West Palm Beach, FL to Eleuthera, Bahamas

2: NASSAU, NEW PROVIDENCE, TO ELEUTHERA

Saturday morning we had to leave Atlantis, despite begging them to let us stay longer.  But it was Easter week and the marina was booked solid - it was a good thing that we had made reservations for our two nights six weeks ago.  Our next stop was the Exumas, and after stopping for fuel (which took awhile because no one was at the fuel dock to turn on the pumps), we headed out of the East end of Nassau Harbour and began making our way to Allan's Cay.  It was quite rough as the wind had picked up, and just an hour or so out, we discovered that Abigail was prone to seasickness.  It was very sad to watch her be so sick and not be able to stop the motion of the boat.  We had also left later than planned and waiting for fuel set us back even further, so we decided that given our late departure and the state of the seas (and the crew), that we would turn around and anchor off of Rose Island for the night.  The wind was blowing hard from the South, and there was a nice anchorage on the north side of Rose Island which was very calm.  After turning around and making our way back towards Rose Island, the boat actually rolled more because the seas were slightly behind us now and with each wave, we rolled back and forth.  It was during this stretch of the trip that we learned that Steve also gets seasick - as bad or worse than Abigail.  We felt like terrible hosts but there was nothing we could do besides head for calmer seas on the north side of Rose Island.  It was low tide so we had to circle for an hour or so to let the tide come in before we could actually get to the northern side -  it probably seemed like forever to Steve and Abigail.

We finally got through the rocks and over to the anchorage.  There were several other boats there, and we anchored out quite a bit because we were unsure of exactly where the reefs were and we didn't want to take our chances.  As soon as we dropped the anchor, we all jumped into our swimsuits and into the water.  It was very chilly and we were happy to have wetsuits - the whole crew had wetsuits except for Steve and Robin who donned some tops they used when kayaking and canoeing.  The reef between us and the shore was teeming with fish!  It was quite amazing and a welcome refresher from bobbing around in rough seas for half the day.  Everyone - including Nolan - swam to shore or to the reefs, and Ria later returned to the boat, got the dinghy and took it to shore to ferry some of the crew back.  Once we swam the reefs and went around them in the dinghy, we learned exactly where the cut was that we needed to go through to get closer to shore.  Since we still had some swells out where we were anchored, we moved Belisana through the cut in the reefs and closer to shore where we were protected from the wind and the swells for the night.  

After supper, we re-evaluated our plans for cruising the Exumas over the next ten days.  With Andrew's earache and some bad weather headed our way, the Exumas were looking more and more like a bad choice.  Not only would we be days away from a doctor in case Andrew developed an ear infection, but we would also be on a tight schedule in order to get to Georgetown at the southern tip of the Exumas by April 18 in time for Steve and his family to catch their flight back to Nassau for the return trip home.  With bad weather on the horizon, our schedule would be next to impossible to keep.  We wanted to get away from Nassau and experience some nice beaches on an island somewhere.  Rose Island was only good for southerly winds as there are no anchorages on the southern side for northerly protection.  Since we were expecting some strong northerly winds, we had to move.  We had visited the island of Eleuthera a couple of years ago for a vacation, and decided that it would offer some decent protection from the northeast winds that were on the way.  Plus it had some nice beaches and was just a day away.  And we would not have to make long all-day sails once we got there to get to different parts of the island as we would have to do in the Exumas.

Rose Island to Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera

After feeding Abigail and Steve some Dramamine before pulling up the anchor at Rose Island, we were off to Eleuthera shortly after sunrise.  It was rough but we set out all three sails to steady the boat.  So even though our 7-hour ride to Eleuthera was fairly unpleasant, at least we didn't roll from side to side with the swells as we had the day before.  Abigail and Steve did pretty well.  We were amazed at Andrew and Nolan, who stayed below in the cabin almost the entire trip, playing and watching videos - !  All of the adults stayed above, except Robin who went below and kept everyone fed throughout the day.  She and Brian appear to be totally unaffected by the seas...  The thunderstorms we dodged were a little unsettling to everyone, especially Ria and Robin.  Thunder and lightning and dark clouds passed close to our starboard side, making their way south towards the Exumas, then later we'd see the same on the port side, heading north towards Eleuthera.  The lightning was way too close for comfort.

Upon arriving at Eleuthera, we headed straight for Hatchet Bay which is a 360-degree protected anchorage, the only one on the whole island.  At one time it was a fresh water pond separated from the Bight of Eleuthera by cliffs made of solid rock from old reefs.  Then while the Bahamas were under British control in the mid-1900s, a small part of the rock was blasted creating an entrance for boats seeking shelter.  When we entered from the rough Bight of Eleuthera, the smooth-as-glass waters of Hatchet Bay settled everyone's nerves quite a bit.  There were a few other boats in there but we were still able to grab a mooring ball near an old dinghy dock.  Ria and Brian took the kids ashore in the dinghy, taking care not to lose anyone through the missing slats on the small dock.  Being Andrew and Abigail's closest encounter with what a third-world village may look like, they were speechless for awhile - not a very common occurrence for them!  Abigail asked a lot of questions about the stray animals in the street, while Nolan marveled at all the "wrecked" cars - cars in yards that were rusty and on blocks.  After a short while, we returned to the boat and let Andrew take control of the outboard.  He did really well and made a straight bee line back to Belisana, even managing to circle the boat so that his parents could see him driving.

Hatchet Bay to Alabaster Bay and on to Governor's Harbour

During the night, Ria heard puppies whining and barking.  Getting a flashlight out, she climbed up on deck and shone the light towards shore, thinking that someone was hurting the dogs.  She spotted a man on the old dock, walking back towards the homes there (there were many small houses around the little dock).  Satisfied that everything was fine, she went back to bed.  The next morning, we unchained the dinghy and outboard from Belisana before taking off again.  As a precaution, we had run a cable through the handle of the outboard, through some padeyes on the dinghy and through a cleat on Belisana.  After unlocking and removing the cable, we left Hatchet Bay headed for Governor's Harbour.  Hatchet Bay had no beach and was quite dismal so we were all anxious to find something a bit more cheery.  We stopped along the way at a wonderful beach in Alabaster Bay to swim for awhile.  Because of the stronger winds that were coming, we couldn't stay the night but wanted to stop for some fun.  After we got the anchor set, Ria looked at the dinghy and noticed the outboard missing.  Staring in disbelief, we tried to imagine how it could have come off the dinghy.  Robin was the one who we think hit the nail on the head:  during the night before, the man that Ria saw on the dock had tried to take the outboard.  After loosening the clamps, he noticed it was chained to the dinghy and to Belisana, so he set it back on the transom of the dinghy and left, leaving the clamps loose.  After exiting Hatchet Bay, we encountered some swells from the Bight that would have caused the dinghy to tilt up to an angle high enough for the outboard to slip off the back and into the ocean.  This 9.9hp outboard was one that Sidney, Ria's dad, had loaned us for our trip and it had an electric start.  We hated to see it gone.  Brian went below and dug out the small 3hp outboard that came with the dinghy when we bought it from a couple in Baltimore.  We had not used it before and were disappointed that it needed to be restarted frequently.  At some point during the afternoon, it refused to go into gear.  Mounting it back on the stanchions of Belisana, we enjoyed the beach and were close enough that we could swim to the beach and back, although it was a long trip.  Steve, being the avid kayaker, was the designated rower for rowing the weary back to the boat when it was time to move on to Governor's Harbour.  Not exactly the spring break vacation he had in mind.

Since RIB (rigid inflatable boat) dinghies are notoriously hard to row, as Steve can now attest to, we were in desperate need of a working outboard.  After a few calls that all directed us to an outboard shop on Spanish Wells, we arranged for a rental car for a couple of days.  Spanish Wells is a small island just off the northwestern tip of Eleuthera.  It is still mostly inhabited by descendants of the original settlers and is only accessible from Eleuthera by water taxi.  Early Tuesday morning, April 11, Steve made 2 or 3 trips from Belisana to shore, rowing away and ferrying everyone to the rental car.  (It was actually quite comical:  we would wait for a break from the wind and rain, then jump in the dinghy to go ashore.  As soon as we would get underway, the wind and rain came back full force.  Between the waves and the rain, we all looked like wet rats for the next 3 days or so while the it blew and blew and blew from the north/northeast.)  

The ride to the ferry dock took about an hour or so and waiting on the the water taxi took another twenty minutes, but the ride to Spanish Wells was only about 5-10 minutes.  Once on Spanish Wells, we had to rent golf carts to get around the island.  We arrived in Spanish Wells just before lunch, so Brian dropped the outboard off at Spanish Wells Marine and Hardware and we all went to lunch.  We had a few hours before checking in on the outboard again, so Brian went back over in the water taxi to lock up the car since we left all of our snorkeling gear in it.  While he was gone, the remaining members of the crew obtained permission from the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven - for $1 a person - to use their showers.  The facilities were marginal but acceptable.  After Brian returned, we went to the beach between Spanish Wells and Russell Island.  It was a wonderful beach that had a huge sand flat extending for a quarter of a mile or so towards some shallow reefs that were part of the Devil's Backbone and offered some protection from the Atlantic.   There was an interesting little community park there on the edge of the beach that the kids enjoyed as well. 

After awhile it was time to go back and check on the outboard.  The mechanic had found some gunk in the carburetor and cleaned it out, but the main problem was that a pin that helped it shift into gear had been sheared off.  As a makeshift solution, he was able to fashion a new one out of a drill bit and it ran beautifully.  The cost?  All of $30.  In the meantime, Steve noticed that their prices on new outboards was very reasonable, so we ended up buying a new 15hp Mercury.  It lacked the electric starter, but we knew this would be our last chance to buy an outboard for awhile, unless we wanted to return to Nassau.  Plus we really wanted to have something to return to Ria's father.  While we finished the outboard deal, Steve and Robin took the kids and went to the grocery store.  When we boarded the water taxi for the return trip to Eleuthera, Steve and Brian were each loaded down with an outboard and we were all sitting in the midst of bags of groceries.  We were more than ready to get back to Belisana.  We stopped along the way for supper, which meant we had to endure the dinghy ride in the dark.  Since the small outboard had a built-in fuel reservoir, we did not have fuel to put in the tank for the new outboard, so we left it in the rental car for the night.  Brian and Steve ferried Ria and Nolan first, then Robin, Andrew, and Abigail in the dark back to Belisana with the newly repaired little motor humming along nicely. Another wet, cold, windy, rainy adventure!  We were quite used to it by then...  They returned to get some more things out of the car and Ria and Robin noticed that it was taking a long time for them to return.  In the dark, Ria barely made out the silhouette of the dinghy - moving very slowly.  "Robin, you won't believe this - they're rowing the dinghy.  And singing..."  Again, here came Steve and Brian, singing a sailing song and rowing through the wind and rain.  Oh, and one of the plastic oarlocks had finally caved under pressure and broke, so instead of rowing, they were paddling canoe style.  In the dark, they had run over an old mooring line in the water, fouled the prop on the small outboard, and sheared the same pin again.  It's a good thing we all had an adventurous spirit because this trip was not made for the weak at heart - !  And it gets even more humorous:  the next morning they left with the jerry can full of gas, paddled ashore again in the wind and choppy waves, and mounted the new outboard.  Ria and Robin again noticed them paddling back to the boat rather than motoring, this time sans the sailing song.  Somehow the night before, the fuel tank with all the fittings for the new outboard had gotten ferried out to Belisana.  They had the fuel ashore but no tank.  Because of the added weight of the motor and the fuel, they left both ashore and so had to paddle back with the empty tank, mount the engine again, and finally - with great glee - motor at full throttle back to Belisana.

With the engine taken care of, we all went ashore - in two trips - and visited Surfer's Beach on the Atlantic side for the remainder of the morning.  Surfer's Beach is actually renowned in the surfing world as one of the greatest beaches for surfing outside of Australia and Hawaii.  Ria, Brian, and Nolan had visited it before on our first trip to Eleuthera in 2004, and were anxious to show the Coxes.  It was a different animal altogether with the northeast wind blowing over 20mph.  We were all bundled up to face the wind, and between the occasional shower and getting sprayed by huge waves crashing on the reef/rocks, we were ready to leave after a couple of hours.  From there we visited Gregory Town and some funky little island shops before a short visit to Alabaster Bay for awhile and then returned to Governor's Harbour.  We stopped off at the library - an adorable pink colonial-style building nestled right on the harbour - to see what it was like.  We had read that it's the largest library in the Bahamas outside of Nassau.  It was small by US standards but very well stocked and well maintained.  They had a wonderful children's section downstairs and also high-speed internet access upstairs.  We also learned that they had WiFi...