Underway Again # 19:  Eleuthra

Eleuthra  is an island about 110 miles long and 2 miles wide. We are staying in Rock Sound Harbour as wait out the weather.  Right now the wind is really howling, the boat is rocking but the sun is FINALLY shining after two constant days of rain so there is hope in the air which is, by the way, very cold as the front dropped the temperature 15 - 20 degrees. We slept in socks and layers last night and Roman slept in the pilot house keeping "anchor watch" as we had dragged the night before.

Our rental in front of a really neat shop where Roman bought a shirt.

We arrived in Rock Sound a couple of days before the front moved in and here, as in Long Island , we rented a car to see the island.  This time we only had 12 hours in which to see everything so it we decided to just go north as we wanted to see the Glass Window which is the point of the rocky spine of Eleuthra that once was a natural arch undermined by the ocean which connected the Northern Eleuthra to Southern Eleuthra. 

Atlantic Ocean

Bahamas Banks

 

 

This natural arch became a real break and now there is a new bridge spanning the divide.  New bridge is a relative term and this is the newest in the series of storm-damaged bridges.  If you look closely at the pictures you can see where the last bridge moved about 7 feet when it was hit by a rogue wave on Halloween Day in 1991.  This is the skinniest part of the island(about 30 feet) and the road is only one lane over this part.  When you stand on the Glass Window you see to the east the restless deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean and to the west, the tranquil turquoise green, far shallower water of the Bahamas Banks. 

 When the Atlantic rolling waves come surging in, particularly the swells of  a storm, the force can hit the bridge and throw walls of water 100-200 feet high.  Fortunately when we were there it was moderately calm but we could appreciate the strength of the water as dark blue met turquoise. 

If you look at how the bridge is supported, you can see why we don't think that this bridge will last too long.

 

You can see several places where there are stress fractures.

This area is made of sturdy rock formations and one of the many formations we saw along the way was this giant bolder which is said to resemble a bull with a cow.  Do you see it?

One of the most spectacular things we saw was the area known as the  Queen's Bath which is a series of little indentations in the limestone rock which filled by the Atlantic waters, warmed and formed hot salt tubs. 



Here I found many unusual little shells and when I lifted one of them a little hermit crab who came out of his shell to look around and very quickly hid back inside.

If you continued and climbed down to the ocean below, you could go into a large cave at low tide. 



 

Maureen, it was thiiiiiis wide!

"I have to get a picture of this!"

The colours are quite spectacular!

 

 

Next we came to one of blow holes which you find throughout the Bahamas.  It took several tries to get a picture just as the blow hole shot up as this lasts just a second and two.

We passed Gregorytown where we had anchored 5 years ago.  At Hatchet Bay, we met some friends of Bill and Maureen and had lunch with them at a little stand set up which served delicious ribs, rice and macaroni and cheese.  The helpings are so generous that we shared one meal.  I love the macaroni and cheese and Roman prefers the rice. 

Here a young man shows off his catch.

The entrance is very narrow into this Governor's Harbour well protected harbour.

We tried to find the pink sand beaches marked on our map but the roads leading there were mostly dirt and rock and once after travelling on what seemed like the right roads, we came right back to Governor's Harbour where we had started from.  All part of the adventure of exploring  new places. When I downloaded this picture, the sand looks like it has a pink tinge but we didn't see we were there. Can you spot me in the picture?

Next we visited the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve which is Eleuthra's first national park and consists of  25 acres dedicated to the conservation of native species and to the research and documentation  of Bahamian Bush medicine.  Bush medicine involves brewing the bark, roots and leaves of particular plants to make beverages to reduce anxiety, restore appetite, relieve respiratory infections, increase sexual vitality, treat asthma and skin allergies.   Along the Medicinal Plant Trail, plants are grouped according to the ailments they treat. 

The Mangrove Boardwalk takes you through an otherwise inaccessible wetland ecosystem.  This preserve is only in its second year and was very interesting as you walked marked trails through a mangrove  and the medicinal plant trail.  Each species is identified.  Many plans are in the works and this is a facility which I would want to visit again. There is a beautiful natural waterfall, which I believe is the only one in the Bahamas.

Tarpum Bay used to be a centre for the exporting of pineapples, a principal crop of Eleuthra.  It is said that the pineapple plants were taken from Eleuthra and planted in Hawaii where they flourished.  The Bahamas could not compete in the world market and this led to the decline of the industry.  A few pineapples are grown mostly for local use. 

In Tarpum Bay we saw a house that brings to mind the saying " His home is a man's castle" or is it a man's castle is his home.????

Back to Rock Sound where there is a large inland blue hole named Ocean Hole that local people claim is bottomless.  The sea water rises and lowers with the ebb and flow of the tides and is filled with tropical fish and turtles.

Off to the side of the road is a "boiling" hole which the locals believe has healing powers.  All I can say, it certainly has mosquitoes.  I must have been bit at least a dozen times!
On the southern Cape Eleuthra are countless snorkelling and diving sites but we had run out of time and headed back to return the rented car.  
The next few days were spent rolling and rocking with winds howling around us and rain pouring down upon us.  As I said at the beginning, the sun brings hope that things will calm down and that we will be able to move on tomorrow.