Road Trip in Eleuthera

We stayed about a week longer than anticipated in Georgetown, Exuma, waiting for another blustery cold front to blow through before sailing north and east, back to the island of Eleuthera. While still in Georgetown, we went exploring one day a bit further south by dinghy with our friends Rebecca and Bill.  Here are a few photos taken that day….

Rebecca taking a photo of the beach 

 Blue, blue, blue sky and water. Very fine, pink sand...

 Bill and Rebecca

 Me and Jim

Here's how we got to this deserted spot!

Some underprivileged folks have this little getaway overlooking the water and the beach

 This is Bill’s sailboat, Moonlight Serenade

The following day we were ready to move on from Georgetown. Moonlight had had some problems with the transmission that Bill had expertly repaired. But the morning we set out together to sail further north, his transmission quit again. We called on the VHF radio for anyone in the harbor to help tow Moonlight back to a safe place to reanchor and in less than 2 MINUTES there were 5 dinghies speeding to the rescue! Such is the nature of cruisers. This is one reason why so many of them spend lots of time in Georgetown - when needed, help is usually available from people on the boats surrounding you.  Advice, a lending hand, extra parts, whatever. It's a pretty amazing community out there on the water.

Luckily Bill was able to fix the transmission problem in a couple of hours and we were able to get Neverland and Moonlight Serenade to our planned destination  for that night - Black Point - just as the sun was setting.

The next day we sailed to Rock Sound, Eleuthera, where we decided to rent a car to tour the island. Eleuthera in 110 miles long and about 2.5 miles wide at the widest part. Cool aqua license plates, huh?

There is always one main road on these islands. It's always called "The Queen's Highway". You drive on the left and there's very little signage because almost everyone on the road lives on the island and knows where they're going.  And of course these narrow 2-lane roads are Full. Of. Potholes.

Anyway, we visited a few towns and settlements, one of which was Governor's Harbor, established in 1648.

I took a few photos of things I thought were interesting, like the blue mortar in this stone building.

Most structures, here and elsewhere in the Bahamas, are painted in pastel colors

Cool little blue skiff, anchored in very shallow water with turquoise, aqua and ultramarine water out deeper in the harbor.

Some cruisers coming ashore by dinghy

The palm tree-lined main road around the harbor. There are picnic tables under the palms in the cool shade.

 More pink, yellow, turquoise, green...

The bell tower of the (Anglican??) church by the harbor

The front of the same church. Very blue sky, very white stucco.

Further north from Governor's Harbor and several other settlements is the "Glass Window", a very narrow bridge between the darker blue water on the Atlantic side (see below) and the much lighter turquoise water on the Bight of Eleuthera side. This used to be a natural bridge, but a major storm shifted the rock about 7' to one side and now the bridge is man-made.

At the north end of Eleuthera is Harbor Island , the home of Dunmore Town. This is known as "Britland" by locals and it's a tourist destination for Americans and Europeans. There are coral sand beaches, pricey hotels, lots of bars and restaurants and narrow streets teeming with rented golf carts. We had drinks at this place....

Pretty picket fences and bougainvillea

A wall of license plates - can't remember why they are there but I think this was a coffee shop or corner bistro or something.

There are lots of rental cottages, B&B's, town homes and hotels with manicured lawns and landscaping.

We saw several roosters like this at entrances. Pineapples are symbols of welcome in the southern US. Maybe these roosters are for good fortune? If you know, please tell me!

At the south end of Eleuthera is the remains of a totally ruined resort called "The Cotton Bay Resort".  All that remains today are some palm trees...

...and piles of rubble bulldozed in untidy heaps of twisted wood, glass, pipes and wiring. Not sure what happened here, but it must have been in the late 1980s or 90s and it wasn't pretty.  Hurricane, maybe? We trespassed through the abandoned main hotel lobby and adjacent rooms. It looked like the owners had simply walked away from the mess and left odd remnants behind, like old placemats from the dining room, and "Do Not Disturb" signs in 5 languages.

Last photo is a telling one. In the Bahamas, many good intentions for businesses don't work out and all that's left are the shells of someone's dreams of making a living.

We left Eleuthera a couple of days ago and motor-sailed for two long 8-10 hour days to the Abacos. This is the last part of the trip. I am curious to see how I feel about being back in the Abacos. I have to admit that I'm not sure I really want to return to Eleuthera, Long Island or even Cat Island.  The Exumas are interesting and the water everywhere in the Bahamas is beautiful, for sure. When the conditions are right for sailing, it's fabulous. But compared with other places I've visited in the past (both water and "land cruising"), and places I'd like to have time to see in the future the Bahamas fall somewhere further down on my "to see, to do" list than on Jim's for lots of reasons.  So little time, so many places to explore...