Arriving in Georgetown with our Mahi catch

There is a mass exodus from Black Point at first light...and we join the group to make our way through the Dotham Cut, headed for Georgetown and Elizabeth Harbour. The Dotham Cut is quite picturesque with its white majestic cliff. We are not nearly as intimidated as many first-time cruisers, given that we had earlier made our way through the Warderick Wells Cut - now we feel a little more experienced (but we have not lost our healthy respect for the wind, weather and water!) Navigating through the Cut at slack calm seas, we are successful, and quickly set our sails to take advantage of the wind as we motorsail. We also set the fishing lines, although it seems that the smaller line was not fastened at the start, so we lose the line and the lure to the sea. There is a little cursing that ensues, but we recover and decide to use just the one line. Fortunately we are in good deep water, so we are satisfied that the weight of the lure (goodbye $30) will sink the line and not endanger the rudder or prop of other passing boats.
It is a beautiful day and there are a countless number of boats around us, bound for Georgetown - many of them cruising along with fishing lines set - all hoping for a big catch. As we approach the entrance to the new Sandals Resort at Emerald Bay close to the entrance to Elizabeth Harbour in Georgetown, we are hailed by Mike and Judy on Sea Sharp. It seems as though they are leaving Georgetown today to slowly head back north. This is a little disappointing as we had hoped to see them, but it looks as though we are destined to be "two ships passing in the night" for this cruising season. They are planning to stop for a couple of nights at the Emerald Bay docks for a bit of pampering, and Mike tries to entice us to join them. We consider it very seriously, and take the upcoming weather forecast into very careful consideration, ultimately opting to continue on to Georgetown. We have already experienced the frustration of being locked into an anchorage at Exuma Park, and given that the near future winds will be directly out of the east or southeast, we would prefer to be in Georgetown for this. There are a couple of boats hailing us at this point, and things start to get a little busy...especially when Blair realizes that there is a fish on our line! He scrambles to the back deck of the boat and begins reeling it in. I just pray that it is something worth keeping...and not a barracuda or a fish that is too big for us to handle. Fortunately, given our first Mahi experience, I am absolutely prepared with the supplies and paraphernalia necessary to reel in...AND KEEP..this fish! Blair gets really excited when he spots a MahiMahi on the end our line. He reels it in on the starboard side of the boat and reaches down with the gaff, swinging with as much power as he can muster, successfully gaffing the Mahi. He then swings it up over the life lines to the back deck. Now the Mahi is still on the line which is a little tangled up in the lifelines. I am working frantically to untangle this mess without losing our fishing road. It is clear to me that Blair doesn't care at this point about anything but the fish, but I am not going to throw our fishing rod overboard! We sort out the fishing rod fiasco and move on to dealing with the Mahi on deck. We throw the towel over its head (as we have been instructed to do by many other successful fishermen) and this calms it down - at which time Blair pours some vodka in its gills to further sedate it. Blair decides not to take any chance that this catch will escape, so he goes to work with the filet knife getting this Mahi ready for dinner! In the meantime, I have managed to snap a lot of photos, and have even managed to call everyone we know within radio range to brag about our successful Mahi Mahi catch! We are so exhilarated by the experience that Blair even resets the fishing lines. Sure enough, we spot a school of tuna leaping out of the water just off our port side. Fortunately, we don't catch one because Blair and I agree that it would just be too chaotic given that we are so close to our final destination in Elizabeth Harbour.
We drop our sails at the entrance to the Harbour, and also drop our jaws when we see the hundreds of boats anchored all the way in. We pass a number of boats we recognize along the way - we keep going and manage to find an empty spot in front of Volleyball Beach. This beach seems to be the hub of all activity for the Georgetown community of cruisers - this whole area resembles a gigantic adult daycare disneyworld. A lot of planning and organization goes into this mini floating village. I can see that it might become quite tiring here, but for the time being, we are here, and plan to get the most out of it.
We end our first day here sharing our MahiMahi with Gary and Lina - absolutely delicious, and certainly the freshest catch of the day we have ever had!

Some Interesting Facts about Georgetown:One of the greatest cruising destinbations in the Bahamas hosting between 400 to 700 boats at Regatta times (such as what we are experiencing), Georgetown has a charm that equals ShangriLa for boaters. Some people stay for months at a time to escape the northern winter and meet up with cruising friends year after year. Others stay only a few days as they stop in for provisions enroute from the Caribbean. This is a boater friendly town with good anchorages, easy access to Customs and Immigration, a convenient international airport and some of the best-stocked stores in the southern Bahamas.
Over the years, tiny, remote Georgetown has seen much development, and is no longer so tiny anymore. Stocking Island is home to friendly St. Francis Marina. Crab Cay hopes to be crawling someday with million dollar homes. February Point continues to expand, and Marina at Emerald Bay, a Sandals Resort, offers new growth on the "other" end of the island. All this means better jobs for the people of Georgetown and a little more traffic going "roun' de pond" for which you have to watch out. Despite the changes, Georgetown folks still devote themselves to the cruisers fall, winter, and spring invasion and cater to the floating visitors every need and want. The school children are still polite, the local women still devout, and the restaurants, bars and shops are still a delight.