Stocking Island BS

We left the South Side Marina on Provo at 7am with Lazy Cat, followed about an hour later by Shingitai and Soulmates, All bound for George Town, Great Exuma Island. At 275 miles, it was about 38 hours two days, and one overnight). It was suppo6to be all sailing, but when the wind dropped to 7kn, we motor sailed for a few hours until it picked up again. Shingitai elected to stop at Stella Maris, the N tip of Long Island, but we continued to Stocking Island, arriving at Conch Cut at 9pm. There are no navigation lights, and no moon yet, so it was an instruments approach th Starfish Beach, where we nestled in between the only two boats already there.

Since we arrived past working hours on a weekend, we'd have to wait until Monday to clear immigration. So we were officially quarantined. However, the beach needed inspection and trash cleanup, so I did that while Alexis caught up work after the passage dry spell.

On Monday, we moved closer to town for clearing in, to Sand Dollar Beach. This had another benefit - we got to go to a beach dance party, hosted by Electric Mermaid (Pauline Salotti). It was at the beach, with a bonfire and went on far past our staying power!

Clearing in with a pre-paid, one year cruising permit was pretty easy in Georgetown, with one exception: contrary to the "only captain goes ashore" rule, I had to bring all parties into immigration. That meant another 3 mile round trip, with a work interruption for Alexis. Well, that meant lunch as Sandpiper Cafe, where we met up again with sv Shingitai (Mitchel & Mome) who came over with us from Turks & Caicos.Read more