Georgetown or Bust

On Monday, March l9th we said our good-byes to our friends and travelling companions on Tsunami and Blind Faith and set sail for Georgetown - 48 miles south.
We had 8 days in which to get there for Donna to catch her flight out.
The winds had been blowing 20-25 knots out of the E-NE for the past 12 days.
We pick up Chris Parker's weather report on our single side band radio each morning and he is in as much awe of this continued blow, as we. He uses the word "trough" alot - John Kabel (CPS) would know.
The wind appears to be causing considerable problems for the snowbirds who are attempting to make their way back north.
We heard reports of rescues being made as the gusting wind flipped people's dingys over in Georgetown while they were making the trip across the harbour. Gusts of 65 knots were recorded in Georgetown.
Because of the strong E-NE winds we attempted to travel on the Great Bahama Bank (lee) side of the islands as the waves on the Exuma Sound (ocean) side are running in the 8-l0 foot range (and higher).
We edged our way along the banks with the winds gusting to 30 knots and made Galliot Cut the first day (l6 miles progress). This turned out to be the most enjoyable sail we've had in the trip, so far. Obviously you just never know when the fun will happen.
The next day the winds continued to blow. We made Lee Stocking Island (13 miles progress).
We continued to edge along in the shallow lee of the islands at high tide and made Rat Cay by Wednesday (6 miles progress). Here, further progress in the lee of the islands was impossible due to the extremely shallow waters. We were forced to wait for an opportunity to make our way along by way of Exuma Sound.
Each day Chris Parker's forecast was unchanged and right on - 20-25 knots - gusting in squalls - E-NE.
Thursday saw us waiting for better weather, as did Friday. On Saturday the forecast was the same, but worse for Sunday (30-40 knots) and no improvement until later in the week.
We decided that the 20-25 knots was better than 30-40 knots and set out on the Sound. Eight miles along we made the channel into Emerald Bay marina/resort/golf complex, at the north end of Great Exuma Island - no worse for wear.
As we came through the channel we saw at least 20 people watching us from the dock. We found out later that the last boat that came in was 3 days before hand and the following waves had tossed their dingy on to their boat, breaking it's seats off.
We find that some cruisers had been stuck here for 3 weeks awaiting the proverbial "weather window".
Hopefully the weather will improve but until then we're happy to have found a safe haven for Barry to stay on Sea Star while Donna is away visiting with their daughters.