained a little speed as we approached Elizabeth Harbor. We heard someone asking them if they could follow them in, but didn’t couldn’t hear their reply. Entering the harbor we saw a ton of boats. What an amazing sight. Mast after mast after mast lined the harbor with trawlers and mega-yachts also here. It’s to be expected though. It’s Regatta Week so there are probably at least 250 boats in the harbor.


A view as we approach Elizabeth Harbor coming in from Conch Cay Cut - I couldn't believe all the boats in the harbor!

After getting over my shock at seeing so many boats, we threaded our way through the shoals and coral heads, first this way then change course at this point and head in another direction for ½ a mile… Wayne said he spotted Azaya right before the Monument near Hamburger Beach. I couldn’t see them but he said to pick out the tallest mast. In this light, all the boats look whitish yellow but his visual was confirmed when our radio started beeping. It was Azaya, and yep that was them. They said there was plenty of room by them. Good thing too because that’s where I was heading (laughing). We pulled up next to them, said howdy! Then pulled up between two other boats and dropped our anchor. We’re not the entertainment tonight. Our anchor dug in deep and true and as I backed down on it. We didn’t budge.

Our anchorage

It feels so good to be at anchor. We lost the knob off one wet locker and the Stay that holds our berth door is missing. A few items were pitched about in the salon, but for the most part our little hummingbird “did good” with what we put her through. I sure hope they have fuel in Georgetown. We haven’t filled up and I think this is the longest we’ve ever gone without picking up some diesel. We really need some. I feel drained, Wayne’s drained, Kolibrie is sighing a relief to be at anchor… It was a beautiful, sunny day to be sure…

Now we sit at the adult winter camp right off the Peace and Plenty to the North of Monument hill. We’ll dinghy over to Georgetown tomorrow for fuel and water. Right now, it’s time to crack open the last of the Blue Crab dip and grab some beers. Company’s coming – I hear Mary Clare in the Kayak. They were going ashore for a walk then coming by. Tonight I’ll properly blow the ole conch horn at sunset. This is the place to do it and sunset isn’t far off. Now time for those sundowners!