Dunmore Town, Harbour Island, Eleuthera May 20

     “Around the corner” from Spanish Wells, geographically, is an area often referred to as “The Hamptons of the Bahamas”…Harbour Island, and its settlement, Dunmore Town.  One of the larger cities in the Bahamas in years past, it has long been an up-scale retreat for the very wealthy.  Access is generally via a narrow and crooked passage through the reef known as Devil’s Backbone, and boaters are strongly advised to employ a local pilot should they venture there aboard their own vessels.  We elected to ride over and back aboard the fast ferry from Nassau, which stops in Spanish Wells on its way to Harbour Island, and returns late in the day via the same route.  The ferry ride itself was a fun excursion, like a large airliner with about fifteen seats across in each row.  We were entertained en-route by Sanford & Son re-runs!
     Arrival on the large, concrete government dock puts one in the center of town, and we hiked up and down the hills to see the town.  Up the spine of the island and across to the east lies the Atlantic coast, completely reef-encrusted, but with famous pink sand beaches.  Indeed, though difficult to appreciate in photos, there is a pink hue to the sand, much of it being comprised of coral.  The attached photo of mangrove roots gives understanding to why boaters seek out mangrove swamps in which to tie their boats during tropical storms and hurricanes.  Such root structure exits both above- and below-ground, and the thick branches and leaves provide an almost absolute windbreak.  The Piggly-Wiggly was quite colorful, and as is obvious in the photo, the truck-load of groceries delivered on the cargo ship was merely dropped on the front porch to be sorted, cataloged, and moved inside by the staff.  Not only were the homes colorful, but the churches as well.  Would you like us to contact some of these folks for service on your church decorating committee?

Fast Ferry

Dunmore Town, Harbour Island

Valentine's Marina

Fort Point Cottage, Dunmore Town

Safety First!



Dunmore Town


 

Dunmore Cottage, Harbour Island

Dunmore Town

Pink Sand Atlantic Beach

Mangrove Roots

Piggly Wiggly

I Go To The Pink Church

I Go To The Blue Church

I Go To The Yellow & Green Church

Hatchet Bay to Spanish Wells, Eleuthera May 19—22

      Our anchor was finally wrested from the grip of an old mooring which it had snared on the bottom of Hatchet Bay, and we exited the narrow entry cut out onto the Eleuthera Bank.  A couple of hours of running northwest brought us to Current Cut, between Current Settlement and Current Island, where we passed through the relatively narrow passage only a short time after slack tide.  This carefully timed arrival placed the ebb current with us instead of against us, but it was already flowing at about three knots.  It is known to peak at two- to three-times that velocity, making transit against it impossible by many slower boats such as our own.  Most sailboats, being somewhat underpowered, would make very slow progress even against the amount of current which we experienced.
      After another couple of hours traveling northeast, we entered the shallow south channel into the harbor at Spanish Wells.  This town is located on St. Georges Cay, but the name of the cay has almost become synonymous with that of this romantic-sounding port which has been in use for over 500 years.  We docked at Spanish Wells Yacht Haven, which is nearing completion of its rebuilding project.  Not only are the docks new, but also the offices, outdoor bar and restaurant, and shower facilities.  There are also several cottages on the grounds which are available for rental, and extensive landscaping is being completed as we are here.
     This charming town is far better maintained than most of what we have seen in the Bahamas.  They evidently reject government assistance and its strings, and operate much of the infrastructure in a somewhat communal manner.  Industrious people, they supply about 80% of the lobster and commercial fishery harvested in the entire country.  Almost everyone and everything here is somehow related to some member or other of the Pinder family.  Budda's (that's the way they spell it) is a fascinating local hang-out, with tables and a bar in the rear (behind the golf cart in the photo and a large, noisy caged parrot.  The kitchen is in the school bus out front, and food is available for on-site consumption, or as it is called in the Bahamas, "takeaway".  There are far more golf carts than automobiles, and the arrival of the cargo ship or mail boat is a community event.  EVERYTHING must arrive by such cargo ships, and all travel off the island is by boat of some type…either small water taxis or by daily large fast ferries from Nassau.

Harbor Entry, Spanish Wells

Spanish Wells Waterfront

Spanish Wells Yacht Haven

Spanish Wells Waterfront

Eleuthera Express Cargo Ship

View From Up The Hill

Spanish Wells Homes

Spanish Wells Pinder Home

Rent Your Place in the Sun

Spanish Wells Home

Buddas Snack Shack

Davis Harbour to Rock Sound to Governor’s Harbour to Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera May 15—18

     After a couple of days at Davis Harbour Marina, we headed north along the west coast of Eleuthera.  Our first stop, after rounding the tip of Cape Eleuthera and traversing Davis Channel, was Rock Sound Settlement.  There is a moderate amount of “town” here, but since we arrived on Sunday it was all closed up.  We did walk up the hill behind the town to see the Ocean Hole, a large and deep (over 600 feet) lake surrounded by rock walls that is connected deep underground to the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the island.  We walked through the town, but found essentially nothing open.  We might have tarried another day, but the next day was Whit Monday, a holiday celebrated in the Bahamas with almost complete closure of businesses.
     Therefore, we moved on, with our next stop Governors Harbour.  This is a picturesque Bahamian town; probably the largest in Eleuthera, with colorful houses and more businesses than we have seen since Nassau. It is the center of governmental services in Eleuthera.  Unfortunately, the holding for anchoring is terrible, with just a thin layer of sand on top of hard-scoured bottom.  And, there is no dinghy dock or good place to land a dinghy!  We anchored in a cove south of the town where the bottom was supposed to be better, but did not find it so.  After a somewhat bouncy night, we toured the town and then decided to depart, as our anchorage was becoming exposed to rolling waves as the wind clocked more to the south, and heavier wind was in the forecast.  We continued to travel north up the west side of Eleuthera and saw a topography that is higher, and vegetation that is much lusher, than that in the Exumas.  The water, however, is not as clear and colorful as in the Exumas.  The island is very pretty and, from a distance, quite green.  One can see why it is more populated than some of the other islands of the Bahamas.

     Our destination was Hatchet Bay, and its accompanying settlement, Alice Town.  Hatchet Bay has an entrance between rock cliffs that is only about 80 feet wide, but once inside is roomy and completely protected.  We joined about six sailboats already present, and there was room for many more.  The wind did indeed blow briskly, but we had essentially flat water due to the protection of the harbor. 

Davis Harbour Marina

Davis Harbour Entrance

Ocean Hole, Rock Sound Settlement

Governors Harbour

St. Peters Anglican
Church, Govenors Harbour

The Whole Family

Hatchet Bay Entrance

 

George Town to Staniel Cay to Norman’s Cay Exumas to Davis Harbour, Eleuthera May 11—13

      We left George Town and traveled up the Exuma Sound in several thousand feet of water, fishing along the way and entering Dotham Cut at Black Point Settlement before proceeding up the Exuma Bank to anchor behind Big Majors Spot at Staniel Cay.  Friends and fellow-Texans on K-K 58 Casablanca and their daughter and son-in-law were there, and we had a good visit.  They formerly owned K-K 44 Santa Clara.  We cleaned (and ate some of) the mahi-mahi pictured below, and then sent the remains to the live vacuum cleaner who had been circling below awaiting the scraps!  The pigs and roosters were still at the beach, and their cacophony awoke us before 0600.

     The next morning we traveled north on the Exuma Bank to stop at Norman’s Cay, a spot we had deferred on our way south with the intention of visiting it while returning.  It offers a number of islands, beaches, and places to snorkel—including a mostly-submerged C-46 airplane that crashed with its load of drugs a number of years ago.  Beach fans, please note that on one small island shown, all you need is a cooler!  The shade and a bench upon which to sit are already present!  The captions are with apologies to Milton and Strait...

     The following morning at slack tide we snuck out the small Norman’s Cay Cut into Exuma Sound, left the Exuma Islands, and crossed over to the island of Eleuthera.  We are probably fewer than 100 miles from where Cristobal Colon landed in the New World (San Salvador Island) in 1492, but this is likely as close as we will travel to that historic spot.  I’m not sure there is much more there today than when he arrived over 500 years ago.  We are actually in a marina for the first time in three weeks! With actual Wi-Fi and electricity!  Tomorrow I will actually rinse the boat with fresh water, also for the first time in 3 weeks...

 

 

Fresh Dinner

Clean-up Crew

Paradise Found

Oceanfront Property

Our Latest Venture

Davis Harbour Marina

Marina Office

George Town, Great Exuma Island May 4--10

Supply Boats Arrive!

Monument Beach

      George Town is the winter home to hundreds of boats, though the count is decreasing markedly this “late” in the season.  Many have to be north of Florida by May 31, and have already left.  There are probably fewer than 100 boats here now…and you could count the power boats on one hand!  We have met folks from England, Canada, France, Germany, and many other places, but the number of Canadians—especially French Canadians—is staggering.  I suppose one will travel any distance to escape the cold, and from my memories of our trip to their homeland a couple of years ago, the only time it is not cold is late July and early August—and even that is relative.  Some of these boats will be returning north soon, and some are venturing south into the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, or Cuba.

     From all that I had heard and read, I think I expected more in George Town.  Truly, the cruising community creates its own small city complete with a daily morning radio net, but otherwise this largest town in the Exuma Islands is still quite small.  One enters Lake Victoria (a shallow, almost fetid ¼-mile diameter waterway ringed by the town) through the extremely narrow bridge depicted in the photos below, walks up the hill from the dinghy dock, and enters upon the street.  There one finds a pretty decent grocery store, a Shell station, a craft market, a hotel, a couple of churches, a couple of laundromats, and a few very small eating establishments and shops—mostly outdoor—and that is about it.  A trailer parked near the hill will receive bags of garbage for $3 each (pretty fair by Bahamas standards), and with a car one can find a few slightly more refined establishments and an airport farther up the island.  It is, however, still quite “limited”.

     We did dinghy into one of the small restaurants on Stocking Island (the barrier island behind which we are anchored) for Mother’s Day lunch.  It was, at least, a rare chance for Kay to not have to cook!  And yes, there was a card which accompanied me all the way from Florida for this celebration.  We are anchored at Monument Beach, beneath the remains of an old, gas-light beacon (all of the glass structure is long gone), pictured below.  There was excitement one morning…the “mail boat” arrived.  Actually two at the same time, and they carry not only mail, but fresh produce, supplies, etc.  There will be a run on the grocery store late in the day, or the next day after arrival of the mail boat.  The miniature tanker pictured had been here a couple of days earlier to deliver fuel…it can’t get close enough to the shore, so it anchors off about 1000 yards and runs hoses attached to floats to the fuel depot ashore.  We will move north again shortly, and seek other locations not yet seen.  We are truly on (or even off?) the road less traveled, and seeing parts of God’s beautiful creation about which we had only read and dreamed!

Stocking Island, George Town

Lake Victoria Entry



View From Mother's Day Lunch

Lake Victoria Entry

Mother's Day Lunch

Fuel Arrives!

Reef Denizen

Staniel Cay to Black Point Settlement, Great Guana Cay to George Town, Great Exuma Island May 2—4

     We had a short trip from Staniel Cay to Black Point Settlement.  This was a neat, very small town, but it is home to probably the best laundry in the Exuma Islands.  It has its own dinghy dock, and so we took our laundry in.  If the proprietor is not present to sell tokens for the machines, you hike a block down the road to a restaurant which sells them, but they were “out”.  In about an hour, Miss Ida returned, emptied the machines of the previous day’s tokens, and sold them to the waiting customers.  $ 3.75 each for washer and dryer…a bargain by Bahamas standards!

     She was also quite an entrepreneur…in the same building as the laundry is a convenience store with a few hardware supplies, and her mother runs a restaurant “out back”.  Ida sells various lunch items, pastries, cakes, etc.  Upstairs above the laundry are motel rooms for rent.  She cuts hair on the back porch.  Etc., etc.  Kay, the East Texas girl, was enamored to find pine trees adjacent to the palm trees.  She insisted upon having her photo made with them (note the size of the pine cone in her hand).

     After a couple of days, it was time to move on.  Black Point Settlement is not the anchorage for any type of west wind…too much swell and rolling all the way across the Exuma Bank.  We passed through Dotham Cut into Exuma Sound, and were almost immediately in water so deep that our sounder would not read it (3000 feet+).  There was about a 45-mile run down to George Town on Great Exuma Island, the largest town in the Exuma Islands.  I trolled fishing lines, but only hooked one fish, which got off about 100 feet from the boat (I don’t think it was very large, anyway).  I may need different lures…  The entry to George Town Harbor is quite convoluted with many shallow spots and coral heads.  We pulled up in a narrow anchorage on the western shore since a front with thunderstorms and westerly winds is forecasted.  After that passes, we will move to the eastern side of the harbor behind the barrier island for protection from the prevailing easterly winds.  We will spend some days here…many people come and spend the entire winter!  We celebrated our arrival at what will most likely be the southern extent of our travels this year by NOT EATING CHICKEN!  Remember that East Texas girl…not too far from the Bayou State?  We had Ragin Cajun Andouille sausage, baked beans, and hot biscuits with Bonne Maman peach preserves—Boudreau, this may not be as good as it gets, but it is getting close!  More to come after we experience more of George Town…



Krogen Owners Discuss "Technical
Issues" at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Not Quite an East
Texas Pine Cone

Roadside Artwork, Black
Point Settlement