February 17, 2001 -- On To George Town

We raised anchor at 1200 GMT (0700 EST) in order to meet up with the convoy of boats headed to George Town from Blackpoint today. The winds, unfortunately, were not going to be condusive to sailing, but it promised to be a smooth trip none the less. We met up with everyone outside the cut, and the convoy consisted of Concert, Bahati, Providenza, Cocopelli and us. It was a relatively quiet passage. The seas were nearly calm and the winds were never above 10 knots. It was a very comfortable trip! Along the way, we discovered that we had met Bahati before. They are the Canadian boat that had some problems at Fernandina Beach in December. They had traveled to far inside the marina and became pinned against the inner dock in 30 knots of wind. We helped tend lines and fend them off of another boat while they worked to get back to where they were supposed to be tie up. It was nice to make their acquaintance again. The last part of the trip was the most nerve racking. Conch Cay Cut is touted as one of the most difficult cuts in the Exumas, and with good reason. There is a reef at the entrance off one of Conch Cay, and there is a second reef inside the cut about ¼ of a mile that runs parallel to Conch Cay. In addition, there are numerous sand bars and coral heads inside that you have to dodge around. Mike took his position up on the bow of the boat while I followed our course, the other boats, and his directions to avoid anything that would present an unhappy surprise for the boat. After we cleared the cut, we were greated by Mike and Dawn from Just Desserts and Ron and Karen from Sea Dancer. They came out in their dinghies to say hey and to welcome us to George Town. We dropped anchor off of Volley Ball Beach, and after doing some clean up, we dropped the dinghy. Later on, the folks from Second Sally stopped by to give us a little bit of the scoop about George Town. We have completed the first leg of our trip south.