More of Eluthera Island

We spend a day in Rock Sound exploring the north shore. It was a hike, over 1.5 miles down a fairly deserted road (thought we’d manage to hitch a ride!). We turned off of the main road onto a dirt road and finally crested overlooking the shore.

It was a pretty beach to walk on, nice sand, no shells, but lots of beach junk, including this wooden boat mast and some bottles.

A hike back to the road, a little further down, and we finally came to the only bar/restaurant on the north side. Open, completely deserted, one sleeping cat who didn’t even wake up. We waited around and sure enough, after a while Rose drove up with a car full of Canadian tourists that she’d picked up for lunch. We had taken our lunch with us (we’re getting smart) but sat on her deck and had a couple of her beers with lunch.

Rose offered us a ride back to town, which we quickly accepted. Turned out she planned to drive northward up the island to the next town and a few shops. She asked if we wanted to go along to see the island –again, a quick yes! The next town is Tarpum Bay, a cute town very different from Rock Sound. Instead of the 1 story, square concrete buildings, this town was full of 2 story houses, many made of wood.

It seemed a little cleaner and better kept up than many of the towns we see.

Next stop by boat, Hatchet Bay, home of Alice Town. This is about 36 miles further northward, up the Eluthera coast, motor sailing in light favorable breezes. Once again we were visitied by several large dolphins racing at our bow. They really seem to see or hear the boat from a distance, bounding to the bow like enthusiastic puppies, and then racing along with us, under our bow, for a few minutes, then turn away and dissapear - always a thrilling event. The entrance to the Hatchet Bay anchorage was narrow and not visible until we actually got almost there.

Inside the entrance we found a tiny “hurricane hole”, a spot protected on all sides from wind and waves. The Bahamian government has placed 9 free moorings here. We were lucky enough to snag the last one. Folks seems to want to stay here – one boat has been here since mid December.

We walked into town, a “family settlement”, meaning a black only town. This particular settlement has a couple of small places to buy groceries, couple of bars, couple of take-away restaurants, maybe 3 little shops of some sort or another, and an internet café. But, the town also was more crowded, unmaintained, lots of trash on the streets, etc. We've been to many family settlements, but generally we were not as impressed as we have been with some of the others. Here is a pier closest to the largest grocery store.

We left Alice Town to go to Spanish Wells, about 30 miles north.  En route we passed the Glass Window, an area of the Elutheras which has high cliffs and the only man-made bridge across the island.  The bridge was destroyed in the early 1990's but rebuilt recently.  Now you can drive across the island. 

Onward through the Current Cut to Spanish Wells, about 30 miles of downwind and broad reach sailing in 15 to 20 kt winds. It's important to hit Current Cut at near slack tide, as currents there can live up to its name. We are now at a marina in Spanish Wells, sitting out yet another frontal passage. We'll spend a couple of days here and hopefully on Wednesday we'll use a boat pilot to guide us and several other boats to Harbor Island.  Today, as the front came through,  we wandered through the driving rain to do some errands.  We had 3 folks offer us rides (which we gratefully took!), incuding the grandmother of the girls who run a great little diner.  We happened to sit at the table with Grandma.  She drove her golf cart home in the rain to pick up her car in order to take us back to the marina.  En route she gave us a tour of the island.  Very sweet, as are all of the people we've met here.

And today's shell!  A cute little member of the Tun family, the Atlantic Partridge Tun.  This little one is only about 1.5 inches long.  Found in S.E. Florida and from the West Indies to Venezuela, these small shells are thin with a large body whorl.  The animal itself is a midnight blue.  Would love to see that!  They are carivores, preying on sea cucumbers, bivalves, and according to some, even fish, engulfing their prey whole!  The females lay their eggs in broad ribbons and the larvae are free-swimmers for the first 8 months or so.  Bet not too many of them make it...

Tomorrow we will do some sight-seeing and maybe move the boat from the marina to a mooring or anchor it outside of the harbor.  Hopefully on Wednesday we'll be in a little boat train of 6, following our pilot boat through the narrow, winding, shallow cut known as "The Devil's Backbone" to Harbor Town.