Rock Sound Eleuthera To Spanish Wells

Ocean Hole

    It has been a great time since our last blog. We spent 5 days (2/25/14 – 3/2/14) in and around Rock Sound, Eleuthera, dodging weather fronts.  Rock Sound is great for different weather patterns.  If the weather and wind changes, one moves to a different anchorage on the other side of the harbor.  We did manage to get laundry, shopping and touring done and finished with a conch salad Sunday evening. We visited the Ocean Hole which is 800 ft deep and has many species of fish. On Monday we headed north to a place called Ten Bay for some great beach time.

Ten Bay

  Both Skipper and April (Bill & Barb Pikes Dog) enjoyed the freedom of the beach. Tuesday afternoon we headed to Governors Harbor, a great scenic town with good shopping, a bank, and a great liquor store.  Weather called for a big front coming through on Thursday nite and Friday so we traveled north to Hatchet Bay which is fairly well protected, but was still rough here.  It blew about 30- 35 kts and we were behind a high rock wall.  Looking out through the hole in the wall the waves were pounding on the outside, sending water splashing above the wall.  Bill and Barb’s anchor pulled and we spent some time resetting it.  Everyone stayed aboard on anchor watch.  I took Skipper and April ashore and spent little time getting back.     

Governors Harbor

     We left Hatchet Bay on Sunday 3/9/14, and taking the scenic route next to shore saw the Glass Window a natural wonder in the Bahamas.  From there we went through Current Cut, and on to Royal Island anchorage, a distance of 28 nm.  We went ashore and visited the old ruins from the1930's and the beach on the North side.  We also have walked most of the island where the 2009 development was started and then has been stopped for several years.  Supposedly a new backer has been found and it will resume.  It will be really quite nice if it does not resume.

Glass Window

   On 3/11 and 3/12/14 we sailed over to Spanish Wells, provisioned, fueled and walked the beautiful beaches there, before returning to Royal Island to wait a passage.  Tomorrow (Sat) looks to be the day, but winds are strong at present and we hope the sea will lay down a little before tomorrow AM.  This has been a weird year for weather fronts in the Bahamas.  Just about everyone we talk to says that this is not the norm.  While all stateside are experiencing different weather patterns, we cruising the Bahamas are constantly hiding to let a front clock around and with pretty heavy wind and wave conditions.  The end result is a bunch of boats backed up and all leaving at the same time instead of individually and spaced out. Tomorrow’s sail to Little Harbor in the Abacos is only a little over 50 nm, which is a car is an hour or so, but an all day event on a sailboat. With this many boats all headed for the same spot, it will be interesting to see the anchorages there.

Beach at Spanish Wells