Ptolemy
Being far from the light pollution of cities, we have had many black sky nights in which the stars seem so clear and three dimensional. We first check on Sirius lying down off Orion's belt, then Polaris which does, after all, point the way home. It's impossible to sit under all those stars and planets and not lean at least a little toward philosophy.
We stayed two days at Rock Sound. One of those days was spent combing beaches on the NE (Atlantic) side of Eluthera. The best sea-bean day yet. It was several miles across the island and we were hesitant to set off on this trek. (The blazing sun has a way of shriveling up your energy when walking.) A couple from another sailboat told us that it's very acceptable to hitchhike around on the island and that cars almost always stop and offer a ride. We set out down the narrow road and gave a little shake of the hand (the Bahamian method of "thumbing") to the first car that came along. An older gentleman stopped and drove us across to our destination in spite of the fact that there was no room in his car and we had to squeeze our selves in amongst his possessions. We had previous knowledge about Rosie's Northside restaurant, having been told that she is an amazing cook. Rosie's place is perched on a knoll under Palm trees looking out over the cobalt blue water. Her place is decorated entirely with things that have washed up on the beach. Turns out she is an avid beach comber, and offered to drive as a few miles down the way from which we could walk the beach one-way back to her place. I was coughing some from a recent cold, and on the way she stopped at a large bush and picked some branches and leaves. She told us to make a tea with it and that it always stops a cough. I am ashamed to admit that I cannot report on its efficacy as the tea never got made. (I might have sorta' hid the branches in a locker on the boat.). After returning from the beach hike, we had a very Bahamian meal of jerk chicken, peas and rice, and fried plantain. After dinner, Rosie decided to run us back across the island as she wasn't busy. I do believe that this small bundle of energy woman single-handedly does more than any tourism bureau to promote the Bahamas.
Rosie's beach
The back deck
Nina and Rosie
Ocean hole- in the middle of town
Ocean hole
It was with mixed feelings that we weighed anchor early the next morning enroute to the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park. We really enjoyed our time cruising the west coast of Eluthera Island. Lots of remote beaches, great little towns and settlements, and some of the friendliest people anywhere.
Oh, I forgot to mention that when we were enroute to Rock Sound we picked up a mayday call on the VHF radio sent out by a frantic sounding woman on a sailboat a couple of miles away whose boyfriend was kiteboarding and was bitten by a shark, tho at the time she thought he was stung by a stingray. Some medical folks headed out from nearby in a powerboat and got to him in 20 minutes. They took him to a waiting van ashore, then to Rock Sound for a med-evac to Nassau. We found out later at Rock Sound that he bled out and died before arriving there. It was with all of this in mind that we headed for the Land and Sea Park where we do a lot of snorkeling.
On the way across to the Exumas, Nina caught a large Mahi Mahi while trolling under sail. This fish provided three dinners and lunch sandwiches. Delicious food, but always the sadness at causing the death of such a beautiful creature.
First stop in the Exumas was at Warderick Wells to check in with the park and join the support fleet which helps a very underfunded park keep going. We snorkled Ranger's Reef, and "son of a gun" saw either 4 sharks or the same shark 4 times which is probably worse. On the last sighting, it made a pass close to us, and we decided we were done snorkeling for the day. From all available info, this was probably a reef shark. We didn't have the presence of mind to get a good close-up photo.
Since then we have been slowly visiting some of the more southern cays in the park; Cambridge Cay, O'Brian's Cay where the beautiful "Sea Acquarium" snorkle site is located, and most recently, The sheltered cove at Hog Cay which was a known hang-out for pirate ships. The cove concealed their ships while allowing them easy access to trade ships coming from the Carribean onto the Bahamas Banks. Ashore is a fresh water well and a large flat area where the Pirates spread their mats and slept and did whatever pirates do when taking a break from plundering. The mats that they used carried seeds from other places that they visited such as Louisana. As a result there is a growth of Palm trees and other plants that that are not found elsewhere.
The well at the Pirates lair
We are getting very low on water (the well at the Pirates Lair did not seem appealing, so will be heading for Nassau in the next couple days. Having refrigeration has been a huge improvement over Daisy for keeping fresh foods, but the down side has been having to run the engine several hours a day when it would not otherwise be needed. Top priority for next year will be the installation of solar panels.
Since our first encounter with sharks, we have not seen any others in many hours of snorkeling, other than a small nurse shark. Almost every reef that we visit seems to have a resident barracuda who follows us around and keeps an eye on us.
Next wifi will be in Nassau, will check in then.
Thanks for the awesome photos and entertaining stories! Rosie sounds like an amazing person. I don't like all the talk of sharks, though.
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