Harbor Island/Dunmore Town

On Monday (March 4) we said goodbye to Hatchet Bay and headed north to Spanish Wells, a small town on St. George's Cay, just off the northern tip of Eleuthera. Our plan was to get fuel and then see about getting our laundry done.  The fuel dock was a bit of a challenge, and turns out there are no laundry facilities in Spanish Wells unless you stay at a particular (and pricy) marina.

With a strong SE wind blowing, we ended up setting an anchor and using it to back down alongside the fuel dock, which was almost too tall for us to get lines around the pilings.  The dock is accessed by a long flight of stairs, and the fuel dock worker comes by golf cart, at an pre-arranged time.  His name was Devon, he was very friendly, and he did cast us off when we had fueled up.  It was, by far, the most challenging fuel dock we've ever gone to, but we managed it.

We spent Monday night there at anchor, but after learning there was no laundromat, decided to leave on Tuesday morning.  Dan wanted to make the passage through the Devil's Backbone, a long section of connected reefs on the east side of northern Eleuthera.  The chart does show a passage but it is narrow, with shallows, reefs and coral heads on both sides, and it's recommended you hire a pilot to guide you.  But conditions were perfect - no northerly wind or swells, morning sun above or behind us, and great visibility to see the different colors of the water - so we set off slowly to cruise the seven miles or so along Devil's Backbone to the bay between Harbour Island and Eluethera.

This is what Devil’s Backbone looks like in real life.
Below is the Navionics chart.

Harbour Island and its town Dunmore Town is the most touristy place in the eastern Bahamas.  There are many hotels and resorts, lots of restaurants and bars, and two marinas that seemed to cater to large yachts. And they have a laundromat! 

Dan and I went ashore Tuesday to walk the town and have some lunch. We found a nice airy restaurant and settled for splitting a couple of appetizers because it was a little pricy for our budget.  (We found the tourist boutiques to be the same...)  I did the laundry and found a great little produce store with lots of variety: Pineapple Fruit and Veggies.  Across from Pineapple's was a small pavillion where a group of men were playing dominoes with cheery, noisy abandon.  I was amused to listen to their discussion of US politics, as they speculated on the outcome of Super Tuesday.  

The Bay side is where the marinas and tourist places are, the ocean side contains the more exclusive resorts and a mile of the cleanest beach in the Bahamas.  We walked it today (Weds March 6) - Dan said it was "boring" and I said it reminded me of Hilton Head.  

The downside of this island is the spring break atmosphere - lots of loud music, lots of people zipping around in golf carts, lots of fast boats careening through the water taking people wake boarding or snorkeling.  We ended up moving to a quiet anchorage away from it all for both nights.  

Hatchet Bay/Alice Town

We spent four nights in Hatchet Bay/Alice Town, in northern Eleuthera.  This is an extremely protected body of water with a very narrow entrance.  It looks more difficult than it is.  There were about a dozen others anchored when we came in and another ten showed up within the next 24 hours, in anticipation of the predicted 20 knots of wind on Friday.  We arrived Thursday (Feb 29).

Alice Town was pretty much the same as we remembered - a little shabby with a rundown dinghy dock, but very friendly.  Emmett's enterprises - bar & grill, small grocery store, car rental - is still there, but he doesn't scoop ice cream anymore.  Ice cream is available as sandwiches, bars, and a small selection of pints in the grocery store freezer.  We had hamburgers and fries there on Friday night, after the windstorm blew itself out. 

One of Dan's desires for this trip was to revisit the caves we'd stumbled upon eight years ago.  On Saturday morning (March 2) we headed out, equipped with flashlights and water.  We remembered it was quite a walk from town.  The landscape sort of looked the same - scrubby farmland, old silos. I'd looked up our blog from eight years ago, and we knew to look for the twin silos that marked the entrance road that led to the caves.  After about an hour's walk we found the twin silos.  But no road.  Not even a path.  Huh.  We decided to keep walking and remarked that we didn't remember the beach so close to the road.  When we got to the sign informing us we were at restricted community of Rainbow Bay, we knew we'd gone too far.  We were on the Queen's Highway - the only major road that traveled the length of Eleuthera - so we hadn't taken a wrong turn.  Coincidentally the 16th annual Bahamas Hope Challenge was taking place on this road, and many bicyclists and a few joggers were passing us. We caught the attention of one woman walking her bike up the hill and she told us, yes the caves were by the twin silos, just look for the "red road" and the sign.  She also told us the Challenge was to raise money for cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

So we turned around to walk back to those twin silos, wondering how we could have missed our destination.  On the way we saw wild cotton, reminders of the times when British loyalists tried to establish plantations in the Bahamas, after they'd fled the Carolinas during the Revolutionary war.  They never did make a go of it - Bahamian soil and climate just aren't conducive to that kind of landed gentry life - but the reminders are all around:  ruins, like the silos, volunteer seedlings, like the cotton plants, and the population - 80% are descended from the black slaves brought here to work the land for the plantation owners.  

When we reached the silos, we searched for that red road, but found only one leading to the area dump.  We did find cell service - which had been very spotty all throughout Hatchet Bay and Alice Town - and a Google search showed us the caves lay on the other side of town.  Somehow we had walked to the south on Queen's Highway, instead of the north.  We walked at least 6 miles on Saturday. 

Sunday morning we tried again.  This time we disembarked at a small launch ramp instead of the town landing, so we knew for sure which way north was.  About ten minutes into our walk Emmett came along and asked us if we wanted a ride.  Sure, we said.  He chattered the whole way to the caves - whuch did have a sign pointing down the red road, directly across from the twin silos.  "I'll be damned."  Dan said when we saw them. Who would have thought there would be two sets of twin silos anout equidistant from Alice Town on the Queen's Highway?  

Instead of dropping us off, Emmett offered to take us to his farm for a tour.  We jumped at the chance.  He drove on for another half-mile and turned down another red road.  He has quite the farm and a lot of plans for expansion.  He sells produce to the local restaurants.  In fact, he produced a couple of knives and bags and put us to work for the restaurant Front Porch.  I filled a bag with arugula and Dan cut a bag's worth of parsely.  Emmett proudly showed off his peppers and pineapples and pumpkins, yanked a few carrots from the ground and gave them to us, along with a cucumber.  Then he looked at the time and hustled us back into the car.  He had people waiting to rent this car, he said, and he was late meeting them.  He dropped us off at the entrance road to the caves and sped off.  

We ate one of the carrots as a snack, took off our sunglasses and donned our headlights and went down into the cave.  This cave goes on for at least a mile, but we weren't feeling that adventurous.  We picked our way through the treacherous and sometimes damp footing until we reached a point where it was pretty wet and decided to turn around.  The walls were covered with people's names, with some dates listed as early as 1890.  When we got back to the entrance, we met the people who had rented Emmett's car.  Dan hoped if we dawdled on the way home, they'd come along and offer us a ride, but we ended up making it back on our own.  We probably walked at least 10 miles this weekend!

To Eleuthera

We stayed two nights at anchor Between the Majors and then moved north to Shroud Cay.  As we approached that anchorage, another boat put out the word on the radio that they were looking for a jack.  Dan replied that he had one.  The people from Cher-Ed (pronounced 'shared') Adventures immediately came over to borrow it once we'd set the anchor.  Tirns out we'd met them last year here in the Exumas.  Dan and I set out to do some snorkeling and when we returned, the jack was neatly laid on a bit of carpeting on our back deck, along with two beers.  Whatever they needed to fix, we think they accomplished it.

Sunday night (Feb 25) was a rolly night at Shroud Cay.  We were glad to haul anchor right after breakfast and head east to Eleuthera. Monday's wind was quite tame compared to what we'd been experiencing, and crossing the deep water was a very pleasant cruise.  Dan set out a fishing line on each side, righing up an alert line of floats that would clatter to the deck when the fishing pole had a fish.  We had a couple false alarms - lots of clatter, but no fish on the hook - and then we got one!  Dan caught a skipjack tuna. 

We got to Rock Sound, at the southern end of Eleuthera late afternoon.  We had grilled tuna for dinner as we watched the sunset.

Today (Tues Feb 27) we went ashore to explore a little.  We were here eight years ago.  There is a beautiful big pier now with plenty of room for dinghies.  We walked down the road to the Cathedral Caves for a self-guided tour, something we had not done last time.  We spent a little more walking through town and visiting the blue hole which is right in town, next to the elementary school. 

We'll probably spend tomorrow here too, and hike across the island to the ocean side for a beach walk.  We'll move up to a more protected bay on Eleuthera when the winds pick back up later in the week. 

Starting the Trek North

I forgot to post a picture of the lobster Dan caught this year!  It fed three people a hearty lunch and there was enough for Dan to have surf and turf when had steak a few nights ago. 

We left Long Island on Sunday morning (Feb 18th) to head back to Georgetown.  The wind was shifting to the west, which wouldn't be good for Thompson Bay.  We found our same anchorage off Sand Dollar beach despite there being about a hundred more boats in this harbor.  Last year the record was 390-something vessels.  This year it's well over 400.  Too many for us; we only spent one night there.

The weather was calm enough for us to go back to Lee Stocking Island and setlle in before the afternoon winds really kicked in.  We diverted over to small, deserted Black Cay for a quick beach walk on the way.  Both of us had some good finds - Dan picked up a very nice seat cushion that fit our dinghy perfectly, and I found a great cache of conchs and whelks.  

At Lee Stocking we took a hike across the island to one of the beaches on the ocean side.  We were here three weeks ago and took the left fork in the jungle trail; this time we took the right fork.  This beach is hiked almost daily, so there's little in the way of shells, but Dan found some nice lengths of bamboo and we collected a cupful of sea glass.  We spent three nights at Lee Stocking island.

Thursday (Feb 22) the weather calmed down enough to move on.  We made it to Black Point by mid-afternoon.  I did the laundry and Dan visited some of the neighboring cruisers, one of whom we'd met in Kentucky on the Great Loop.

This morning we moved on to an anchorage near Staniel Cay that we call Between the Majors. (Big Major Cay to the west, Little Major Cay to the east.)  Last year we rode out a strong weather system here with about forty other cruisers.  There aren't forty boats here yet but we expect more to come tomorrow before the north winds start howling again.  We came through a little cut to get here - this picture doesn't do it justice.  We'll probably be here til Sunday.  

One of Tommie’s favorite places to lounge is at the foot of our bed.

Long Island

 We came to Long Island on Friday Feb 9th and we're planning on leaving tomorrow (Feb 18th.)

We spent most of the time here in Thompson Bay, just off the town of Salt Pond, but we did manage a quick trip up to Conception Island, with stops along the way in Miller Bay and Calabash Bay, both up the coast from here on Long Island.  

Sunday, Feb 11 our friends Eddie and Gail on SEAQUEL suggested we have an early Valentine's dinner at Chez Pierre in Miller Bay.  This is a gourmet restaurant right on the beach. We had to pre-order our meals when we made the reservations.  The anchorage in that Bay isn't well protected, and the surf and rocks make it difficult to land a dinghy on the beach.  We ended up anchoring our dinghies offshore and wading through thigh-high surf to the beach.  Fortunately Pierre has a very relaxed dress code; he even requested we remove our sandals to keep the sand out of the restaurant.  Chez Pierre's is a one man operation.  There's a full bar, but it's a DIY operation.  Pierre seats you, confirms your order, makes a note of what you are drinking, and heads to the kitchen.  We were the only customers until we were nearly finished with our meal, then another couple came in and were seated.  The food was outstanding.  

The next day we made a run for Conception Island, but the open sea passage was a little too rough, so we turned back to Calabash Bay on the north end of Long Island.  Dan and I snorkeled for about an hour, and Eddie and Gail spent some relaxing time on the beach.  We got to Conception Island on Tuesday the 13th, when the weather would give us ine nice day to be there before cranking up the wind again. 

Conception Island is a National Park, known for its coral reefs.  Eddie and Gail have been there before and were saddened by the lack of fish and vibrant coral.  It's true there weren't many fish, but the coral heads themselves were quite unique to look at even if they weren't bright with color.  Eddie and Gail did see lemon sharks.  We saw a giant lobster walking nonchalantly along the sand.

Wednesday morning we were up at dawn (which is about 0630) to get back to Long Island.  We went all the way to Thompson Bay for the good shelter there and were surprised to find nearly 30 other boats there.  There had been only eight of us when we'd left for our short trek north.  

We had a couple of uneventful days just puttering around the boat, catching up on housekeeping and maintenance.  Friday the four of us went to Tiny's Hurricane Hole for a late lunch and ended up teaming up against a group of women for a game of Jenga.  We had a fun time.  

Today we rented a car and set off to explore the southern end of Long Island.  Our first stop was the largest cave in the Bahamas, where our guide Leonard Cartwright led us through the walkable passages, telling us a little about the indigenous Caribb tribe of Lucayans who had left behind artifacts.  He pointed out bats and spiders and a very tiny frog as he led us from one cavern to another.  Next we snorkeled Dean's Blue Hole, the second deepest blue hole in the world.  After a picnic lunch on the beach, we visited the harbor of Clarence Town at the far end of the island to admire the views from the Flying Fish Marina and from the top of the steps of Sts Peter and Paul church which is perched on a hill overlooking the town.  We finished our sightseeing with a stop at the Shrimp Hole, a small shallow cave where red shrimp live in the brine at its entrance.  

Tomorrow we're heading back to the Georgetown area.  We're expecting about a week of strong N-NW winds and that's probably the best place to be for that. Hopefully when that calms down we'll be able to start making our way up toward Eleuthera.  We decided to scrap the Ragged Islands - the weather is just not cooperating to head there. 

On to Long Island

We stayed in the Georgetown area most of the week, four nights anchored in front of the town itself, and when the wind shifted to the West-Northwest, we moved across the harbor to anchor of Sand Dollar beach, between the new mooring field and the shore.  

Before the wind blew hard, we managed to get in a couple dinghy trips to the various nearby reefs for some snorkeling.  It was rough, but we did it anyway, and though we didn't see anything new, we did see a lot of fish and a couple of turtles.  No sharks, though.

We took a trip into town as well, for groceries and rum, and I browsed the straw market for souvenirs and gifts.  That day - Monday (Feb 5) - the winds started in earnest.  We had a couple good squalls as the front came.  One of the other cruisers clocked gusts in the lower forties.  We rode easily where we were; the new moorings across the harbor got a good workout.  Then the wind shifted early Wednesday morning and we were taking the brunt.  By Wednesday afternoon most of the boats in our anchorage had moved.

Come Thursday things seemed calmer, but it was mostly because we were all so sheltered by Elizabeth Island.  People were starting to get out and about.  Dan offered to hold a workshop for kids on the beach near Chat n Chill,  teaching them to make Turk's Head bracelets.  Dan practiced a bit before we set off, equipped with lengths of string and tools.  We had three takers - a four year old girl, a six year old boy, and his nine year old sister.  While Dan and I got them started on the bracelets and supervised their attempts to braid it themselves, we were thoroughly entertained by running commentary from the four year old.  She was - she was "pretty sure"  - an only child. She had a nana who might be older than Jesus, and who fed her chocolate on request.  Interspersed with her personal life story were many questions, and observations of us and random things.  How old was Dan?  Did we know unicorns weren't real?  Where did we get all the string?  Did we know baby teeth fell out and you grew new ones?  The older girl also gave us a synopsis of her life, but her brother barely said a word, he was concentrating hard on weaving his bracelet.  We had a great time.  

We sat with our friends Eddie and Gail from SEAQUEL (Eddie was instrumental in recruiting the kids for the workshop) and introduced them to Tracy and Bob from our buddy boat THREE SONS.  The six of us talked about our plans to leave Georgetown when the weather cooperated, and Eddie proposed we set out for the Ragged Islands in the morning, to be there when the wind started shifting and slowing down.  Dan agreed to go for it, but Tracy and Bob had to remain in Georgetown as they had guests arriving.  

So at dawn on Friday (Feb 9) SEAQUEL and we raised anchor to head south.  It was mighty rough, but we both were hoping things would settle down once we got beyond the reefs that mark the harbor.  By the time we reached Hog Cut we'd spoken with other boats plowing through 6 foot waves ahead of us, and we made the decision to turn eastward instead and head for Long Island where we would be sheltered from the ENE winds in Thompson Bay.  

Today (Saturday, Feb 10) the four of us went ashore for a beach walk.  We also visited the Farmer's Market and the grocery store.  Long Island is a much quieter place than Georgetown.  Our plans are to hang out for another day and use the next weather window to head north instead of trying for the Ragged Islands again.  It appears we'll have a couple calm-ish days (who would have thought we'd consider 12-15 knots calm!) before the stronger winds kick in again.  This certainly has been a windy Bahamas cruise so far!

This is how Tommie does yoga with us.  She's the foot warmer.  She loves laying on the end of the mat.  

On to Georgetown

We ended up spending three nights at Allan Cay, and the wind just got a little stronger every day.  I did swim - to check the anchor, and to do laps around the boat - with Dan on shark watch from the flying bridge.  A nurse shark and I had a brief stare-down (it was between me and the swim ladder) and I guess I won, because it swam away.  Neither of us went back in the water after that encounter, not just because of the shark.  The wind shifted to a wind-against-current direction and things got mighty rough.  Too rough to sleep; most of us were up on watch for most of the night on Sunday (Jan 28) and one of the boats decided to pull up anchor and move to another location.  The rest of us watched him put his boat aground.  It's such a helpless feeling to watch such a scenario unfold, knowing you can't do anything.  We were too far away, and our dinghy too small and underpowered to handle the weather to assist the rescue of the nine people from that boat.  The people were fine, the boat, not so much.  

We bounced around another 24 hours before the weather settled enough for us to haul up our three anchors (two bow, one stern) and move on.  We spent the last two nights of January in Cambridge Cay, where we had a nice beach walk along the ocean side of the island and a beautiful sunset.

From there it was an easy morning cruise to Staniel Cay were we paused for lunch and to do a quick swim of the Thunderball Grotto.  Dan wanted to get some videos with the Go-Pro.  We'd been there eight years ago but had skipped the experience last year.  I am not fond of snorkeling in a cave, especially when the entrance is underwater, but we did it and he was pleased with his filming.  (Too large a file to post here, sorry.)  We went back to the boat and raised anchor to cruise over to Black Point for the night.

We love this little town on Great Guana.  The people are friendly, there's a post office and a couple small grocery stores, a two good restaurants and a woman who sells fresh baked bread from her kitchen, and the laundromat has stunning views of the harbor.  Dan was interested to see the town getting ready for the February First Friday Festival regatta at Farmer's Cay.  They had brought their Bahamian sloops to the town dock to rig, and a man was literally planing each mast to custom fit each boat.  We did not attend the regatta, but we did set to see the boats set off for Farmer's Cay in the morning.  

We went back ashore on Friday (Feb 2) for a short hike to the blow hole just outside of town proper.  It was a spectacular scene as the rollers coming in from the ocean were six feet or more, thundering underground to geyser up through the hole.  

We ended the day with a long jungle hike to the ocean side beach on Lee Stocking Island, after a short and pleasant cruise from Great Guana.  We had the beach all to ourselves, scavenging fan coral and a some re-usable plastic items from the flotsam and jetsam in the sand.  

Saturday, Feb 3 we made our way to the Georgetown area.  We could see the forest of masts as soon as we entered Elizabeth Harbour.  There are over 200 boats here, but they are well spread out, as the Bahamians have eliminated the glut of boats along the east side of this harbor by installing a lot of well-spaced moorings and closing down certain amchorages. I have a feeling the changes aren't welcome to those who come here every year to hang out for several months, but from a safety standpoint, this is a better arrangement.

It'll be tested this week, as the winds are coming in tomorrow.  We supposed to see strong winds from the WNW through the NE over the next three days, gusting up to 40 mph.  We're in a good spot in Kidd's Cove, right near town.  We'll hope there will be no rescues to be made at the height of this blow.