Eleuthera south to north, Cape Eleuthera to Harbour Island ( "Mr. Toad's wild ride")

4/7 - 4/17/16

After waiting out the wind, on the 7th of April we waved good-bye to Cape Eleuthera and sailed to Governor’s Harbour in slightly over 5 hours and took a mooring just off of the French Leave Resort where our friend Jeremiah would be performing two days later. What a beautiful location and resort. We made a dinner reservation for the following evening, then hiked to the beach across the island. What a gorgeous beach - it apparently was once the Club Med beach and is known as "the most beautiful beach in the Bahamas." That evening we enjoyed the sunset, music and ambiance. Everything was magical, including Jeremiah’s voice. If you ever find yourself there, the Seafood Manicotti is spectacular! Wish I could recreate it...

Nice view of EXILE from the pool deck at French Leave

Jeremiah's in the middle 

We're not sure what this was way offshore, but wondered if it was the platform the Space-X rocket,
launched from Cape Canaveral that day,would land on successfully

What's this buried along the shoreline?

Jeff dug it out

What a surprise - this wasn't just another shell!

Beautiful pink sand on this beach

These curly tails are all over the Bahamas!

Goodbye French Leave

The next day was breezy so we jib sailed to Alabaster Bay, a short distance away and dropped the anchor for the afternoon and evening. We were even entertained by some locals having a Sunday picnic on the beach. The music was LOUD! The Governors Harbour airport was located on the water's edge and we watched a few small planes come and go. If you flew to this airport, we'd pick you up in our dinghy!

Imagine this! A cell tower disguised as a palm tree. Only in the Bahamas

Monday morning was windy, 17-20 knots as we left the lee of the shore and we double reefed the sails all the way to Current Cut. Once through the cut we jib sailed to Royal Island, a secure anchorage we have enjoyed in previous years.  No need to lower the dinghy, as we have explored the cove before and it was still quite windy. There were 10 other boats anchored there overnight.

The anchorage at Royal Island

Since we only had a short way to go to Spanish Wells, our destination Tuesday, we were one of the last boats to leave. Some had much further to go and one even had plans of leaving at 3:30 in the morning! We are so glad to NOT be on a schedule. We motored for about an hour and 15 minutes and picked up one of Bandit's (one of the captains who pilots boats through the Devil's Backbone) moorings. His moorings are interesting - you'd almost think at low tide you could walk to shore. Fortunately there is plenty of swinging room and the water is deep almost to the bank.

Our neighbor for the evening

Spanish Wells is a quaint fishing settlement located on St. Georges Cay. The Explorer Chartbook says "Spanish Wells' name is derived from an early explorer who found fresh water here. It is famous for its prosperous fishing fleet which supplies well over half of the Bahamas' commercial crop of lobster, conch and fish." We rented a golf cart and headed for The Sandbar, a beachfront lunch spot on Russell Island we had been to last year. Annica Sands is the young local owner and has added a covered dining area since then. She next intends to enlarge the kitchen. She's an ambitious entrepreneur! As usual, lunch was delicious. 

The Sandbar

Bonefishing off the Sandbar

We spent the evening onboard then left the following morning to traverse the Devil's Backbone. We had met a couple of guys at the Sandbar who expressed an interest in following us through as they had never done it before. Many yachters hire one of several harbor pilots to take them through the coral ridden area. At 11:00 they were following behind us out through the channel and around the north end of Eleuthera on our way to Harbour Island. We have found that if we use the waypoints in the Explorer Chartbook it is relatively easy in calm weather. It's always nice to traverse this area without having to share the narrow passageway with an oncoming ferry (that's a little hairy) and reached Romora Bay Marina around 1:00, in time to rent a golf cart and head to the grocery store to restock some items. We really didn't purchase too many frozen items, as our freezer is packed with fish and we don't have much more room in there! No complaints here.

The East Channel out of Spanish Wells

For Mercy's Sake!

A cave along the backbone

Once again, we rented a golf cart and rode around Harbour Island to see what had changed. Captain Bob's Grocery store was still there and as in the past had just about everything on our list. Next stop Bristol's liquor store to restock the wine. There was music at the marina restaurant and they were serving a buffet so we ate dinner there. The two guys who followed us through the backbone were there and we learned more about each of them. Their wives fly in once in awhile to join them but for the most part they do all the sailing. They've been to places we haven't and vice versa. We swapped tales. The next photos always bring a smile to my face. We had the golf cart again the following morning and hopped in to tour the island. We had gone quite a way when this guy scared the bejeezus out of Jeff when he landed (from where?) on the steering wheel. From then on, as we were driving through the settlement, he checked out other places to sit. We finally had to stop and relocate him when he decided my arm was perhaps the best place to be.

Good night from Romora Bay Marina

An unexpected visitor dropped in (literally!)

and hopped about

This isn't that comfortable

Maybe if I hang on to the side...

or perhaps the top of the rear view?

This is sort of ok but I can't see where I'm going
(Hey Becky & Brian, remember corner toad?)

Uh-oh - here's LEAPING at you!

Ok - this is where we have to drop you off... hope you find your way home

Interesting site along the ride

There were some areas we hadn’t explored before and it was fun to discover these places. A horse rider keeps some horses on the island – last year we saw some on the beach at Coral Sands. Now we know where the stables are. A resort we knew nothing about was down a very manicured dirt road and what we found at the end was quite beautiful, secluded and peaceful. It’s called the Runaway Hill Inn.  If you don’t want anyone to know you’re here, this is the place. We discovered a very long rocky road that goes all the way to the northern tip of the island and found it to be the "Hamptons" of Harbour Island. Most of the homes couldn't be seen from the road, but the ones that could were nothing short of spectacular. We checked the rest of them out by dinghy a couple of days later. WOW!

Remember this guy at Coral Sands last year, Carol Ackerman?

Byron Bullard's corral

Runaway Hill Inn

Runaway Hill Inn

Crossroads in Harbour Island. The flowers here are plentiful

The road to the north end of the island begins smooth, then gets a lot rougher

Beach along the end of Nesbitt Street

People waded out to cool off on Girl's Bank sandbar

On Thursday, after touring the island and topping off the fuel at Valentines Marina, next door to Romora Bay, we sailed to Man Island to anchor for a couple of days. This is where our favorite sea glass beach is and it didn't disappoint this year. You have to follow a path across the island to the ocean side, then crawl down into caves to find it. No wonder there's so much - most people can't get there! It's one of the many highlights of our trip each year.

Interesting sky and a short rainfall gave the boat a much needed rinse

Tight space. Definitely have to be there at low tide!

Interesting ceiling!

Nope, not a leg in there!

One of the locals came out to greet us on the beach

Our 4 hour haul in two days

As in the past, when anchored off Man Island, the Remora's love to eat our leftovers 

and hang out under the boat waiting for discards. They watched Jeff as he scrubbed the bottom of the boat

Back to Romora Bay Marina on Saturday after hauling in all that sea glass, due to rain and anticipated wind. The sportfish  next to us came in a while later during the squall and when the sun came out the deckhands began cleaning the fish. They had caught quite a few Mahi and Yellowfin Tuna. The owner of the boat came knocking on our hull and offered us some tuna and gave us this gallon ziploc full! We pan seared some last night and it was amazing. Nothing like fresh sushi grade tuna. I made some Maine lobster dip to repay the kindness tonight. 

After the winds lay down, we are planning to head to the Abacos - perhaps this coming Wednesday, the 20th. Little Harbour here we come!