Eleuthera

The following morning we sailed on to Arthur’s Town at the end of Cat Island to jump off to Eleuthera the following day. We covered 60 miles on Wednesday anchoring at Rock Sound at 5 p.m. The day started out as a pretty good day, but at 2:30 it became squally with lots of wind and choppy seas. We were glad when we got anchored.

Rock Sound is one of our favorite places. The people were very warm and welcoming. As we walked along the road looking for a restaurant, a group of schoolgirls outside for recess, waved and yelled, "Welcome to the Bahamas! We hope you like it here." Later on, we were invited by a new bunch of cruisers to join them for dinner at Rosie’s, a beach bar on the Atlantic side of the island. Rosie’s son would come by van to pick us all up at 2; then we would comb the beach and wait for dinner to be prepared for us by 5 pm. It worked very well. Even Rosie’s dog, Teddy, who faithfully guarded the front door, welcomed guests. The meal was a typical Bahamian meal: cracked conch, deep-fried grouper and lobster, barbecued chicken, cole slaw, peas and rice, and potato salad. The only missing item was macaroni and cheese, a staple we’ve found wherever we eat. We did not order any of this; Rosie just prepares the meal for a flat price of $15 each and serves it family style. (Incidentally, Bahamian dollars and American dollars are used interchangeably.)

We haven’t talked much about the Bahamian food we’ve had, but one of our favorites is conch salad, a dish similar to ceviche only with conch instead of fish along with very hot little peppers and chopped tomato bathed in the juice of a lime and an orange. Very tasty, but very hard for us to prepare because we have yet to find a conch nor even begin to remove it from the shell, quite a feat we’ve been told.

As we were anxious to work our way to Marsh Harbour, knowing there might be weather delays, we set out the next morning for the next town, Governor’s Harbour. Of course, we took an hour to visit the unusually well-stocked grocery and hardware store in Rock Sound. Unfortunately, the wind was very light, so we motor-sailed arriving around 3 p.m. A walk around the picturesque town with its Victorian houses—the first of that kind we’ve seen—confirmed our feelings about Rock Sound. The next morning we decided to keep moving and headed for Royal Island from which point we could jump over to the Abacos when the weather was right.