Eleuthera and beyond

We departed Warderick Wells in the Exumas Saturday morning as soon as we had enough light to see the channel out of the park.  We were a little apprehensive about getting through the cut but only a little - the tide and wind seemed to be right.  It was a little bouncy but the wind was perfect for a fast passage into the ocean and 35 miles across to Rock Sound in Eleuthera.  Once we hit the banks next to Eleuthera we had to pay attention to the channels through the shallow sand and coral for 10 miles.  We only had to dodge a few coral heads.  Our Furuno Navnet 3D Chartplotter gives us a clear picture of where to steer the boat through the channels.  If we had to do it all without the electronics we would have an incredibly difficult job.

We anchored in Rock Sound in about 8 feet of water.  The entire harbor is very shallow.  We dinghyed in to Pascal's restaurant where we had a fabulous meal.  Maryanne's vegetable quesadilla has set the bar for all future vegetable quesadillas.  We were concerned enough with the lack of business that we and one other couple who happened to be dining there the next night offered to publicize the restaurant to the other cruisers.
Pascal, the chef/owner, volunteered that he would do a happy hour the next day with free appetizers.  The next morning Maryanne made an announcement on VHF radio to the other cruisers about lunch at Pascals and about the happy hour.  From our boat we could see a good crowd at the restaurant for lunch.  We had a nice gathering at the happy hour where we were able to met a number of interesting people who were anchored in the harbor.

After our first night at the restaurant we decided to take a short walk to the local grocery store just to see how far it was.  When we got there it was closed but I went up to the door to check out the hours.  As I turned to leave one of the several employees who were closing up opened the door and asked if we needed any items.  It was 7:20 - 20 minutes after closing.  I was sure they wanted to go home but we mentioned that there were a couple items we would like to buy before the store closed until Monday.  We were invited in to do some quick shopping.  I couldn't believe they were willing to open up for a couple of strangers well after their store hours!

On Wednesday we left the harbor for Hatchet Bay.  We had a wild ride with very strong winds and some chop.  The entrance to Hatchet Bay, a man made harbor, was different.  The entrance was cut through cliffs and was supposedly 90 feet wide.  It looked a lot narrower.  We aimed at the middle of the channel, watched the cliff walls on either side of us and held our breath as we glided into a perfectly calm pond-like harbor.  Once again, like our experience with Cave Cut, we felt like we were entering a different world.

Jon of Langeline, one of the cruisers we met at Pascal's happy hour was incredibly helpful to us.  He met us in a dinghy at a mooring near his boat and threaded some lines through the mooring for us.  The mooring was  well coated in bird poop but he didn't hesitate to string our lines.  Later we had a good time aboard his boat with his co-skipper, Nancy and with Alan of "Unabated."  Jon and Nancy's boat is an immaculate Tartan 43 in showroom condition.  I wanted to volunteer to toss a little clutter around but I resisted the impulse.  Alan had been sailing his Pearson 424 single-handed from the Caribbean and through the Bahamas.  This is also his first time in the Bahamas.

We sailed with Alan the next day to Current Cut while Jon and Nancy hitchhiked to Governors Harbor for the day.  We arrived at Current Cut well ahead of time.  The current is very strong so we had to wait a coule hours for the tide to change.  We turned off the engine and sailed at 1.5 knots or less for a couple hours until the tide change.  While we drifted toward our destination I replaced a noisy fan in our berth and rewired a quieter fan.  At least I got something done during the wait.

We arrived in Spanish Wells on Thursday and decided to spoil ourselves with a couple nights on a dock at Yacht Haven.  Spanish Wells is a picturesque fishing community that produces at least 50% of the lobsters from the Bahamas.  This town is different than any of the others we have seen.  All of the homes are well kept and painted all different pastel shades.  In all the other communities we have visited many of the homes and buildings looked care worn with some real poverty evident.  This community has enough water so that there are lovely gardens and lawns around most of the homes.

For a little change of pace we decided to take the high speed ferry to Harbor Island - supposedly the hangout of the rich and famous.  The ferry took us across the infamous "Devil's Backbone."  This is an area of shoals that cruisers are advised to cross only with a pilot.  The ferry zoomed across the shoals - at one time close enough to the beach that I could touch it if the windows opened.

A Blue Hole: The water in this pond comes through caves from the ocean.   In
some of the caves above water there is graffiti from the 1700's.  This Blue Hole
is just outside of town in Rock Sound

We rented a golf cart with Alan and toured Harbor Island.  We visited the famous pink sand beach which looked pretty much like any other beach to me but there were a few grains of reddish coral that gave wet sand a slight hint of a pink hue.  Lunch was at Valentines - and was excellent.  As we ate outside in the shade we could see "Happy Destiny," another Tartan 43 arriving with a pilot aboard - pulling his boat behind them.  Cindy and Pete hired "Bandit" as a pilot.  We spoke with him as we finished our lunch.  He explained that for him piloting isn't difficult.  He's been driving boats around here since he was a young kid.  Born in Spanish Wells, he is no young kid now.