Eleuthera

Our Bahamas travel is now going north to the islands of Eleuthera and Abaco before heading back to Florida. We parted from our boat buddies Ryan and Renee who will continue south to the Caribbean, but picked up Florida friends Rick and Capri who stayed on the boat with us for 10 days. Rick is an avid fisherman and the first day he provided dinner with some nice snapper. After that the weather changed bringing a string of cloudy and very windy days. 

Leaving George Town, we sailed to Cat Island to show our friends the Hermitage, stopped for the night at Little San Salvador (privately owned by Holland-America Cruise Line), then on to Eleuthera.

Eleuthera is another long, narrow island somewhat different in appearance from where we have been with a rocky shoreline and fewer long, sandy beaches.

Eleuthera was the Bahama’s first settlement and the first republic in the New World, founded by Eleutheran Adventurers, Puritans looking for religious freedom in 1647. It was once known for its pineapple industry, but that has diminished significantly and unfortunately the season for pineapples isn’t now.   

  

Rock Sound was our first anchorage and this village is the most modern we’ve seen. It’s a mix of really nice houses as well as smaller, run down or abandoned ones. All through Eleuthera the architecture reminds me of 1930s to 1950s small town Florida coastal homes. Many fences included a pineapple theme.

There was also one of the biggest groceries we’ve but the best place to buy fresh fish is still dockside. The man below cracked conch shells, no easy task, in a couple minutes and told us he has been doing this since he was 5 years old. These were big ones and we went back to the boat with some for ceviche and conch fritters.

            The meat in his left hand is pulled out of the shell after cutting an opening in it.

Rock Sound is known for the Ocean Hole, a 600-foot deep Blue Hole that is thought to be connected to the ocean by underground passages. Many locals believe it has healing powers with its high mineral and sulphur content. You can see schools of fish from the viewing platform in this town park.

Down the road from here was the Boiling Hole, another blue hole formed when the island’s limestone bedrock eroded some 300,000 years ago. This one connects to an offshore hole through a network of underground caves one of which was a short walk away.

 A ladder went about 30 feet down to the cave.

This was an awesome cave that wandered around from one amphitheater to the next, light shining through ceiling holes always so no flashlight was needed. Roots from trees above hung down to the ground.

Back on the street in front of an abandoned building with no one around we found this table of colorful produce and bags of beans and chilis.

Moving on up the coast our next stop was Governor’s Harbour, a grand place to explore. The architecture here is a mix of Victorian, New England, Key West and southern plantation. Colorful houses, many with decorative gingerbread and pineapple cut outs on fences on big lots that are well-kept and beautifully landscaped. 

The library is another good example of the uniqueness of this island. It was built in 1896-97 and used for a number of government purposes over the years until it closed and was slated for demolition. In 1994, community members formed the Friends of the Library and restored it as an architectural landmark, preserving a piece of Bahamian history.

A stop in a town like this would not be complete without a good bakery and we found it at the Governor’s Harbour Bakery where we enjoyed coconut and pineapple pastries, cinnamon rolls, bread pudding and molasses cookies. We also did breakfast at Pammy’s that had a couple unique items on the menu. Pammy has owned this little place for 24 years and she serves up tuna and grits and sardines & grits, native favorites, along with more traditional American breakfast items.

Just a short walk across a bridge from all this is tiny Cupid Cay, the original headquarters of the Eleutheran Adventurers and the first capital of the Bahamas. Cupid is an entirely different world from the mainland. Here, the buildings are rough and without frills although there are signs of a better past.

                                           Cupid Cay street view; note the decorative door. 

Up next was Rainbow Beach, a protected anchorage from high east winds that produced unbelievably big waves against the Atlantic coast.

We stayed on the Exuma Sound side, but it’s a short walk to the ocean through a desert-like land.

The “Keep Left” sign is a reminder that driving is on the left, although left of that agave is a good idea too!

Continuing north we checked out the most distinctive landmark in North Eleuthera, the  Glass Window. The Glass Window was once a very narrow rock arch that was broken in two in a 1991 hurricane. Today it has been replaced with a road.

The Glass Window is a prime spot for viewing the contrast between the deep blue of the Atlantic on one side and the turquoise of the Exuma Sound on the other.

Nearby and just across from our anchorage is the Queen’s Bath, nice warm standing saltwater, easily accessible and well above the ocean waters.

Rick and Capri had to return to Florida from here but the airport was several miles away. No problem. They found a phone number for a taxi, we dropped them off on the beach, and they were picked up at the entrance to the Queen’s Bath. Can you find a more picturesque taxi stop?  

We then set off for our last island in the Eleutheras, St. George’s Cay, better known as Spanish Wells.