35. Eleuthera Island

We reached Rock Sound on Eleuthera Island just before a predicted front came in bringing high winds and waves. We could not get off the boat. We could plainly see the storm approaching and it was strangely beautiful to watch the storm descend upon us.

Not far from us were the remains of a boat that had sunk just two weeks ago. It had been anchored in the shipping channel and sunk when the supply ship came in the night into the harbour. Sometimes boats do not leave their anchor lights on at night when they are in a designated anchorage. Not a good move as witnessed by the picture below. We always have several lights on and we made sure that we were not anywhere near the channel.Our anchor held well and we were snug in our little hideaway. One of the hatches has a small steady leak that Roman cannot figure out where it is coming from and we just put a pail under it and don’t worry. Fortunately we had time before the storm to dry out the bedding that got wet when I had left a porthole open when we were travelling to Eleuthera Island. I will not do that again, that’s for sure! The day we were stuck on the boat I baked a brown sugar and walnut coffee cake that worked out very well as well as whole wheat beer bread from a recipe that I adapted.

It was Easter weekend when we arrived in Rock Sound. All over the islands, on Easter weekend an Annual Homecoming Festival is celebrated. Those who grew up on the island come back home to see family and friends. School children have Easter Break. The festival started Wednesday and finished on Sunday with a big island picnic on the ocean side of the island. Every night there was food, music and a variety of events from a junkanoo to a children’s fashion show. Everyone was very friendly and we spent many happy hours at the festival. We ate at one of the booths. The woman who ran it had 10 children, 27 grandchildren and too many great grandchildren to count, she said. She was very proud of the fact that she had two great-great grandchildren. Her husband must have been eating those conch pistons! Two of her daughters had come home from Nassau to help her run the booth. The food was plentiful, very tasty and inexpensive.

Good Friday was the day of the storm and the festival was rained out but Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day. The docks were very high and it was a long way up. I climbed very carefully as I was having trouble with my hip. It seems fine once I get walking and we hiked around the island visiting the grocery store and buying fresh tomatoes from Nat at his fresh produce stand.

Teamwork makes a task easier.

Junkanoo started with a parade and then evolved into a wonderful uninhibited dancing in the streets. Junkanoo is a tradition that dates from the French in the 1700’s in Haiti where people would don masks and then they could do things that they would normally not do, hidden by the masks. C is a form of music, unique to the Bahamas. From Robin I got the following definition: Musicians beating on the goombay drum and scraping a carpenters saw and playing melodious tunes on the concertina were not only recorded as having roots in Cat Island, but in other Family Islands (islands other than the city of Nassau) as well. On Cat Island we met Pompey who was one of the Rake'nScrape gurus. It is very catchy and it is hard to stay still when you hear it. As I mentioned, everyone dances in the street, young and old.

It was very interesting to see a circle formed with the men dancing one by one in the middle of it. What intricate steps they take! The oldest man we saw had to be in his eighties and there were many young ones in their late teens and early twenties dancing. The tradition remains strong. We remained well after midnight, which is very unusual for boaters.

Cheryl and Elizabeth really got into the spirit.

So did Roman!

On Sunday, Easter Sunday by the Gregorian calendar which most of the world follows, all six of us went to church. The nearest church was an Anglican church and the two hour service seemed very Roman Catholic. There were many boaters that went to church and we were all welcomed warmly. We had thought we would be home for Ukrainian Easter on the last Sunday of April but now, it does not seem possible. On Sunday night Gospel music reverberated at the Festival. It had a distinctive Bahamaian flavour.

On Monday we went to Dingle Motors where we paid $5.00/15 minutes of internet early in the morning and then we got ready for the next storm which hit hard with sustained winds of 30-35 knots with gust up to 40-45. By dawn, it was clearing and it looked like there would be good sailing, so onward we went.