Well, Lauryl Anne & Day Dreams left the Exuma's on a mildly breezy day & our first hurtle was to get through the cut @ Highbourne Cay. We picked our time to leave based on the tide & current but it still was quite choppy and a bit "sporty" as Chris Parker says. We were hoping it was going to calm down after entering the sound but we were a bit disappointed. The waves were 4-6 feet high with an occasional 8 but what made it uncomfortable is the waves were hitting us "on the nose" meaning we were heading right into them. We put up with it for a short while and then we said "lets tack". So we acted like sailboats and didn't head straight for our destination but instead we criss crossed our route making us look like drunk sailors. Our track looked like a fun zig zag. It took us a bit longer to get to Eleuthera but it was a heck of a more comfortable ride.
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| Wild Orchid |
We arrived to the Island of Eleuthera before cocktail hour and anchored in the pretty bay of Rock Sound. Eleuthera Island is almost 90 miles long yet only 3 miles wide. We, especially David & Tricia, deserved dinner out after that cruise, so we took the dinghy to the public dock and walked to Sammy's, a local Restaurant. Our next day, we did some more extensive land exploration, finding the Ocean Hole, a blue hole with ocean water but completely landlocked. David lent a local a hand, utilizing his height to knock down a coconut and we all were rewarded with hugs from 2 sweet little girls. We found a local artists shop, The Blue Seahorse and I bought some hand made jewelry for gifts. The jewelry is made from sea glass & seeds from one of their local trees: Poinciana. The Grocery store here is the best so far, clean & well lit with many items. There is a great hardware store next door too. Later, for Happy Hour, we took our dinghy to the Wild Orchid's dinghy dock and sipped drinks on the beach at the bar. FYI: Lenny Kravitz lives on this island somewhere.
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| A Poinciana Tree |
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| I'm holding a Poinciana pod |
Next stop along the shore of Eleuthera is Alabaster Cove. We finally have an anchorage to ourselves in a nicely protected cove. Here on the beach, we spotted 4 colorful small villas with some tiki cabanas. When we beached the dinghy to check out the area we found the resort closed for repairs. In the 1950's the U.S. Navy built a Missile Tracking Base on the sound side of this area with a loading dock near the beach and it was all closed permanently in the 80's. It looks like they just walked away from the place and it is a crumbling mess of concrete, steel & litter.
A long cruise today to the northern end of Eleuthera and the quaint fishing village of Spanish Wells. After 32 consecutive nights away from a dock, we decided to stay at the Spanish Wells Marina which is very nice at $2.50/foot. We walked to Buddha's Snack Shop & Liquor Store and had a delicious meal of fresh Grouper. It was an outdoor space not on the water but it definitely had personality. There are pretty homes with colorful flowers growing here & there. Many locals use golf carts or mini vehicles to get around. It is a very walkable village with many big commercial fishing boats all along the shore. The Marina is very nice with well maintained docks, a pool, laundry and a nice bar & restaurant. R/O water was metered along with electricity but trash was free.
One of our days in Spanish Wells was drizzly & gray, normally we are glad to be at dock on days like this but this day was a bit different. Doug & I had just sat down in the Pilot House for the beginning of cocktail hour when our view out our front window became not just gray but fuzzy. Then BAM the sailboat in front of us keeled over about 45 degrees and the cruiser next to them was pushed away from the dock into the middle of the well. At that same time, Lauryl Anne who was docked next to us on our port side (left) lost their bow line and their boat ended up crosswise in their well, luckily the boat that had been docked next to them, had left in the morning. We ran back to our cockpit to help Lauryl Anne and when we stepped outside on our back deck, it looked like it had hailed but immediately we found out that it wasn't ice but many many pieces of broken safety glass. Lauryl Anne found a beanbag lounger on their bridge which as it fell from the sky, ripped their Bimini canvas & bent their frame making it unusable. We found bigger pieces of Plexi glass & a canvas chair cover on our bridge. The broken safety glass pitted our fiberglass and ripped our window screen and punctured our AB inflatable dinghy causing it to deflate. All of these flying projectiles came from an 85 foot yacht docked on the t-dock, 2 boats away from us. One of the yachts' windows on their bridge blew out during this strange event. We think it was a water spout or micro-burst. It lasted at the most 10 seconds. One of the boats on the fringe, clocked 65 mph winds. Someone who was sitting at the bar, video taped it right after it passed over our boats and there definitely was rotation with water & debris swirling in it. We are still finding pieces of glass, sometimes in the bottom of our feet.
Some views of Spanish Wells:
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| view from the Ferry |
After that excitement, we decided to take a local jet ferry across to Harbour Island. We had heard that it was tricky to cruise to on your own to Harbour Island and only those with local knowledge or those that hired a pilot to guide them could get there safely. We enjoyed our visit-there is a beautiful beach with small resorts lining the shoreline. This island is known for their pink sand beach, it has a pink tinge and when you look at it closely you can see the pretty pink granules mixed in. We lunched at SipSip overlooking the beautiful beach. Scenes from our visit to Harbour Island:
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| looking back onto Spanish Wells |
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| one of the Marinas on Harbour Island |
Our last stop in the Eleuthera chain was Royal Island. The beautiful Melanie Beach was our private paradise where just the two of us were anchored. We went ashore and it felt like a Twilight Zone episode: a multi million dollar luxury property without a soul around. Five Villas, a gorgeous restaurant & bar, fitness/spa with a deep blue infinity pool which were all spotless and well taken care of. It felt like there had been people there but they had all recently disappeared. There was not even a caretaker on the premises when we were there. We googled this resort and it is advertised as a peaceful private island retreat, away from the hustle & bustle-they got that right! Roger Staubach & Jack Nicklaus teamed up with developers back in 2006 and it was all on target until 2008 hit. The last I could find info on it was 2014 when the Villa's were going for $9500/night but wait-that's all inclusive! Doesn't appear to be a waiting list.
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| The tables were not set, they were off to the side when we were there. |
We arrived to the Island of Eleuthera before cocktail hour and anchored in the pretty bay of Rock Sound. Eleuthera Island is almost 90 miles long yet only 3 miles wide. We, especially David & Tricia, deserved dinner out after that cruise, so we took the dinghy to the public dock and walked to Sammy's, a local Restaurant. Our next day, we did some more extensive land exploration, finding the Ocean Hole, a blue hole with ocean water but completely landlocked. David lent a local a hand, utilizing his height to knock down a coconut and we all were rewarded with hugs from 2 sweet little girls. We found a local artists shop, The Blue Seahorse and I bought some hand made jewelry for gifts. The jewelry is made from sea glass & seeds from one of their local trees: Poinciana. The Grocery store here is the best so far, clean & well lit with many items. There is a great hardware store next door too. Later, for Happy Hour, we took our dinghy to the Wild Orchid's dinghy dock and sipped drinks on the beach at the bar. FYI: Lenny Kravitz lives on this island somewhere.
Next stop along the shore of Eleuthera is Alabaster Cove. We finally have an anchorage to ourselves in a nicely protected cove. Here on the beach, we spotted 4 colorful small villas with some tiki cabanas. When we beached the dinghy to check out the area we found the resort closed for repairs. In the 1950's the U.S. Navy built a Missile Tracking Base on the sound side of this area with a loading dock near the beach and it was all closed permanently in the 80's. It looks like they just walked away from the place and it is a crumbling mess of concrete, steel & litter. 
A long cruise today to the northern end of Eleuthera and the quaint fishing village of Spanish Wells. After 32 consecutive nights away from a dock, we decided to stay at the Spanish Wells Marina which is very nice at $2.50/foot. We walked to Buddha's Snack Shop & Liquor Store and had a delicious meal of fresh Grouper. It was an outdoor space not on the water but it definitely had personality. There are pretty homes with colorful flowers growing here & there. Many locals use golf carts or mini vehicles to get around. It is a very walkable village with many big commercial fishing boats all along the shore. The Marina is very nice with well maintained docks, a pool, laundry and a nice bar & restaurant. R/O water was metered along with electricity but trash was free.
One of our days in Spanish Wells was drizzly & gray, normally we are glad to be at dock on days like this but this day was a bit different. Doug & I had just sat down in the Pilot House for the beginning of cocktail hour when our view out our front window became not just gray but fuzzy. Then BAM the sailboat in front of us keeled over about 45 degrees and the cruiser next to them was pushed away from the dock into the middle of the well. At that same time, Lauryl Anne who was docked next to us on our port side (left) lost their bow line and their boat ended up crosswise in their well, luckily the boat that had been docked next to them, had left in the morning. We ran back to our cockpit to help Lauryl Anne and when we stepped outside on our back deck, it looked like it had hailed but immediately we found out that it wasn't ice but many many pieces of broken safety glass. Lauryl Anne found a beanbag lounger on their bridge which as it fell from the sky, ripped their Bimini canvas & bent their frame making it unusable. We found bigger pieces of Plexi glass & a canvas chair cover on our bridge. The broken safety glass pitted our fiberglass and ripped our window screen and punctured our AB inflatable dinghy causing it to deflate. All of these flying projectiles came from an 85 foot yacht docked on the t-dock, 2 boats away from us. One of the yachts' windows on their bridge blew out during this strange event. We think it was a water spout or micro-burst. It lasted at the most 10 seconds. One of the boats on the fringe, clocked 65 mph winds. Someone who was sitting at the bar, video taped it right after it passed over our boats and there definitely was rotation with water & debris swirling in it. We are still finding pieces of glass, sometimes in the bottom of our feet. 
After that excitement, we decided to take a local jet ferry across to Harbour Island. We had heard that it was tricky to cruise to on your own to Harbour Island and only those with local knowledge or those that hired a pilot to guide them could get there safely. We enjoyed our visit-there is a beautiful beach with small resorts lining the shoreline. This island is known for their pink sand beach, it has a pink tinge and when you look at it closely you can see the pretty pink granules mixed in. We lunched at SipSip overlooking the beautiful beach. Scenes from our visit to Harbour Island:
