A Walkabout Rock Sound

2/26 - We spent the better part of the day exploring Rock Sound. After a quick trip back to the hardware store to purchase a forgotten item, we took the dinghy to the town dock and walked the main part of town. It’s quite small, but did offer a few things of interest. We walked to the “ocean hole” which is a landlocked tidal lake full of fish that make their way into it through subterranean tunnels from the sea. It is rumored to be bottomless. We had lunch at a little out-of-the-way spot called Sammy's. We asked someone in town where it was and then ended up giving us a ride in the back of their truck. The food was good and the price very reasonable. We bought a few things at the Lumber Store – which was more like a general store and some CD’s at the local music store. Later in the afternoon Gerry worked on his conch shells and made conch horns out of them and then we went over to Second Star for a quick happy hour and made plans for our travels to Hatchet Bay tomorrow.

2/27 – We departed the anchorage at 8:30. We had a longer journey today – around 37 miles. We had some wind and, for awhile, the ride was a bit bumpy. Eventually we changed course and the ride became more downwind and pushed us along. On the way we fished but at the end of the day had nothing to show for it except Gerry lost 2 rigs and Michael and Jana lost 2 rigs, a whole spool of line and broke a poll. However, it provided good exercise and the fun of trying to reel in whatever was on the end of the line. Second Star did catch a huge barracuda and got it to the boat but, of course, let it go.

Our destination, Hatchet Bay, is a small inland lake with an entrance that has been cut through the cliffs. It’s about 90 feet wide, but appears narrower. Entering was a little entertaining as we had some current with the wind and waves hitting on our starboard side. Inside there were several mooring balls, but we decided to give anchoring a try and were able to get a reasonable set. We decided not to go ashore, and instead spent our time relaxing, doing computer “stuff” (as we were able to pick up free WiFi), reading and napping. Tomorrow we’ll travel to Spanish Wells.

Typical home in Rock Sound

Cute Bakery



Gerry at the Ocean Hole



Looking for the fish

Ahh .... there they are

Sammy's sign was a little weathered

... but inside it was quite nice with friendly staff and good food

Another colorful home

Gerry and Michael trying to figure out a very technical problem
Which way does it go in the hole



We enjoyed a nice sunset before returning to our boat



Approaching Alice Town at Hatchet Bay



The entrance to Hatchet Bay -- quite narrow



Second Star entering the harbor looking for a spot to anchor



A huge ferry going out the tiny cut at a good speed. Not much room
to spare on either side



Chore Days (and a short cruise)

2/24 – Today was one of those “not so much fun – but essential” days on the boat. We were up before 7:00 and Linda was headed for the laundromat. The facilities at the marina were nice and clean (2 washers and 2 dryers) with a huge folding table and at a pretty good price for the Bahamas – only $2.00. Gerry tackled the shower bilge pump which proved to be quite the job. This pump is probably the hardest part on the boat to reach. Down in the bilge he had to scoot up in a very confining narrow space. To make matters worse, the spare pump he thought he had on board was the wrong size, so he had to remove the pump from the other head (bathroom). We never use that one because we don’t run the shower in the forward head. After removal, he installed it in the aft shower; didn’t work. After some troubleshooting, he decided the switch was also bad. He removed the switch from the forward head and reinstalled it in the aft head. Yea!! – it worked. However, that chore took much longer than he thought it would. He also topped off the batteries with water. Once Gerry was out of the bilge, Linda cleaned the salon area. Finally, around 5:00 we decided to call it a day. We poured a drink and walked up to the benches along the dock to watch the sunset and talk with some other cruisers. There had been 4 sailboats come in during the day.

2/25 – Gerry did a few more things in the bilge this morning while Linda washed the boat down. The boat was very dirty and salty, but with the price of water in the Bahamas (.45/gal at this marina) all we really can do is give it a quick scrub with the mop and then rinse it off. Once that was done we finished filling the boat with water and went to the office to check out. Our water cost ended up being almost as much as our dockage since our membership with the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club entitled us to a reduced dockage rate of just .85/ft.

By 10:00 all our tasks were completed and we were headed out for our next destination – Rock Sound. It was only a short run and we were there a little after noon. On the way, Gerry caught a fish, a small Black Grouper, but he let it go. The guide books tout Rock Sound as a destination that offers much to the boating community –a nice harbor with good protection, several dinghy docks along the shore, a good sized grocery store for provisioning, a hardware store, many restaurants, and a variety of shops. We anchored close to the dinghy dock at the 4 Points Restaurant as it was closest to the grocery store. However, before heading for the store, we decided to try out the restaurant for lunch – great food. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Marketplace Shopping Centre where we got pretty much everything we needed. Back at the boat we had a nice quiet evening and turned in early.

The harbor at Cape Eleuthera Resort and Yacht Club

The beach where Linda walked while doing laundry

Sunset at the marina - blocked by the building, but still pretty

Gerry caught a black grouper on our cruise to Rock Sound

Second Star approaching Rock Sound anchorage

Monk's Vineyard in the anchorage

... and Second Star in the anchorage

This is the restaurant where we anchored.  Upon our
arrival we noticed a lot of people and activity on the shore.
It turns out it was a group of people from a Princess Cruise Ship.
They were "experiencing" a typical Bahamian meal and a
mini Junkanoo.  We think the way we are experiencing
the Bahamas is definitely better.

After lunch, it was off to the Marketplace to provision

Goodbye Exumas, Hello Eleuthera

2/23 - We woke this morning to dead calm. We’ve never seen it this quiet since arriving in the Bahamas. It is like the boat is sitting in a big bathtub 8 feet deep. You can see every grain of sand on the bottom – absolutely incredible. In addition, there was a slight bit of fog (more like heavy air) that hung in the air at sunrise. The effect was surreal. We spent the better part of an hour just walking around the boat, looking at the bottom, and watching the colors of the landscape change as the sun came up.

Even bringing up the anchor today was unbelievable. We could see the entire length of chain as it lazily wound around the boat from our nights slow swinging with the tide change. We finally were underway around 8:00 a.m. heading for the cut at Norman’s Cay. On the way, our eyes remained glued to the bottom as we spotted more starfish, sand dollars, conch, turtles and rays. The only motion on the water’s surface was from our wake as we passed through.

Now for the bad news – a day like today with perfectly flat seas does not make for good fishing. Consequently neither boat caught any fish today. The passage to Eleuthera was, in a word, quite boring – but we’ll take that any day over rough high seas. We arrived at the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Yacht Club at 1:30. This is a nice facility that includes townhomes/villas for rent, a nice little restaurant, a shop called Out Island Outfitters (however food was limited and quite expensive so we’ll wait to provision at Rock Sound) and a laundry. After 2 weeks of no laundromats, we’ll make good use of that. After happy hour on Second Star, we had dinner at the restaurant (also about 2 weeks since we’d eaten out). We had their pizza, which was quite good, along with some wine and enjoyed the good company, beautiful views and perfect weather.

The early morning landscape

Sunrise

If you're not interested in looking at anchor pictures, just skip
through the next several shots -- but, being from the
Chesapeake where you can't see a foot below the
surface, we find it incredible to be able to see the
anchor.  This morning, because there was no
movement on the water, the anchor and its chain were
even clearer.  This is a shot of the chain, winding
around in front of the boat.

This is the anchor buried -- all you can see is the
shank -- the flukes are totally buried.

Here, most of the chain has been brought in and the
shank is now out of the sand and almost upright (flukes are
still buried however)

We have now motored directly over the anchor, and
with the shank totally upright, the flukes are now
out of the sand and the anchor is free.

Second Star behind trying to spot a large turtle
we had just cruised by

Without movement on the water, we had a
good reflection of the boat.  Linda is
on the bow waving.

A ray swam towards the boat



This is what we saw during our crossing.  Beautiful blue
flat water.  Here the water is over 3,000 feet.



Approaching Eleuthera (Powell Point)

Entering the marina

The boats at the dock

The beach just off the marina

Third Time’s the Charm

2/22 - We’ve now been in the Exumas almost 2 months (we arrived at Allan’s Cay from Nassau on 12/28). We’ve loved our adventures here, but the clock is ticking and it’s time to move on. The weather forecast showed lightening winds on Tuesday and Wednesday. Either day would probably be great days for our passage from the Exumas to Eleuthera, but on Wednesday the waves are forecast to be 2 feet or less, so we decided to wait one more day to cross. With that decision made, we weighed anchor and headed back south a few miles to Shroud Cay again. We’d stopped there twice before, but had never had the right tide to take the dinghy up Sanctuary Creek to the Sound side. At low tide the creek bed is completely dry. High tide today was at 10:42 a.m. Perfect timing to motor to Shroud, drop anchor and take the dinghy up the creek.

We picked up Michael and Jana in our dinghy (as they had already hoisted theirs back up on their flybridge anticipating a crossing today), and headed to the entrance of the creek. It wound its way among the mangroves through the interior of Shroud and out to a small cut on the Sound side with a nice sandy beach. A short distance from the beginning of the beach is an area known as Camp Driftwood. We climbed to the top, marveled at the view and took lots of pictures. In days gone by, cruisers would take small mementos to the top and leave them (much like Boo Boo Hill), but that is no longer allowed – sadly another tradition gone.

The rest of the day was spent doing chores and preparing for tomorrow’s crossing to Eleuthera. The guys plan to do some fishing – maybe fresh fish tomorrow night??

Heading up the creek in the dinghy

Approaching the cut on the Sound side

Looking up at Camp Driftwood

A stroll along the beach



A view of the ocean from the top



.. and a look at the creek winding through the cay



Gerry at the top

Linda at the top

Another dinghy headed up the creek

A shot of a starfish by the side of the boat (looking
through about 8 feet of very clear water)

The sun -- going

--- going



Gone -- our last sunset in the Exumas