Bahamas – Cat Island and Eleuthera

I am writing as I watch Fred, sitting under the floor at the mast, fixing a water leak that he finally traced down.  It is in an area where we had “fixed” a previous leak in a copper water line by cutting the split part out and connecting the ends with flexible water hose. The clamp had vibrated loose enough to trickle water.  The sucky part is that the leak is located behind the vacuum tank to the head, making it impossible to reach. Something that would normally be a 2-minute fix now requires dis-assembling major plumbing in order to reach the clamp that needs tightening. There has been some salty language escaping from beneath the floor. As an aside, I heard Scott Simon on NPR this morning report on studies that show swearing is a good stress reliever and may be associated with signs of intelligence (please don’t mention this to Fred!). So, I hope the %$#@ leak is fixed soon!

We are now tucked into a slip off the ICW in Palm Coast, FL. This will be our summer location until the first of October. In the meantime, I will try to recap the rest of our time in the Bahamas!

We left Stocking Island (near Georgetown) in the Exumas, headed northeast 40 miles across Exuma Sound to Cat Island, one of the less visited islands in the Bahamas. Forty miles long, but only half a mile to three miles wide, it is known for its quiet beauty and friendly locals.  The dark navy blue seas were calm, and the trip was uneventful until we reached the ledge of Tea Bay on the east side of Cat Island, where depths rise quickly from 3,000 feet to 50 feet. Fish on!! We had hooked a Mahi Mahi on the fishing line dragging behind Ritual – our first “keeper”.  Up to this point we had only caught barracuda, which we don’t eat.

Fred threw the fish into the cockpit so it wouldn’t flail overboard. He stunned it with cheap vodka, but it was bleeding from the lure and blood was flying everywhere. He finally got a bucket of water and gutted the fish, producing more blood…needless to say, we will try doing this on the deck next time. And we now had four fish dinners!

We anchored in crystal clear water on the south end of the island in New Bight, off the beach at Freetown, with 8 other boats.  One of the attractions here was the Hermitage on Mt. Alvernia, a small monastery built in 1939 by a local priest. It sits atop the highest point in the Bahamas, at 206 ft.  It is a gentle walk up the road until you get to the steep rocky incline up to the monastery. Along the narrow staircase Father Jerome carved the 12 stations of the cross into the rocks, and the climb to the top affords a 360-degree view around the island.

We also enjoyed the Fish Fry – a collection of small restaurant and bar shacks along the beach. We had an interesting chat with the woman bartending about the challenges of living on the island, including the costs of construction, the difficulty in getting building materials, and the unpredictable rain that makes growing commercial crops very risky.

Our next stop was thirty miles north at Bennett’s Harbor, not far from the birthplace of Sidney Portier. We took the dinghy up the creek to look for sea turtles (none), and followed a huge manta ray back out. We next headed for Little San Salvador Island, a stepping stone on the way to Eleuthera. This is a private island owned by Holland America cruise line. After checking online to make sure no ship was in port, we anchored in front of the beautiful crescent beach. The staff allowed us to walk the shore, but not go any further inland. Onshore was a waterpark, pirate ship bar and restaurant, cabanas, water sport rentals and a riding stable – fairly Disneyesque.  We tried to imagine this place with five thousand people running around! And sadly, they will not have experienced anything truly Bahamian.

Overnight brought a bit of slow rolling surge with scattered thunderstorms in the forecast, so we left early in the morning for the 40-mile run to Rock Sound on Eleuthera. With thunderheads and rain on our stern, we managed to escape with a few light showers. The town sits on the inside of a large protected bay, and we anchored just off the town dock. We did some provisioning and enjoyed a couple good local restaurants. One of the highlights was exploring the Cathedral Cave, full of tree roots and vines from above, as well as bats! The other main attraction was the Ocean Hole – a blue hole connected to the ocean via underground channels. People swim here (we didn’t) and you can feed the fish and watch the water levels change with the ocean tides.

In need of diesel fuel, we decided to stop at the Cape Eleuthera Resort located on a point as you leave the bay. We were pleasantly surprised with the enclosed harbor, pretty beach, and relatively few condos, and with the threat of thunderstorms again, decided to treat ourselves to a slip for a couple days. Hard to believe we had not been in a marina for almost 7 weeks. Someone had recommended a tour of the nearby environmental school, so we biked to the Island School and were shown around by Mitzi, who also worked at the marina. The Island School offers programs for K-12 and focuses on conservation and sustainability with semester-long residential programs. It also includes the Cape Eleuthera Institute – their research facility. We were quite impressed, and surprised to see Peter Meijer’s name (former West Michigan representative) on the alumni list, and a building sporting the Meijer name (family owns a huge grocery store chain started in Grand Rapids). THEN we found out that the marina and resort are owned by non-other than the infamous de Vos family – also of Grand Rapids! It is a small world full of interesting connections!

Our plan was to cruise north along Eleuthera, then pass through the Abaco Islands before returning to Florida, and our cruising permit was only valid for another month, so we moved on to Governor’s Harbour.  We opted for the little cove to the south of town instead of joining the many boats in the main harbor.  Dating to 1648, the town has several historic buildings. We decided to bike to the Leon Levy Native Plant Reserve, about which our friend Mary had raved. It was 2.5 miles to the preserve, and we ended up walking the bikes several times. First, to get up the ginormous hill leading out of town, and then on the hilly roadway! It was worth the trip to walk the rustic trails full of native plants and birds. We had a great chat with the naturalist on duty, and checked another Bahamian National Park off our list.

Continuing north we anchored in Hatchet Bay, a totally protected inlet formed from a small lake by blasting a channel through the rock separating it from the ocean. We were greeted by Emmette at the Boater Haven Bar and Grill (and dock, laundry, car rental, et al…), who grabbed his guitar and serenaded us with his Eleuthera song! He secured a rental car for us, and we spent the next day driving north to see the Glass Window, where the deep Atlantic Ocean meets the light blue waters of the Bight of Eleuthera under a 30-foot wide rock bridge. We ventured to the far north end of the island to visit Preacher’s Cave, which provided refuge to a group of shipwrecked Christians fleeing Bermuda in the mid-1600’s. We also went off-road to find the Hatchet Bay Cave (we passed – it required flashlights!) and hiked into Sweetings Pond – the site of the future Seahorse National Park. Too bad we did not have our snorkel gear since sometimes you can see them. The rules prohibit wading and swim fins, so as not to stir up sediment. I did have my “lookie” bucket, but we only saw a crab.

Driving felt especially strange, and not just because we had not been in a car for months. It was a Nissan rental car and the navigation screen was in Japanese; AND we were driving on the left side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right side of the car! The “highway” was very narrow, curvy and hilly,  with practically no shoulder, and we had our moments of fright. Upon our return we celebrated our survival with a cold beer at the beach bar.

Moving on, we motor-sailed east along the inside of the island, timing our passage through Current Cut Inlet to slack tide (little to no current), then turned north toward Spanish Wells, a small island off the north corner of Eleuthera. After anchoring at Meeks Patch (oh no – more swimming pigs!) and deciding we didn’t like the swell, we tied to a mooring buoy in the protected inlet next to town. One of our first thoughts as we walked about was, “Where did all these white people come from?!”  82% of the island population is white, compared to the islands we have visited that were 85-90% black. Turns out that those shipwrecked British Christians who took refuge in Preachers Cave settled this island.

We rented a golfcart to get around one day, so that we could explore Russell Island across the little bridge and eat at the Sandbar Beach Bar and Grill, and to see more of Spanish Wells. We loved that most homes were cottage size and the lanes were narrow and quaint. There was no trash along the streets and walkways – which is very much a staple on other islands. There is a large lobster fleet here, so we are sure the money helps!  The northside beach was gorgeous, and the grocery store was the nicest and best stocked we had seen so far.  Service was good too – a little less “Bahamian Time”.

Mindful of both the weather and our ever-shortening cruising permit, after 4 days we motored north out the pass into the North Atlantic for a 50-mile sail to Little Harbor on Great Abaco Island.

More to come – fair winds, Fred and Lisa