On The Road Again

“On the Road Again”

We have left Georgetown and have now started our trip north. We pulled up the anchor and set sail with brisk 15-18 knot SE winds on Tuesday morning the 4th of March about 09:00 and headed for Conch Cut. This is the opening between the reefs that allows boats access to Exuma Sound. From there we set a course for the southern end of Cat Island which is about 37.4 miles NE of Georgetown. We had a great sail with a beam reach and 5’ ocean swells coming into the sound from the Atlantic.

We arrived in Cat Island about 4:00 PM and anchored in a little settlement called New Bight. The town is below Mount Alvernia where Father Jerome, a famous Priest and architect, built his retirement home called the “Hermitage”. The next morning we awoke to sunny skies and great 15 knot SE winds, so Cameron cancelled the planned excursion to the top of the mount and headed north towards Little San Salvador Island. We experienced another great sailing day broad reaching across the banks off the west side of Cat Island in crystal clear water of 10-12 feet with the bottom visible at all times.

We arrived off of Little San Salvador about 3:00 PM and anchored in Half Moon Bay. This is a very picturesque bay which is used by Holland America Cruise Line as a port call for the Caribbean vessels on the way back to Fort Lauderdale. The beach was filled with little cabanas, water toys, chaise lounges, a thatched roof tiki bar and no people. It seems that most of the workers for this resort beach only come to work on the days that the cruise ship comes. The day we were there we only saw a few workers doing maintenance on the launches and they waved to us but did not question us using their beach on this privately owned island. We were the only boat when we arrived and it seemed rather eerie that this great place was all ours. It was like a scene out of an “end of the world” movie.

Later that afternoon we were joined by another cruising boat, “Morning Star” with Bill and Linda, from Kennebunkport Maine. They joined us for sundowners and we made plans to head out tomorrow morning for the island of Eleuthera about 28 miles north.

We set sail for Cape Eleuthera Marina the next morning in light 10-12 knots SE wind. This meant a downwind run. Now I wished I had a spinnaker but Nancy reminded me that this was our first real spinnaker type run we have had since we left. This would be our first night tied up in a marina in over 100 days. I guess you can say we have adapted to being live aboard on the anchor cruisers. The marina was the best looking marina I have ever stayed in. The docks were all brand new, the water clear, and there were 12 cottage style homes across the harbor and a series of little support buildings. Once tied up we explored the area and found out the marina had a open air restaurant called “Barracudas” on the beach across from the marina. We made dinner reservations and headed back to the boat. Soon we were joined by the crew of “Morning Star” and the crew of “Dogs Life” from Charleston, SC. We had met Zack & Anne and their golden retriever “Boca” back in Georgetown during the winter. They had sailed over from the Land & Sea Park at Warderick Wells where they had stayed for three weeks while they did volunteer work on the building in return for free moorings.
The six of us enjoyed a great dinner of grilled Mahi-Mahi and grilled Lobster along with cole slaw, potato salad and a few adult beverages. It was good to sleep tied up securely in a slip and not have to worry about squalls or wind shifts during the night.

The next day we headed out towards a settlement called Rock Sound, a little farther up the coast of Eleuthera. This harbor is one of the few on this island that provides protection from West winds and since we were anticipating a very strong cold front coming through later that night we were glad to be somewhere that afforded us a protected anchorage. We were surprised to find a real grocery store in Rock Sound that was stocked with plenty of fresh produce and more variety of things than any place we had seen since Nassau in early December. One evening while we were there, an evening happy hour was planned in the settlement and sponsored by a business called Dingle Motors. This is a combination convenience store, tire shop, and car rental business. Bradley Dingle a very tall black man that also is the minister of the local Full Gospel Church, joined about 20 cruisers and entertained us with his 12 string guitar. He had a great deep voice and played songs from gospel to rock.

Our next stop up the coast was a place called the Pineapple Cays. Here we were able to pick up a free government mooring only about 100 yards from the beach. We kayaked in and then hiked across the island (about 2.5 miles) to a spectacular pink sand beach. Bill from Morning Star and I brought our snorkel gear and explored the reefs just off the beach, while Nancy and Linda looked for shells & Sea Beans. Along the way to the beach, we found a bakery that an elderly lady named Muriel operated out of her house. As we walked in, the smell of fresh baked bread was everywhere. We enjoyed Muriels stories about her 5 children and her 15 grandchildren while we waited for the bread to come out of the oven.

During the night the wind unexpectedly switched into the SSW which meant our secure anchorage became a lee shore and now was very rough. I had to hope that the government mooring we were secured to was up to holding us in place. Early the next morning, we decided to head out and skip the rest of the west coast of Eluethera since most of the harbors are open to the west. We headed for current cut which is a natural cut between two parts of the island on the NW side. It is famous for the 6 knot current that slices through the cut at peak times. Luckily we were able to time our arrival for high tide and the current was just going slack. I was somewhat apprehensive about going through this channel with only one engine working but it turned out to be fine. We then sailed on to Royal Island harbor which is a natural harbor inside an island just off the north coast of Eluethera. The entrance to this harbor is between two big rocks not more than 70’ apart. The island is now being developed into a high price development with million dollar homes and a marina for mega yachts.
The next day we motored 7 miles north to Spanish Wells a working fishing village that traces its roots back to the 1600’s. It is a very different place than most of the other Bahama Islands. The village is very clean, all of the houses look as though they have been recently painted. There are very few family names and most of the people seem to have a common look. We spent two days here and on the second day we took a ferry boat over to Harbor Island. This island has been a place where wealthy people, especially celebrities have built Oceanside homes. There are several exclusive resorts with 5 star restaurants and a couple of marinas that cater to mega-yachts. We rented a golf cart (the preferred means of transportation) and toured the island for most of the day. Before we boarded the ferry for our return trip, we found a seafood market where we bought stone crab claws and lobster tails.

The trip back to Spanish Wells from Harbor Island was as exciting as the morning trip over as the high speed ferry navigated the most treacherous passage in the Bahamas known as “The Devils Backbone”. This is a 10 mile trip between ugly coral heads, some as big as houses. At times the ferry boat was going 20 knots only 30 feet off the beach. Next it would turn right and then left slipping between the reefs.

Saturday morning we had the weather window we were waiting for to make our passage from Spanish Wells to Little Harbor Cut on the southeast side of the Abacos. This was to be a 55 mile trip with the beginning passing through the reef known as “Ridly Head” which is part of the “The Devils Backbone”. We elected to hire a local pilot to guide us through this reef since we would be going out at daybreak and it would be very difficult to see the coral heads beneath the surface. The trip turned out to be the best sail of our trip to date. The wind was 12 knots on a broad reach and we were able to unfurl our large screecher sail and average over 7 knots for most of the trip. Finally at 4:30 PM we anchored off Black Point Cay in the southern Abacos in crystal clear water. We are now in the final island group we see before heading back to Florida in a few weeks.

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