Ch-ch-ch-Changes

It's a new year, and we certainly have a new life to go with it. 2013 was a year of many dramatic changes. Moving from land to sea, leaving jobs, selling everything we have (mostly) and sailing 1,500 miles to Georgetown. It's a bit of a blur with so many places, faces and heart aches (OK, that was a bit of a stretch). Not sure where we go from here, but there is a lot of stillness in just arriving at your destination - which we're soaking up now.

Stocking Island anchorage, off Sand Dollar beach

Cruising Mecca

When anyone asked us where we're going, we always had one answer - Georgetown, in the Exumas islands in the Bahamas. Every place we've visited before this, has been a waypoint in getting here. Georgetown is somewhat mythical in cruiser-land because it is a large gathering of hundreds of sailboats (and a few motor yachts) that winter here for six months before abandoning the area during hurricane season.

Community Calls

The cruisers here have a long tradition of organizing fun activities and helping both the native community and fellow cruisers. Every morning at 8AM all the cruisers tune their VHF radios and listen to the "net", which is run by one of the cruisers. We hear about the weather (always something we want to know about), what today's activities are (volleyball, potluck, poker, etc.), and what boat needs help. Even the local shops and restaurants can get on the net and advertise their services to the cruisers. It certainly makes you feel part of a community rather than just a collection of sailboats in one location.

Where are we?

We're the red triangle near Stocking Harbour

Geographically, Georgetown is on a rather large island called Great Exuma - and across from a much smaller Stocking Island. This creates a sheltered area between the two islands that has many anchorages and room for thousands of boats (Elizabeth Harbor). You can either be right next to your buddies or you can move yourself to an isolated location and have it all to yourself. There are white, powder-sand beaches scattered about, Sand Dollar, Volleyball, Monument - to name a few near us. You can find shelter somewhere from wind coming from any direction - a key reason boat vagabonds gather here. The other reason is that the town embraces cruisers and we can get all the basics taken care of: groceries, trash, water, propane, mail, laundry, diesel and even a marina that can haul big boats when things break (which is only a matter of when, not if.) Probably 80% of the cruisers here are like us - we've reached our destination and aren't going anywhere far from here. The other 20% are getting ready or are returning from islands deeper into the Caribbean - something we aren't tackling this year. 

George Town is a dinghy ride away from the anchorages

Now What?

Life is decelerated by perspective. The farther away you are, the slower it appears. Think of how a highway looks from an airplane window from several thousand feet up. Traffic seems to crawl when miles become inches. Yet the people in the cars are hurtling along and risking their very lives through inattentiveness. From the airplane, there is a glacial remove from such hurry and scurry. In much the same way, we're far from the world we left behind and the pace of reality seems much slower here. We are still decelerating from all the changes made in 2013 and need more time to simply "be". Therefore, at this point we have no "Grand Plan," or "Detailed Schedule" - which is a little weird because for the last five years we've done nothing but planning to reach this destination. Plans are now abandoned, shredded to the wind, with pleasure, wonderment and perhaps a little fear.