Wandering about Eleuthra

ROYAL ISLAND

Wed March 22- Awake at 5am and anchor up at 6 as we head out to the open ocean and south across the shipping lanes of the NE Providence Channel. Gently rolling seas of about 6 ft with no wind has us motoring the 53 nm to the protected anchorage at Royal Island. We are within sight of many other boats making this passage as all have been waiting for a break in the weather. We plan to be here for a few days as we will need protection from the next batch of stormy weather expected to blow in later in the week.

Thurs-Sat-With just one calm day before the weather rolls in we hike to the north side of the Island where we spend a beautiful day with a picnic, snorkeling and gathering a mess of Conch. As we lounged on the rocks a good size shark decided to hang around so that was the end of our water activities.

With gusts expected to exceed 40 mph overnite I set a second anchor just to be safe and we spent the next couple of days snug with the rains filling our water tanks as the wind howled. Chris likes to take advantage of the weather by baking and we had fresh bread along with desserts to go along with a batch of fresh cracked conch.

Royal Island Harbor

    SPANISH WELLS

Sun-The weather has cleared so we make the short hop to Spanish Wells where we visited fellow cruisers Tom and Jean who now live in a cottage here and operate an informal library where we were able to swap out a number of our paperbacks. On Mon we were back in town for Lunch, beer and wifi at a little bar called Buddas followed a stop at the grocery store for a few fresh veggies.

    GLASS WINDOW

Mon and Tues- One of our favorite stops along this stretch of the island is the Queens Baths but to get here we pass thru a cut in the island called Current Cut. The waters here live up to the name and with a new moon the tides create currents that require you to time your passage to travel with the flow. Friends transited the cut for the first time at max current and referred to the ride attuned to getting squeezed out of a toothpaste tube.

Spent Mon afternoon relaxing in the pools at the baths and on Tues we took a 5 mi hike to the north where we stopped to visit with the new owner of what had been one of our favorite swimming spots(more baths) and is now being rebuilt into a boutique hotel.

raging sea into Harbor Island inlet south

filling the Queens Baths

                              

                             

The Queen awaiting her bath

       

    HATCHET BAY

Wed thru Fri- work our way south to the protected harbor off of Alicetown where we will wait out the next strong winds that are predicted for Thurs. We have always stopped and bought Stone Crab claws from the local fisherman but much to our disappointment it appears the operation is now defunct. A phone call to another fisherman whom has sold us lobster in past years was also a bust as the weather has kept him off the water.

protected anchorage-Hatchet Bay

Hiked across the island both Thurs and Fri to spend the afternoon on the beach. Cocktails with friends Keith and Judi both evenings and I even whipped up a batch of conch fritters.

on the beach at Hatchet Bay oceanside

GOVERNORS HARBOR

Sat thru Wed- The seas have calmed and a fair wind gives us a great sail south the 16nm to the colonial village of Governors Harbor. This has to be one of the prettiest towns in the Bahamas with Victorian homes surrounding the harbor and dotting the hillside.

While sailing we were joined by a pod of dolphin that kept us entertained playing off our bow for about a mile. I tried to get a video so click below for the fun.

  Spent 2  afternoons at what we have found to be the nicest beach in the Bahamas. The short hike to the ocean brings us to what was the site of a now defunct Club Med and the wide pink sand beach and palm trees make it a perfect location. Had takeaway lunch twice from local vendors, were able to get our propane filled but the gas station was out of diesel so that will have to wait. We plan to continue south but another front is predicted so we decide to take advantage of south winds for a relaxing sail back to the protected Hatchet Bay harbor to wait out the weather. 

                 

Governors Harbor anchorage

warm pink sand and palm trees

HATCHET BAY

Wed thru Fri, April 5^th-7th

Back at the protected anchorage of Hatchet Bay pond we are once again hiding out from predicted storms that were to bring 45 kt winds. Thankfully the worst squalls missed us but we were glad to be in this snug anchorage as the winds howled. Spent our time hiking to the oceanside beach, doing boat chores, and spent a pleasant evening with friends Keith and Judi over for dinner. We are anchored among 12 other boats and to show what a varied group we travel among there is 20 ft sailboat from the Maryland with 2 young men aboard on one side of us and a 54 ft sailboat from Denmark with an older couple aboard on the other.

                       

                                                      Anchorage in Hatchet Bay Pond

GOVERNORS HARBOR

The winds have veered back to the east and we take advantage of being able to sail south in the protected lee of the island. As we pick up a free mooring in the protected corner of Governors Harbor we spot friends Derick and Sue from Panacea have stayed in place and rode out the rough weather here. They have been waiting here for parts for their dead diesel for weeks and havn’t tried sailing out until today. Seeing they were struggling I dingyed over and with a dingy on each side we were able to tow them to where they could sail out to a more protected spot.

Enjoyed a great evening with happy hour at the gazebo on the beach with Panacea and their guest Narvis followed by a party at the fish fry. Having met Ilena, a local bahamian, on a previous visit she hailed us with an invite to this birthday party for her sister. Had a great time partying with the locals with dinner cooked over wood fired grills, drinks and music well into the night.

For those of you wondering what fish fry (used as a noun) is I can best describe it as a collection of shacks usually located on a beach close to town where the locals gather on Friday nights and holidays to party. Vendors sell local food and drink with the music blasting late into the night. In some of the larger towns such as Nassau and Georgetown these sites have turned into daily operations.

It looks like we will be here a while since the winds have built into the 20’s and are expected to build further for at least a week. We are in the lee of the island but our next destination will take us across a stretch of open ocean so we will wait out calmer seas. While here we finally got our wifi straitened out by buying a cheap bahamian smartphone to use as a hotspot. We have been fighting with our old wifi stick since starting out and I’m fed up. BATELCO has great cell coverage all thru the islands and now offer unlimited data for $35 per month.

Happy Hour

Drinks at Ronnies

Birthday party

Fish Fry

  

Have to bring your own drinks to this resort!

April 8 thru 17^th

As the winds have still been howling we find ourselves hanging out in Governors Harbor enjoying the ocean beaches and spending time with our neighbors getting together for sunset cocktails and sharing stories. On Fri evening we met up at the weekly fishfry for a great evening. For Easter we sailed north to spend a night at the beautiful Ten Bay beach.

 

sunset cocktails at library 

Fish Fry


Rock Sound   Having decided it was time to move on and with lighter winds predicted we sail south to the anchorage at Rock Sound. We had hoped to stock up on a few fresh veggies but as it was Easter Monday the stores were all closed up. We did find a  local gardener selling homegrown tomatoes which were a treat.