Rock Sound, Eleuthera - Free water! And stores!

We're in Rock Sound, Eleuthera,. Awesome place - you can get free water from spigots set up on the beach so you don't even have to take your water jugs out of the dinghy (if you bring a hose), and there are places to refill propane tanks, have laundry done for a very goos price, reprovision the galley cupboards and frig/freezer in a fairly large, well-stocked grocery store (nah, nah, it's not Publix or Giant, but it's really good for here), and find all kinds of treasures at the old-fashioned hardware store. High class services for the Bahamas.

We are waiting out a huge front coming through today and tomorrow. On radar it stretches from Cuba to above Jacksonville Florida and is just NASTY lookin'. We're holed up on the boat, anchored in a spot that should be pretty protected from the forecast 50 knot winds from the SE-S-SW, but far from "town" (such as it is). So it's a couple of days of reading, cooking, cleaning, cutting hair, fixing things, doing a blog post (✊), taking it easy and hoping we don't end up bouncing around too much during the night in very high winds and rain. This morning I had a hot shower, a hot cup of coffee, I mean how bad can it be?

On a brighter note, this was taken in the 12-14 knot steady beam-reach winds we had the whole 7 hours sailing to Rock Sound. Sweet!

This was the first sunrise here, with lights from town all along the waterfront.

We got together here with the couples on two other sailboats. We'd met them in Cambridge Cay: Bill and Susan on Corret from St George, Maine and Bev and Allan on Dagny from Hudson, Quebec, Canada.
Bill and Susan had been to Rock Sound several years ago and visited some caves south of town. We all walked there and roamed around taking photos. The limestone caves have lots of colored rock ranging in color from green the color of oxidized copper to pinkish purple. There are perfectly vertical tree and vine roots growing 20 feet or more between the openings at the top and the base of the caves. Apparently many years in the past when hurricanes would threaten local residents, they would come and shelter here during the storms.

This is a restaurant/bar on the water called "Wild Orchids". One day recently we were anchored right out front and tied up at their dinghy dock while we went to the grocery store and hardware store close by. Pretty nice-looking place, although we haven't eaten there yet. Aren't those clouds pretty?

We also walked to a large blue hole near town (see below) where there are lots of fish and people go swimming. While there, a family arrived and the little kids began throwing bread to the fish. The little boy was very chatty and kindly shared his bread with me.

The next day the 6 of us went to a place called Rosie's on the Atlantic side of the Island. Rosie runs a restaurant out of her home and rents cottages. She came to pick us up at the dinghy dock and drove us the 5 minutes back and forth to her place (in 2 groups because we couldn't all fit in her car).  She took orders for food when we made the reservation, works completely alone and had everything pretty much done by the time we arrived. We had 30 minutes or so to take a walk on her pristine stretch of beach before lunch. Wowwwwww... Again, aren't the clouds and the water amazing??

Me and Bev watching rollers sweeping in to the beach.

Me and Bev on a rocky part of the beach

Here we are at the table on the porch which overlooks that gorgeous beach. Lunch was spectacular! Either fried or smothered snapper, grouper or chicken, served with sides of rice and beans, plantain and coleslaw. And of course a couple of Kalik beers! From left to right are Susan, Allan, Bev, me, Jim and Bill. In the second photo that Jim took, Rosie is in between me and Bill.

Rosie is a gem. She showed us a photo album crammed with pictures of her with Queen Elizabeth and Nelson Mandala and other famous visitors to her island, and graduation, wedding and other photos of all her kids and grandkids. She is about 68 and looks 50. She got married at about 18 and had 6 kids who now live in Australia, Switzerland, South Africa, Nassau and Freeport. Her kids and grandkids are very accomplished and doing well in all sorts of professions. All in all it was an extraordinary, unforgettable day.