Crew Log for February 18th – 19th, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Shroud Cay, Exuma to Rock Sound, Eleuthera
• Trip Distance of 48 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 3,016.6 NM
• Departed at 06h30, arrived at 15h15
Eleutheria the fire is burning
Eleutheria the tables are turning
A new day is dawning
Because it is time for a change
With new consciousness forming
There comes a new day
Lenny Kravitz, 1993
A brief pause to celebrate travelling over 3,000 nautical miles since we left Barrachois, Nova Scotia on August 14, 2022. It is hard to believe it is possible, but yet, here we are, exploring a new chain of islands in the Bahamas.
The name Eleuthera is generally used to refer to e single Bahamian island, however it also includes a number of smaller nearby islands and cays. It is believed that the island’s name is derived from the feminine form of the Greek adjective, eleutheros, meaning "free".
Eleuthera forms part of the Great Bahama Bank on its western edge and its eastern coastline faces the Atlantic Ocean. The main island lies 80 km (50 miles) east of Nassau, and is 180 km (110 miles) long and little more than 1.6 km (1.0 mile) wide at its narrowest. The topography of the island varies from wide rolling pink sand beaches to large outcrops of ancient coral reefs. Eleuthera is home to approximately 11,000 people and its main industry is tourism, although it is one of the few places we’ve been in the Bahamas where there is food produced locally.
Austin Levy, an American entrepreneur set up a dairy and poultry farm in 1936 on thousands of acres at Hatchet Bay. Levy imported cattle from his Sherman Stock Farm in Massachusetts, and supplied milk, eggs and ice cream to the Nassau market for decades. After his death in the 1951, the plantation continued to employ hundreds of people and provided much of the infrastructure for nearby Alice Town. In addition to agricultural facilities, the operation featured restaurants, stores, a yacht club and a power plant.
The Hatchet Bay Farm was taken over by the government in 1975 for political reasons, but was permanently closed in 1984. Former prime minister Sir Lynden Pindling gloated in a speech that, state ownership had made the farm “the greatest success story in Bahamian agricultural history”. A surprising comment given it’s demise. The upright silos are still evident today, and locals use them as a way to give directions to people unfamiliar with the area.
Musician, Lenny Kravitz is the island’s most famous resident, who remained on the island full time throughout the Covid pandemic. The island has been an inspiration for many of his songs, including "Eleutheria" (freedom) written in 1993.
Passage days for us usually come with a feeling of nervous anticipation. We had prepped Elizabeth M the night before, checked and rechecked the weather forecasts and tide information, and spent a restless night playing things out in our heads. As the sun slowly rose over Shroud Cay, we were greeted with beautifully calm conditions as forecasted, perfect for our 50 nautical mile trip across the Great Bahama Bank.
Our mooring provided an easy departure and so we left at first light and headed towards the cut just north of Shroud Cay, confident that our obsession with planning would pay off. We estimated slack tide to be at roughly 07h30. We were encouraged to see 5-6 other boats behind us, although in my “half glass empty mind”, it occurred to me that they just might be following our lead.
As we entered the cut, we started to question the accuracy of the charts given we could see large breaking waves in front of us. I checked both Navionics and the Explorer charts and was convinced that we had a clear passage ahead as we continued on our charted course.
In seconds we went from flat calm conditions, into massive waves that threw Elizabeth M’s bow wildly in the air and sent her crashing into the next one. Judy quickly went below to secure the hatches, just before water completely rolled over the entire deck. With the engine at full throttle, we pushed head long into the waves for about 15 minutes, avoiding getting sideways to the swell, which could have been nasty.
Despite the calm conditions on the bank, we think we arrived at the cut while the tide was still falling, which meant all that water rushing out of the sound was getting stacked up against the water on the ocean side. We couldn’t imagine what the conditions would be like if we had strong winds added to the mix.
Either by shear luck, instinct, or design, we handled the conditions like old salts and soon found ourselves enjoying calm conditions with a relaxing, gentle swell. As we typically do, we used the next few minutes to review what we did right and what we could have done differently while things we still fresh in our minds. Other than perhaps being a little early, we were proud of the way we handled the situation and settled in for our 9-10 hour crossing to Rock Sound.
Our dramatic start aside, the rest of the trip was largely uneventful. We did pull the sails out, but given we had to reach Rock Sound before it got dark, we motor sailed for most of the trip. We eventually threw out a fishing line and did have a strike but lost it. We didn’t get some much as a nibble for the rest of the trip.
There were 3 other boats behind us who were obviously heading in the same direction and we met another, Sabrina, a Hinkley Ketch out of Georgia who had departed from Black Point.
Our depth sounder operates to a depth of about 500 feet. After that all we get is a flashing display that reports our last recorded depth. Ours flashed 208 feet. According to charts, the water depth on the bank is close to 6,000 feet, over a mile deep. The water color and clarity is absolutely amazing even in the deeper water. One of our cruising friends referred to it as “gin clear” water.
Our first view of Eleuthera was Powell Point, a long jut of land on the southern end. After Powell Point, the water shallowed quickly and, despite being miles from shore, there was a massive sand bar that was fully exposed at low tide. We carefully had to navigate our way towards Rock Sound Harbor, 2 hours away.
The harbor at Rock Sound, has good holding and protection from all by easterly winds. There were several boats already here on anchor, but we had no problem finding a comfortable spot to drop the hook. After weeks of relentless wind in the Exumas, it felt great to be secured in a calm, peaceful anchorage.
We had made it to Eleuthera!
We celebrated with a nice, quiet supper at the Wild Orchid Restaurant, enjoying the best meal we had, off the boat, since arriving in the Bahamas as we watched the sun go down. We generally eat very well on the boat, so eating off the boat is rarely better, just less work and no mess to clean up. The owner of the Wild Orchid was “Larry”, a super nice guy, with a giant smile, who had gone into the restaurant business after he retired. He was busier than ever now.
And then…
At 05h00 the next morning the roosters started. We were a few hundred feet from shore, but the racket was so loud, it woke us up. Which I suppose, come to think of it, is what roosters crowing is supposed to do. It was almost laughable how many roosters there were, all roaming freely about town.
Since we were awake, we decided to head into Rock Sound and explore the sites before it got too hot. On the way in, we dropped by sv Sabrina to introduce ourselves. I had corresponded with them through Facebook a few days before, but we hadn’t formally introduced ourselves. I’d like to tell you more about Joe and Pat, but well, let’s just say you already know what I know, other than the entire boat was covered in "stuff". We actually never got to see Pat, who remained below for our visit. Apparently we are not as fascinating as we thought we were.
Our first impression of Rock Sound, having just come from the remote islands in the Exuma Cays, was how much litter lined the roads, mostly beer cans and bottles. While it is maddingly disrespectful to see pristine beaches littered with plastic from some far away place, the disregard the local population has for their own piece of paradise is disheartening.
Our first stop was the Cathedral Caves.
As rain passes through the atmosphere, it picks up carbon dioxide, forming a weak carbonic acid. This acid then dissolves the island limestone, creating a Swiss-cheese like appearance, referred to as Karst. Underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves are formed as the soluble rock dissolves.
The Cathedral Cave was a short walk down the Queen’s Highway, the main highway in Eleuthera. A short path leads to a set of wooden steps that take you down to the cave. The roots cascading down from the trees on top of the cave, along with the rays of light cast through the ceiling are amazing and nothing like we had ever experienced. The other main attraction in town was the “Ocean Hole”.
The Ocean Hole is a huge sinkhole right in Rock Sound. There was a modest little park with a gazebo at one end of the Ocean Hole, that was looking a little tired. That is were we met Hugh from Peterborough, Ontario, where our oldest son and his family live. Hugh was originally from Stellarton, not far from our home in Nova Scotia. Hugh was single handing his Beneteau 37 sailboat and was traveling with Billy, another solo sailor from Baltimore, who was on a Cal35.
It was Sunday, so like most places in the Bahamas, the stores were closed. Hugh and Billy did say they had been to the grocery store, so we hopped in the dinghy and headed down there. Unfortunately it was only open from 08h00 to 10h00 on Sundays, which was fine anyway since we had plenty of food. Just not a lot of fresh food. In Judy's words, "..we’d survive...".
Later in the afternoon we had a video chat with family back in Nova Scotia and with the crew on mv Anodyne who were over in Governor’s Harbor. We were heading to Governor's harbor next, where we provide a masterclass in how to unsnag an anchor from a cable.
But more about that, next time.
Additional Photos:
Comments