Northern Eleuthera

April 18th- Dawn brings clear skies and lighter winds and we can see that the seas have calmed in the Little Harbor cut so its anchor up and off south under full sail. Winds are a little more on the nose than we had hoped for but light enough that we keep our speed up by adding the iron genny (motor) any time our speed drops below 5.5 kts. We need to cover 55 miles of open ocean before dark and are also passing thru a busy shipping lane. Hooked a nice dolphin (Mahi) around noon and had an exciting time bringing it alongside. Unfortunately we failed to get it into the boat as has happened many times before. The sailboat is not set up for gaffing a big fish as we have so much stuff in the way at the stern and Chris is a little leery of hanging over the rail as we roll in the swells. Hooked into another big fish later but got just a look at it as it leaped high and got loose before I even had the drag set. Picked up mooring in the protected harbor at Royal Island in time for cocktail hour and spent a quiet evening along with 14 other boats. Nearly all the boat traffic is heading north at this time of year and most of these boats will head out over the next 2 days as the wind swings south.

April 19th thru 23rd- Two days of fine weather has us relaxing wandering about the island, snorkeling and generally lazing about. A storm front passed thru Sat night with gusts over 50 kts and heavy rain. Gale winds persisted thru monday when they finally died down to 20 kts and we were able to spend the day hiking the island.  We were glad to be on one of the private hurricane moorings and not have to worry about dragging anchor. Many boats have come into the harbor to ride out the storm and a few had to reanchor as they dragged in the storms.

Royal Island ruins, outdoor bar

Snorkeling spot- ruins of pier and harbor

what appears to be a corall(holding pen) possibly for conk or lobster? cut into shoreline at Royal Is ruins. A gated sluceway to the ocean allowed fresh seawater to enter

 our protected anchorage in the center of Royal Island

April 24th- Off in the morning to Spanish Wells for propane and fresh veggies. Picked up a mooring in this crowded harbor as the seas are still rough to anchor outside. Stopped at the boaters book exchange during happy hour and enjoyed the company of Jean and Tom who are from RI but own a home here and welcome boaters to visit their library and trade books. They keep their trawler in the harbor and have made the trip to RI for the past 29 years. After so much nasty weather we were in need of fresh reading material.


April 25th- Sail south thru Current Cut (one of my most dreaded spots with 3.5 kts of current and shifting shoals as you exit) then motor sail into the wind to Hatchet Bay. Picked up a free mooring and dingeyed in to buy stone crab claws from the local crabber. A bottle of cheap rum ($6) and $20 cash and we had a bag of 20 large claws fresh off the boat. We have decided that these are even better than lobster and stuffed ourselves for 2 nights dinners.


April 26th thru    -Motor sail south to Governors Harbor where we plan to wait out more stormy weather expected over the next few days. Pick up the only mooring where we will be secure for the next few days. Many boaters dont trust these govt moorings but over the years I have dove on any that we use and found that most have monster chain and huge concrete blocks. You usually have to supply your own mooring line as most are pretty ratty. The holding for anchoring in many of these harbors is tenacious at best with a bottom of either grass or marl(limestone) so we feel more secure on a mooring. Caught a nice Barracuda on the way and made chowder from the carcass and froze a few dinners. 
    Fri- Hike out to the beautiful ocean beach(pink sand- one of our favorites) where we explored the abandoned Club Med Resort. Was a huge operation apparently in the 70's before being wiped out by a hurricane.

   Sat- Threat of rain all day kept our  exploring close to the boat. Light rain all night with heavy rain and expected winds on Sunday kept us aboard. The good thing is that I can fill our water tanks with our rain collection system. Unlike most of the Bahamas good water can be had for free in most of Eleuthra but has to be hauled from shore in jugs. Water in Abacoe is mostly RO (reverse osmoses) water and usually costs about 20 cents/gal. We carry 70 gals of water in our tanks and can usually make this last quite a while by washing dishes using salt water whenever we are in clean water. I have added sea water faucets at both sinks for this purpose.