TEXAS RANGER: Davis Harbour to Rock Sound to Governor’s Harbour to Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera May 15

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.