My goal is to organize my blog by island group here in the Bahamas. After several delightful days in The Berry Islands we took advantage of favorable winds to head over to Eleuthera. We left at dawn and had a brisk sail over to Spanish Wells on the Northern tip. We pulled into a marina where our former Captain on Geronimo, Steve Connett, keeps his boat. Geronimo is the former research vessel owned by St. George’s School that we worked on in the early ’80’s tagging sharks and turtles. Steve is very involved with marine conservation in the area and runs a non-profit called The Cape Eleuthera Institute. I have been pleased with the number of turtles I have seen since we have been here. We visited with Steve and his partner Barbara and then spent the next day working on the boat, doing laundry and getting fresh provisions in town.

The Marina

We rented a house and skiff here over a dozen years ago with the kids and loved it. I spent my childhood going to nearby Harbour Island. I had always heard disparaging stories about Spanish Wells (inbred, poor, a little weird) but it just isn’t true! Must be island rivalry. The town is prosperous from the southern lobster industry and everyone is so kind. 

One of the colorful, prosperous houses

We spent a long time working with a woman who runs a tackle shop and she set us up with some good lures for our time here.  We left the comfort of the marina with its pool and bar and anchored in nearby Royal Harbor and rolled a bit when the wind changed. 

     Next leg was to Hatchet Bay. To get there we had to go through Current Cut which at times really lives up to its name. On the way we caught a huge mutton snapper! 

The Mutton Snapper

We had so much meat that we gave some away to a couple, Roger and Laura Gray, when we reached the harbor. They reciprocated with iced drinks after a hard day of 15 miles close hauled and three passages of narrow, coral cuts. The next day we dried out gear from our rollicking sail the previous day. We explored the town, which was sleepy and poor, and bought an ice cream as a treat. A sailing couple organized a pot luck supper on the town dock which was a great way to meet fellow sailors and trade stories.

Pot Luck

Hatchet Bay Anchorage

     We left Hatchet Bay in tandem with Roger and Laura (and their cat, Scuppers). It was so calm we anchored  in the middle of the wide expanse of water and swam and had lunch on their catamaran, Diamond Sky. Amazing clouds throughout the day, including a waterspout sighting! 

Various clouds as we sailed the west coast of Elethera

Waterspout

We swam over for lunch

     Our anchorage that night was off of Rock Sound on the southern tip of the island. We motored some more the next day through the shoals. Nico stood on the bow and gave me directions to avoid coral heads and shoals. We passed The Island School where niece Emily went. Rounding Powell Point into Exuma Sound the wind was not favorable for us so we motored the rest of the day to Little San Salvador. Nico had been to it with Geronimo and then it was a deserted island. Now it is owned by Holland American Lines and a whole resort has been built up there including a faux pirate ship and colorful cabana type houses. Cruisers can stay there after the ships leave in the afternoon. In the morning we woke up and saw the gigantic Ooterdam charging in and anchoring really, really close to us. We hauled in anchor and beat it out of there as the lighters starter to cluster around to offload thousands of happy tourists.  

We caught a Mahi-Mahi while crossing Exuma Sound