It’s Saturday and we left early to get into Georgetown with plenty of time to hit the grocery, hardware, liquor stores, and last but not least, picking up Jay’s brother Karl. Gaye and Jay may disagree with the “last but not least” part of it, but we love Karl and we are happy and looking forward to soon having him aboard Katoomba.

Above: Looking from Stocking Island towards Georgetown, located on Great Exuma Island in the distance.

As we sailed through the channel splitting Great Exuma Island and Stocking Island, we passed hundreds of boats as we slowly weaved into the west banks of Georgetown. Our quiet little anchorages of the north had quickly vanished. Georgetown is the second largest city in the Exumas, but with this title has a population of less than 1500 people, 2 grocery stores, 1 church, a community hall, a handful of restaurants with a few scattered hotels and businesses thrown in.

Above: Downtown Georgetown just above the dinghy dock. In the far distance is Conky Jay on his way to the hardware store.

Although the language of the Bahamas is English, you’ll often hear the locals speaking with a few words or phrases you might not know. Here are a few:

What da wybe is?: This is a popular greeting used primarily among younger Bahamians that means “What’s up?” or “What’s going on?” However, if you hear reference to someone “wybin’”, they’re having a disagreement or argument, and a “wybe” is a problem or bad situation.

Een nothin’: A common reply to “what da wybe is?”, this means “nothing much!”

I straight!: Think of this phrase as the Bahamian “It’s all good!” It’s used to let peers know that all is well.

Switcha: If it’s a hot day and someone offers you a glass of switcha, don’t refuse! “Switcha” is the Bahamian word for lemonade.

Dem: This is a word Bahamians may use to refer to a group of people. For example, if you hear “David’s eating at the Fish Fry with Johnny dem”, it would mean David’s eating with Johnny and others.

Jitney: Hop on the jitney to get from one part of the island to another – “jitney” is the slang term for the bus.

Jam up: If the restaurant is “jam up” you might not get a seat! This is a Bahamian slang term for crowded or full.

Potcake: A potcake isn’t an after-dinner treat, as you might expect, but rather a stray dog. Potcakes are generally mixed breeds and got their nickname from being fed leftovers or scraps from the cooking pot at the end of a meal.

Tings: “Tings” means “things”, “tanks” means “thanks” – in Bahamian dialect, the “h” often gets dropped.

Conky Joe: A white man who has lived in the Bahamas for a long time.  This explains the description of “Conky Jay” going to the hardware store in the earlier photo entry.

Above: A Bahamian woman who cleans fishermen’s catches at her stand along the banks of Victoria Harbor, the small lake in Georgetown with a public dinghy dock.

Above: We’ve found Karl, and now back to Katoomba in the dinghy.

Karl arrived late afternoon, so no sailing today. We broke right into happy hour as soon as we settled back on Katoomba. This was Karl’s first introduction to the two local cheap beers in the Exzumas. Kalik and “Bush Crack”. Yes, it really is called Bush Crack. An odd name when applied to our American connotations, but the one thing it had going for it was it came in a 16 oz. can, while the Kaliks came in a 12 oz can. For this reason, and not the name, Bushcrack seemed to be the popular beer on Katoomba. We had to wonder, was this some brewery owned by frat boys? Who came up with this name?

Karl did a little Googling to see if we could learn more about this oddly named beer. What we found was Bush Crack is brewed by the Bahamian Brewery & Beverage Co. and was launched in 2011. A light lager with a higher alcohol content (5.9%) than most light beers, but very inexpensive. There are a number of beers brewed in the Bahamas, and Bush Crack appears to be the cheapest when you throw in the 16 oz. can.

The name comes from back in the days of slavery where the sound of a slave escaping was “bush crack” and then “man gone”. This expression was brought back in a song by King Eric and his Knights who sang “Bush Crack and Man Gone”.

Another version is the name came from the tale of a young fellow visiting his married lady. When the husband returns home early, he has to climb out the window — hence “bush crack” and “man gone.” Either way, it has nothing to do with what you might think!, or maybe you didn’t think it, but we did!