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April 26^th, 2008  We've been in Marsh Harbor now for two days. We've had time to re-provision, catch up with friends on Mad Cap and Sapphire, give Solitaire her first scrubbing in a couple months, and do some sightseeing. We'll be here a couple more days and then move north to Green Turtle.

April 23, 2008  It is evening now.  We are anchored just north of Little Harbor in the Abacos Islands of Bahamas.  It has been a long time since we have anchored away from a settlement and the evening is dark.  The moon has not risen yet and I see the lights of Marsh Harbor on the clouds to the northwest of us.  I see the lights of a house on a island about a mile away.  I see the two lights from the settlement of Little Harbor about 2 miles away and I see the anchor lights of 3 other boats spread along this 3 mile Cay.  The evening is otherwise black. 

We had left Rock Sound and went north to Governors Harbor.  A settlement with a hardware store, 2 full sized grocery stores, a bakery and all the other things that you would find in a small U. S. town.  Wonderful homes on the hillside overlooking the harbor.   A lot of U.S. and Canadian citizens own homes here.  Locals fish the harbor and sell the fish on the shore.  One of their dinghies waits for the mother boat.    Every Friday night the town puts on a Fish Fry on the beach and everyone comes out.   Fish, chicken, conch were available, along with the dancing.  The fish was deep fat fried over burning logs.    The chicken over coals,  and the street dancing continued well into the evening. 

Then it was northward to the Glass Window (a very small piece of land the separates the Atlantic Ocean and the Exuma Sound that once was a natural bridge and now a man made one).  We had visited this area before by car and now we would see it by sea.  We anchored in a little bay just south of the window.  Couldn't have asked for a better anchorage.    The water is so clear in the Bahamas that the anchor chain can be seen going to the anchor.    As we left the anchorage we looked back at the window.    On the other side of the cut is the Atlantic Ocean.  The bridge is about 100 feet above the water; six years ago, a rogue wave hit the bridge and moved it 6 feet over.  This is me standing on the bridge and you can see the rubble on my left, still there. 

Then it was onward to Spanish Wells.  As we approached the harbor, all of a sudden the two boats with us, (Hearts Desire and Veranda) let me go first.  Something about not wanting to ground their boats.  It is shallow water but we made it fine.  A small channel goes into the cramped harbor.    See Solitaire leading the pack.  The homes here are lovely.    We toured the town and museum and found out about the people living here.  The Island was settled sometime after 1649 by a group of people that left England and Bermuda in hopes of finding religious freedom.  They were called the Eleutheran Adventurers.  Eleuthera is a Greek word meaning Freedom.  The residents today still have a brogue that seems a little Scottish to me. 

The Spanish had taken all of the native Lucayan Indians and used them as laborers in the Caribbean Islands.  The remaining natives died of diseases brought by the Spanish. When Ponce de Leon  came through, he recorded finding 1 (one) elderly woman in all of the Islands.  The Eleutheran Adventurers were Puritans.  They settled this Island and the northern part of Eleuthera.  One portion of the Adventurers were ship wrecked on the north shore of Eleuthera and found shelter is what is now referred to as Preachers Cave.  Church services were held there for about 100 years.  A recent archeological dig of the cave found bodies buried within.  Two bodies were those of an Adventurer and  one a Lucayan Indian (whose remains dated back to 400 AD).  DNA of the Adventurers' bodies were matched with those of the people of Spanish Wells.  Because of this history,  the island is mainly white with very few blacks living there.  The blacks that are there can afford the property,  (about $250,000.00, for the smallest bungalow). We will not be moving there.  The Adventurers never allowed slavery and when the loyalist came from the United States, they wrote a law prohibiting slaves on their Island.  The religious beliefs are so strong, today, there is not a place to buy liquors and a glass of wine cannot be bought at the restaurants with dinner.

April, 18^th, 2008   We have left the Land and Sea Park but had a beach party next to the new Tiki Hut the night before we took off.    A nice sized group showed up for the evening of social interaction.  Then back out into the Atlantic and northeastward to the island of Eleuthera.  As we pulled into Rock Sound Harbor we heard our old friends Jay and Di on the radio.  They were headed north from Long Island and stopped in the harbor because of the weather.  So after we anchored, they came over.  Have you ever seen a dinghy with crocs as fenders??    We rented a car and took off on an island tour with them and another car full of cruisers.  What fun.  We headed to the north end of the island and saw Preachers Cave.    Nancy is standing next to the large opening.  A group of shipwrecked settlers lived here for a long time.  It was big inside and of course time for another picture.    We saw many things on the tour.  One thing was what we thought was a church.  Wrong.  It was a castle built by some artist.    Back to the harbor and the next day we toured town.  This is one of the homes here.    In the settlement is also a deep blue hole.    The locals say it has no bottom but local divers say it is 158 feet deep.  We fed the fish some bread and rested.    A couple of  evenings we went to the other side of the Island for dinner.  What a place.   They picked us up in a van next to the dinghy dock and after about a 5 minute ride, we were there.  We would place our order and then go to the beach in front of the restaurant and find sea beans.  Then back for the eating and festivities.     The floor in the bar area is covered with sand and dogs and cats are allowed to roam.    Friends Beth and Jim from S/V Madcap joined us on our second trip there.   

Another evening we had a party at a closed restaurant Tiki Bar that also had a dinghy dock next to the bar.  This is just a few of the dinghies that showed up.   Sunday we went to church with Beth and Jim. .  We rented a car with them the next day to do some more exploring and went to a pink beach.  This pictures shows the pink mixing with the white sand.    We drove to the very south tip of the island and found a old light house that had a wonderful beach next to it.    That's Nancy looking for shells and sea beans.   

April, 6^th, 2008

We stayed at Pig Beach a couple of days and attended a beach party.    Bonfire and all.  Fun time.

We then left for the Exuma Land and Sea Park to do some more volunteer work.  I cleaned tools, drilled holes in metal plate for a new generator support frame, helped disassemble a boat used by the Rangers that had been damaged and sunk in 25 feet of water, manufactured a aluminum support frame for a power steering pump bracket and other little things.  Nancy cleaned paths, sewed a cover for a new scuba compressor, sewed vegetable baskets for the Park Administer and his wife,  manufactured a seat for a kayak along with repairing the cargo straps on it and other little things.  In total, we worked 6 days each and then took a couple of days off. 

The Park has a few unique things on it.  One is a skeleton of a whale that had died after ingesting a plastic garbage bag.  The skeleton is now used as a education display for cruisers and their families.     One of the creatures that runs around here is a Curly Tail Lizard.  Funny little guy.    They think they own the paths and sidewalks and sometimes just refuse to get out of the way.

  We then decided to hike the total length of the Island.  We went back to Boo Boo Hill (a schooner had wrecked of the Island and none of the bodies were found,  the ship had missionaries as passengers and it is said the the souls can be heard singing hymns on nights with a full moon) and looked back at our boat  in the basin.  It is the second one form the right.     We hiked the cliffs an beaches of the sound side (Ocean side) of the Island until we reached the southern end and a beach called Pirates Lair.    Such an interesting place.  Nancy decided that a little rest in a hammock was in order after the long hike.    One reason the Pirates liked the place was because of its natural fresh water well.  I had to try it.    Water was good.  A little yellow in color because of leaves but good.

We then went into the jungle to hike the trails.  The trails are normally like this one  .  Exposed limestone rock that has either small paint marks or little pillars of rocks to help guide the way.  Most of the paint has worn off and the wind has toppled the rock pillars so it is easy to get lost.  Being a old Boy Scout, we had little problems.  When we got to the top of one of the hills we could look back at Pirates Lair and see the other reason the place was so popular.  The ships could hide between the small Islands and not be visible from sea.    The beach where Nancy was resting is about in the middle of the picture, hidden by the plant growth.   We made it to the other side of the Island and started the long trip back to our boat, about another 2 hours of hiking on limestone trails and soft sand beaches.  Most beaches have a large pillar to show  landing cruisers where the trail head starts.  These are in a lot better shape and taller by about 4 feet than the stones that actually mark the trails.