Exumas, Bahamas – Lee Stocking Island and Georgetown.

“Good bye, hope to see you again! Stay in touch! Maybe we will meet again some place on the water!”

Before I proceed with this fun adventure, remember to also watch our YouTube episode about everything described in this blog:

Bahamas – The Abandoned Marine Research Town and Mahi-Mahi! (E16)

We are experts in bidding farewell to new friends. Sometimes, it truly means “goodbye”; sailing families follow their paths and as much as we all try to be flexible, cruising plans still prevail, or at least the directions do. If a kidboat is headed the same way we are, we can certainly slow down, or skip an island (or two, or four…), just to stay together – for fun and for safety. I’d say about half of the boats we meet, we end up seeing again, at some point along our cruising route.

Not bad!

Well, one such boat, with two teens aboard, left the US well before us, and the kids had become good friends, during our challenging boatyard stay at St. Augustine, Florida. Once we discovered their new plans to sail towards the Dominican Republic, our Guatemala destination found a new name, a few letters back in the dictionary. We would go to the DR too! Why not?!

“Just wait for us in Georgetown (Bahamas), you, guys, we’re coming!”

There you had it – Island Skipping 101

Rushing, or not, we had to visit the abandoned marine research town on Lee Stocking Island. Up until 2012, that was one of the most prolific marine research labs in the world, created in 1984, by the Perry Institute for Marine Science.

We expected to find a couple of buildings, but we ended up touring what must have been an amazing small town, all devoted to science and research!

Due to the complicated and expensive transport of equipment and supplies, most were just abandoned on the island, once funding ceased and the operations closed. From furniture to test tubes – what had not been scavenged by random boaters and tourists, was still sitting in stock rooms and broken-down trucks.

The island wilderness, once neatly organized, trimmed and stored for examination, had overtaken its man-made home, for its own benefit. Bats hung undisturbed into one of the halls; huge hornet nests occupied a comfortable truck; various bugs and critters wondered about the floors.

During the entire Bahamas trip, one of my goals had been to find at least one coconut, because they make the best snack, especially helpful with seasickness. Well, we did – Lee Stocking Island was filled with coconut trees, and we brought back quite a few fruits!

After we left the abandoned research village, we sailed to Georgetown! The place to be, in the Bahamas, if one needs a sense of community on the water. Any given season, the anchorage at Georgetown would be a home, for the season (and beyond), to close to three hundred boats! The boaters’ community had their own radio channel, beach bar, numerous activities and trade groups. Even the local cute library had been started and maintained by a former cruising couple.

No wonder many who sailed in for a brief anchorage, ended up staying for months!

In Georgetown, we found a group of seven other boats headed towards the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean; boats with kids aboard that is! That meant lots of kids!

Lots of kids meant lots of fun, little school, and a few cruising plans altered, in order to stay together. After two years of marina life and prolonged boat repairs, we were up for that!

Having waited and prepared for that sailing adventure for a few years, it was hard to believe we finally pushed off of the US coast! Our journey with no fixed dates and time tables had finally begun!