Yesterday, we made the @42 mile run from Warderick Wells to Eleuthera. While the wind wasn’t high, it was at a favorable angle and we made almost 6 kts most of the way. The seas were about 2-3 feet and following us so it was a comfortable motorsail. After we arrived, we took Daisy ashore for a nice walk. We rarely take her into civilization, ie roads and people. She has visited many deserted beaches so this was her first walk on grass for a long time.
There were a few stray potcakes (Bahamian dogs) on the streets, but oddly they did not want to come near her, which was fine with us. They even crossed to the other side of the road when they saw us walking. Daisy, of course, would have loved to have played. The dog in the photo above did look at Daisy, probably wondering why she was trying to play, but the other dogs totally ignored her. When we walked back to our dinghy, we saw the beautiful sunset over the anchorage pictured above.
We didn’t know much about Eleuthera, but now that we are here, we aren’t sure why there isn’t more said about it. Maybe it’s just the REAL grocery store that has stars in our eyes. This is the best store we’ve seen since Nassau. Most people are quite impressed with Exuma Market in Georgetown, and it was nice, but we think this one is better. The prices are more reasonable so we went this morning by dinghy and got a lot of fresh fruits and vegetable as well as other items we needed. Even the cereal was close to US prices, which was good as Mark is almost out of his Cheerios. There are no taxes on anything here, but they do pay an import tax and that is included in the price we pay. Some items are subsidized and others are local with lower prices. When we checked out we were offered a free van ride back to our dinghy. While we did tip the young lady, it was a wonderful gesture. We have found that the Bahamians are not only extremely friendly but they bend over backwards to be helpful to cruisers. We rarely even the boat when we leave it and have heard no news in the three months we’ve been here of any thefts on boats. It’s a very safe place to be and it’s nice to visit a place where people not just welcome you, but do it with open arms and hearts.
After the grocery store trip, we brought the bikes ashore in the dinghies and went bike riding with JoAnne and Bill. We were told of a few sites we should see, so we set off for one of the blue holes. A blue hole is a very deep circular sinkhole or subterranean cave filled with water. There are many in the Bahamas and in fact the deepest in the word, at 663 ft., is in Clarence Town on Long Island, Bahamas. We visited two today. The first was nice, but more impressive was the series of connecting caves next to it. We descended a ladder into the first cave. All was well until I saw the creature in the photo at the left......yes a SNAKE! This is the first snake we’ve seen in the Bahamas and we’ve walked through many places where there could be snakes. I saw it and Bill was standing just a few feet away from it. The flash from Mark’s camera scared the nonpoisonous snake and it slithered into a hole in the wall. It had been stretched along the side of a wall in the cave.
After that, I wasn’t very interested in exploring so I walked back to the ladder, climbed out, and crossed the road to a church to listen to a lovely children’s choir practicing for Sunday services.
Bill, JoAnne and Mark continued to walk through the caves and saw.....BATS! Boy, was I glad I had left. One flew right over Bill’s head and when they looked up they saw a large group of bats hanging above them. I think my cave exploring days are over.
We then rode our bikes to another blue hole. This one was more impressive as it was a deep blue and very dramatic. There were fish in it and even a large turtle.
We ended the day with a visit to Grandma’s Goodies. It’s a small bakery and we were told by some cruisers we met in the grocery store that we must try their specialty, only made on Friday and Saturday, and this is Saturday. It is called a Guava Duff and consists of a little cake with fruit in it and a delicious sauce over the top. Very, very tasty.
Tomorrow we will ride our bikes up some hilly roads to the other side of the island to see the beaches. All of the islands we have visited in the Bahamas have two totally different sides, one with sandy beaches and another on the ocean side with hills, coral, and also sandy beaches.
