Eleuthera

This portion has been particularly hard to write. It is amazing the trauma that can be caused from happenstances.

Eleuthera has yet another all together different flavor than other Bahamian island groups. It definitely has more litter than we have seen on any of the other islands. It is an island of its own.

When we first arrived in Eleuthera, we briefly checked e-mail ($5- ½ hour!) and discovered that our friends Richard and Sandra had just flown into the island. We spent a wonderful day with them exploring the island and ended our visit with the most spectacular Italian dinner to be imagined.
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We were holed up in Governor's Harbor, Eleuthera for the blow from the low. The holding there is incredibly poor so we had laid out 125’ of chain and we stayed close to the boat for the first day. The next day we rented a car with Harold & Val on La Buena Vita to tour the island. Came back and our boat was not there!?!? It was not quite out of the harbor. Thank God for Mike & Kathy on CGull Seeker, and Bob & Megan on Destination who were on board re-securing our anchor. We did not venture far from the boat after that.

Looking back though our car ride, we did enjoy seeing the Preacher’s Cave where the Eleutherian Adventurers lived for two years when their ship was lost on the reef of the Devil’s Backbone. This is a large cave with holes to the sky. To imagine living there and living off the land for two years is mind-boggling.

One other noteworthy sight was the Glass Window where the cobalt blue of the Atlantic Ocean meets the Bight of Eleuthera with its myriad shades of emerald and turquoise. The first bridge was natural until the ocean eroded a hole in the iron rock. In 1991 a rogue wave picked up the man-made bridge and moved it 7’ to the west. In 1996, two people were washed from the bridge during a hurricane.

Also of interest was the surfer’s beach. It is on the East side and was discovered by a surfer in 1962. The beach, with its East view offers some of the greatest wave in the Bahamas. When we were there the surf was breaking at 8 to 10 feet. The surfers have erected a beach hut, life guard stand on the beach and an observation hut half way up the 100’ hill.

Right now we are sitting in the rain in Spanish Wells at the north end of Eleuthera. We have gone into the marina to have some structural carpentry work done in the engine room. (We had a shelf pull away from the bulkhead on our trip up here.) Then we will cross back to Florida with a week or so after that, whenever the weather clears. Then it is about 2 more weeks back to Brunswick, followed by a quick (we hope) car trip to St. Pete. (The building with our storage unit that we had rented for the last 11 years as been sold and other folks moved our stuff and we don’t know how that has gone, so we’ll have to see…)

Cat Island (part 2) 2009

Spent 2 hours in Hawks Nest Marina attempting to put pictures on the blog. No band width. Unless we get a really great connection, we won’t be sending pictures until we return to the states!

Cat Island was enchanting. In New Bight we rented cars with Harold & Val on La Buena Vita and again with Bob & Megan on Destination and drove the island literally from one end to the other twice.

We saw more Loyalist ruins than anywhere else in the Bahamas. With some reading we discovered that this was because, when someone died his house was left standing so that his spirit had a place to reside, and a new one was built on the property using a few parts of the old house. This is a part of their religion, Obeah, which they won’t talk about. Many believe that the spirits of the dead still walk Cat Island. We walked an old graveyard overlooking the ocean where a tea set marked a grave instead of flowers.

We explore three delightful old plantations, each unique in its own way. The one that interested us was a home which still had window frames the wood was tongue and grove and was pegged instead of nailed. We also visited one, the Bourbon plantation, which had had a distillery of some sort attached to it. We really enjoy looking at the construction and envisioning what was, and trying to figure out how anyone could survive in this harsh, though beautiful, environment.

We walked up to the Hermitage, the final resting place of Father Jerome, a famous architect as well an Anglican minister and a Catholic priest. From this miniature Church which he built by hand, the hermit, as he chose to be in his later years, could view both the Atlantic and Exuma Sound.

Just before we moved on to Little San Salvador, we anchored in an enchanting bay with a whimsical resort, Fernandez Bay. The snorkeling was wonderful. From there our next hop up the island chain took us to Eleuthera, which is where we currently exploring.

We are now in Eleuthera waiting for the low to clear so wee can begin to head east.

Cat Island

Yesterday, we left Georgetown, Exuma, traveling up through Exuma Sound (big blue water) for our 8 hour trip to Cat Island. The boat rolled with the seas. Cap’t promptly threw up and remained green around the gills throughout the remainder of the trip! The rest of us just held on and stared at the gorgeous, cerulean water, of a slightly different hue than we have observed before. The water of the sound cooled the air significantly.

Last evening we anchored in the bight at the south end of Cat Island; one boat alone. Though we had crossed with 8 other boats, ours was the only one in sight. What a change from Georgetown!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Georgetown and the new friends we made, but a month of the hustle and bustle, organized activities, and continual VHF traffic got old. We were more than ready to leave. (Shirley had even been playing bridge on the beach many afternoons!)

The remoteness of Cat Island is in contrast to the last 4 weeks in Georgetown. We are looking forward to exploring the island. Cat Island is one of the islands that lays claim to Columbus’ first visit.

Due to the remoteness of the island, the internet connection, even here at Hawks Nest, is not real strong, and as we move north don’t know if we will have any connection for the next several weeks. If there is an emergency and anyone need to contact us, please use the e-mail address: wcz8799@sailmail.com. Remember, though that this is virtually a morse code system of sending mail, so please only essentials. We will pick up other e-mail as we have time and WI-FI is available.

If the internet allows, we will also put this on the blog with more pictures from Georgetown. (When we get back to the states, we will figure how to get LOT’S of pictures out!)

Remember the blog link is http://catspawlog.blogspot.com/.