Eleuthera: Spanish Wells to Rock Sound

Sunset at Cheeks Patch.

I love seeing nothing but open water at the skyline at sundown.

Not often does one see 0.00 knots of wind but this was what we experienced as we anchored by Meeks Patch near Spanish Wells. After a calm cruise from New Providence to Eleuthera it was a breath of fresh air to return to the peace and tranquility of a gorgeous anchorage after being in a marina. A beautiful day was followed by a colorful sunset. In fact, all of Eleuthera is quite colorful.

We enjoyed seeing the colorful homes in Spanish Wells.

This Desert Rose was humongous!

Quite the colorful lawn decoration!

Budda’s restaurant and bar. The kitchen is in this truck, the bar inside the white tent.

Another school bus that adjoins the inside of Budda’s.

We enjoyed the colorful homes and lovely gardens in Spanish Wells. Even the lawn ornaments were colorful! I attempted to capture the blues of the water and sky through the hawse pipe in the featured image.  (Thanks for Lisa Smith on Privateer for the idea!)

Look carefully to see the pink sand.

Spanish Wells is actually the name of a town on St. George Island. One day we took the dinghy to Spanish Wells, took a water taxi to the island of North Eleuthera, rode in a speeding van taxi to another part of the island to catch yet another water taxi to reach Harbour Island! Whew! Locally, Harbour Island is shortened to Briland. Briland is the home of the pink sand beaches and upscale resorts, at least upscale for the Bahamas. We ate lunch at Sip Sip (Bahamian for gossip) and drove a golf cart around the town. We returned 2 hours earlier than planned as this island was a bit more busy and commercial than we desired. We enjoyed dining with Carol and Brian on Freedom at Wreckers and Shipyard, a couple we had met previously at Great Harbour Cay in the Berrys.  It has been such a pleasure making new friends!

I’m so proud of Scott…he works diligently on his yoga technique.

Yoga on the bow.

While anchored outside of Spanish Wells we took 3 days to catch up on boat chores as it was breezy and wavy and we weren’t interested in getting wet on the dinghy ride to get to town. After 6 nights we moseyed on down to South Cistern Beach. Surprisingly, we were the only boat there. It was a great place to enjoy yoga on the bow and to go shelling on the beach.

Grilled crawfish (spiny lobster) with Bahamian mac & cheese (cut in squares) and peas with rice.

Cracked conch with sweet potato fries and peas and rice.

The following day we headed to Governor’s Harbor. We went ashore one evening and enjoyed a lovely restaurant called Buccaneer Club in the center of town. Usually Scott prefers to be on the water but the outdoor patio was surrounded by trees and lush plants and had nice jazz music playing. Not only was the food delicious but the service was the best we have had in the Bahamas. Scott ordered the grilled crawfish expecting the small crawfish we see in the states. Instead he received a spiny lobster tail which was much better than I expected. We have heard that the spiny lobster in the Bahamas are not nearly as sweet as the lobster in the northeast but I thought it was quite tasty.

In studying the charts we have noticed that there a not a lot of anchorages in Eleuthera with good holding. In fact, one night we saw on the screen that we had dragged 39’. I had just started to prepare dinner when Scott realized the problem so he dove on the anchor to attempt to flip it over if necessary. To no avail, it just continued to slide so we pulled up and headed on south to Ten Bay Beach at 7:00 p.m. making for a late dinner.

Ten Bay Beach was known for shelling so we got up early to be on shore at low tide but there were no whole shells. Yes, there were lots of broken ones but no whole ones. After breakfast we headed to our southern most destination in Eleuthera, Rock Sound. Rock Sound is in a large harbor and is one of the few anchorages with protection from the west. Since westerlies and higher winds were predicted for the following day we decided to go early to get a good spot. We expected to see a crowded anchorage as everyone would want protection but there were very few boats. This was consistent with every where we had been in Eleuthera, few vessels and we were always the largest. Another observation is the lack of birds in the Bahamas, not only on land but in the water. We hadn’t seen cormorants, anhingas, herons, egrets or pelicans.  Hopefully, we can visit some preserves on land to see some of their beautiful indigenous birds.

Rock Sound’s homecoming is Easter weekend so we will take time to explore the town and perhaps even rent a car to drive the entire island. A homecoming is when the people from all over the Bahamas come home to the town or island of their birth for a huge celebration. We are excited to experience the homecoming here as it is said to be quite the party!