Southern Eleuthera

We are back! Last year we got stuck on the boat in northern Eleuthera due to COVID so we are giving it another go this year. After a rolly night at Little San Salvador Island (Half Moon Bay to the cruise ships) we had a spectacular sail to Rock Sound. We only spent a few nights here, but got a good haul of groceries and revisited Cathedral Cave, a favorite spot from last year. 

Sailing siblings

Cathedral Cave...lots of bats!

From there we had another great day of sailing up to South Palmetto Point. This was again a peaceful stop with good holding...we ended up being all alone there. While we were determined to have pizza at Mate & Jenny's again, this year we really wanted to check out Eleuthera Island Farm. We accessed shore via an abandoned marina and walked to the farm where we got a fantastic haul of veggies, fresh bread, and kimchi! We also had a rain shower move through that was substantial enough to allow me to scrub the deck really quickly...aaaahhhhh! 

South Palmetto Point

With winds shifting to more southerly we moved back south a few miles to Ten Bay for tonight. Once we edged in close to the beach we found good sand and are sharing the anchorage with two other boats. I did get a little jelly sting while I was cleaning the waterline, but a stunning sunset and sundowners have made it all better! G'night, sailors!

Spring Break—our boatschool reality

This is what homeschooling parents who are behind on grading look like. 

Our “school” has been on spring break for the past week. Why? The teachers were behind and we were about to visit an island we had never been to! And we had boat projects piling up. After spending a few weeks in the company of great boat friends and lots of socializing, we were just behind. FOMO exists even in paradise and the days can get crammed between navigation, general upkeep, and fun. Math grading has stayed on track and we are engaged routinely throughout the school day, but actual grading in most subjects was lagging. We decided to take a week to catch up, tend to the boat, and just enjoy the islands! Katreina was allowed to continue with geometry (her book will go to another cruiser when we next see them) and French, and Trent had to keep up on reading, but that was it.

We are fortunate. Our students are actually fairly self-motivated and thorough in their work. And since we aren’t stuck commuting for hours these days we have plenty of time to do continuous learning around our table or as we explore. But the reality is that schooling takes time and effort, and just like in normal schools, homeschoolers need a break every now and then!

Experiencing the Bight

With our repairs wrapped up we decided it was time to finally check out the settlement of New Bight on Cat Island. My favorite aspects of travel are culture through food, history, and natural beauty--New Bight hits them all.

Getting ashore is easy as there is plenty of sandy beachfront to tie up to. Trash is also very easy as there are bins just across the street from the government office and dock. Within a few minutes walk we were at Olive's Bakery and it smelled AMAZING! Olive loaded us up with coconut bread, pineapple and coconut tarts, and some Cat Island flour cake, these cute round breads that are loaded with nutmeg...she recommended we try the with coffee or tea and we did! So good that we went back for more the next day to load the freezer! Walking along the main road we passed the service station (fuel and propane available) and the last Catholic church built by Father Jerome (more about him later) before turning to head toward the Cultural Village (a.k.a. Fish Fry). 

The bright buildings lining the seaside street tell of more vibrant days before a global pandemic when music would flow well past sunset and the local regatta season was in swing. Still, a few businesses were open and we were getting hungry! We hit up Duke's Conch Stand for a pre-dinner appetizer and immediately put Duke on our "Best Conch Salads in the Bahamas" list. As usual, it's as much about the freshness of the conch and veggies as it is about the chef preparing it. We talked about fishing, with Duke giving us an appropriate ribbing for not catching a mahi on our way to Cat Island..."man, everyone is catching them now!" After visiting with Duke we joined the kids (they don't do conch salad) at Hidden Treasures, a seaside eatery with seriously good food and sweet ladies making you feel right at home. 

The eats! For a small settlement, New Bight has some big flavor.

The next day we were ready to hit up some history! New Bight is home of the "Hermitage," a small medieval monastery that was built by Monsignor John Hawes, a Roman Catholic priest known locally as Father Jerome, so he could get away from the world. He built his Hermitage atop the highest point in the Bahamas, Mount Alvernia (also Como Hill) at 206 feet above sea level. From this point, we could see out across the Atlantic Ocean and across Exuma Sound--it was stunning! Father Jerome's commitment to his faith was clear in the careful construction of the monastery and the hand-carved stations of the cross that guide you up the steep hill to the structure. We have seen a few of the churches that he built throughout the Bahamas and they all show his love of medieval architecture and beautiful form. 

The Hermitage on Mount Alvernia

After our morning walk we visited Olive for more bread and some homemade hot sauce, Hidden Treasures for lunch and conversation with fellow cruisers, and Duke for one more conch salad for the road! This time he told us more about the Cat Island flour cake and showed us the chitons and periwinkles that locals like in a salad (I'm trying it next time!).

We had wondered and Duke confirmed—you CAN eat chitons and periwinkles!

Having stayed long enough to know we would enjoy returning in the future, we headed a few miles north to Fernandez Bay for a lazy night and some snorkeling. We have decided to keep making our way up Cat Island to allow more options for the end of our cruising time...will we make it to the Abacos this year??? 

Great sailing up Cat Island!

Source for more info about the Hermitage--https://bahamasgeotourism.com/entries/the-hermitage-on-mt-alvernia/751b6ee7-a764-40bb-8e9b-5d7de8bfc5a0

Brief stop for repairs!

We’ve been deferring a few repairs on the boat, but as we sailed to Cat Island we discovered one that just can’t wait—the shackle at the mainsail tack had started to loosen itself! We safely anchored and made a few decisions:

1. We are on Spring Break. We are so behind on grading from hanging out with friends, transiting, and just exploring that we need to catch up. And we are at a “new” island! Katreina can do French and Geometry (her book is headed to another cruiser as soon as she’s done) and Trent has to read, but that’s it!

2. We need a down day or two. Or maybe just I do (introvert). 

3. We need to fix the mainsail, the macerator, the fridge latch, and the small leak in the dinghy, and we need to make water and do laundry!

We anchored away from other boats in the Bight at the southern end of Cat Island and got to work. Water making started (Trent is about to fully take that job over!), I did laundry, and Frank tackled the crappy job of fixing the macerator pump. We have a brand new spare pump, but the discharge fitting was broken off so he basically used parts from both pumps to create the new one! A clogged blade and broken impeller were the problems, and he gloved up and got it fixed! 

A 💩 job

We spent the afternoon relaxing, playing games, and skinny dipping (adults only!)! It was so nice to have some complete chill time. We ate a simple dinner, watched the sun set together, and watched a movie...it was awesome. 

This morning winds were super light so we tackled fixing the main sail. We had to release the main halyard to free up the shackle, but dang the sail was stuck! We finally worked it free, reattached the shackle, and furled and unfurled it a few times for good measure. 

The issue (left) and all fixed (right)

Next up...a trip up the mast to inspect the rigging and to re-run a spare halyard that we noticed was rubbing on the genoa halyard. Fun fact—we don’t have electric winches onboard, so the wench is hand-winched up the mast by the Skipper! We checked the navigation lights, looked for any broken strands in the standing rigging, ensured all cotter pins were in place, checked chafe points, looked for signs of anything more than surface rust, and just generally looked for anything sketchy! Once we re-ran the spare halyard everything checked out and I took a ton of pics for the boss man to review. And the view from the top of the mast is always great!

Always fun going aloft!

We got underway by sailing off the anchor and are moving north a bit to go do some sightseeing and get some provisions. We are finally ready to enjoy Cat Island!

Conception Island National Park

So we scrapped our plan to go to San Salvador. As we did a final check of the weather before losing cell phone coverage, we decided that the northerly swells that were forecast to arrive Sunday were no joke and would affect both San Salvador and Conception. And with our cruising season winding down and good friends heading to Conception, we altered course to join them! We now hold the record for the shortest goodbye...less than 6 hours until we saw them all again! 

A beautiful sail east!

We arrived around noon and quickly realized that while this island is sort of out of the way, it’s definitely popular! By nightfall there were 15 boats anchored here. But it is just stunning! The island has not had inhabitants in over 100 years and it’s believed that has contributed to its pristine nature. Sandy beaches, sandstone cliffs, mangroves, corals, birds...it’s all spectacular! Some corals are suffering from bleaching and algae growth, but much of what we saw was quite healthy. 

Our first excursion was to the mangrove creek. Only really accessible near high tide, our arrival was timed perfectly! On the ride there, long tail tropic birds circled overhead—they are so beautiful! Once we navigated the rough creek entrance (the swell was running right into it), we were treated to crystal clear, aquamarine waters and tons of turtles. It reminded us of the creek on Shroud Cay, but much shallower. 

A tropic bird—love the long tail!

The crystal clear mangrove creek.

Next we walked along the beach by our anchorage and found a trail across the island to another bay! We continued down the trail to a climbing rope that helped us get up a sandstone cliff for some more amazing views! 

Powdery sand, brilliant blues, and stunning views!

The day ended with sundowners on the beach with our friends and a movie night on S/V Kolohe for the group of six kids. Oh, and we discovered that if you raise the WiFi router up the mast in a dry bag, not only can you pull down an updated weather forecast, you can get dang good internet! So much for being disconnected for a few days! 

Watching the sun go down with our friends.

I started our second day in the park with a nice SUP paddle along the shore, scoping out trails and a shallow shipwreck. One kiddo was dealing with a stuffy nose so the rest of us went snorkeling and found some great shallow reefs south of the anchorage. The other kiddo got tired so Frank and I continued on to the north end of the island for some more underwater fun. The coral formations were huge, 15-20’ tall, and the animal life has definitely never been hunted—they all would come out to say hi! We saw large grouper and snapper, a massive conch, and a big lobster was just strutting across the sand without a care in the world! And Frank had two little fish swimming along with him for a solid 20 minutes—it was cute! When we returned to the boat we got a visit from “Mr. Lemon,” the resident lemon shark!

Awesome snorkeling!

It was one of our friend’s birthdays so while his family had sunset cake and cocktails on the beach, I stayed back to start dinner for the teens! The three teen boats decided to let all the kids hang out on our boat for dinner and Xbox while the adults gathered for dinner on another boat. I watch the sunset and made a ton of cheesy, unhealthy Mexican food—quesadillas and chips & queso—before heading to the adult party. We shared our remaining tuna with our friends and the sides came together for a perfect, Asian-inspired feast! We ate, drank, laughed, learned more about each other, and shared in the spirit of adventure that you find out here. It was such a great evening! 

A peaceful sunset before the party started.

And I’m so glad we all got together last night as at about 3am the northerly swell came into the anchorage. Waves started breaking on shore and between the swell coming in on our stern and the reflected waves coming back at us from shore, it was really getting uncomfortable. Boats started leaving at sun up and we decided to leave as well. It’s tough to leave such a beautiful place, especially after such a good time with friends, but I’m happy for the time we had and can’t wait to do it all again. 

Watching for coral heads as we get underway and watching our friends on Pleiades and Happy Together sail away.

We are headed for Cat Island...a new island for us! So far the sailing is great (broad reach, making 7 knots SOG) and while the swell is 6-10’ (higher when combined with wind waves), its long period makes it very bearable. If only all ocean passages could be this great!