Eleuthera – Another Piece of the Bahamas

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Written April 29, 2025

We had hoped to go from the Exumas to Cat Island, another of the outer islands in the Bahamas. In looking at the weather (it’s all about the weather), we could get there, but then we might be stuck for as much as a couple weeks until the winds and waves turned in our favor to head north and towards home. We only had a few things we wanted to do on Cat and as I’ve mentioned, after 5 months gone, my brain is starting to head for the barn. So, we decided to skip Cat island (another change of plans) and head for Eleuthera.

Eleuthera is where we had planned to head after Cat Island, we just went a bit earlier. We found a very nice weather window and motored the 6+ hours to Rock Sound. We met up with our friends Greg and Lara (again)!

Rock Sound

We arrived in Rock Sound and luckily Lara and Greg had already scoped out the anchorage; come north as the music is very loud near the Government dock. It is Homecoming this week.

The tents don’t look like much but boy did they have a massive sound system. The music would start around noon or 1 and end somewhere around 2 AM. A half mile away across the water, if the windows were closed on the boat you’d only hear the base thump and one could sleep. Being anchored off the Homecoming events, other boats told they could feel the pressure laying in their bunk.

What is Homecoming? Each island and sometimes settlements have a week were people from the settlement who have moved away, to another island or country come home for a visit… a homecoming. It is a big party. The Rock Sound Settlement coincided with Easter which made it convenient for even more celebration.

We did drop by one afternoon to check out Homecoming. It was between musical events (thank God!) There were 10 or so food vendors (very local food stands), people playing on the beach and folks milling around chatting. Clearly a very locals event. I did really like the ambulance. Looks good for beach rescue as well.
The day we arrived we went to town for dinner with Greg and Lara. Lara is great at organizing activities and sharing to do things which makes arriving in a new destination so easy. One had to be careful planning around Easter, most things were closed for Good Friday, Easter Day (and every Sunday) and Easter Monday.
We were surprised at the number of mailboats that arrived in our 4 days there. 3 mail boats! We were used to maybe one a week. Was this because of Homecoming, Easter, special orders (one boat was just telephone poles)…

the interesting thing about this boat is it got stuck. The entrance is a bit shallow and at low tide, even the big boys have to be very careful. It took him about 2 hours and trying and a rising tide to make it the short distance to the dock (seen on the left)

The grocery store in Rock Sound was pretty good and there was a liquor store next door. I waited outside with our groceries while Jim did the booze run. He came back with alcohol and this little hot hand pie they were also selling. These are local things, not like something you might see at Circle-K. Quite tasty.
We were able to buy some fish from these local fisherman on the local dock. They were small, probably skipjacks. The fileted them for us. I do wonder if they were of legal size, but they were tasty and affordable.
Every time we came to the dock, we passed this mural on the side of a tiny clothing store. I loved the colors. Not sure what the message was, but who cares.
Who can not like the sprucing up of the local buildings, even when not in use. This is next to Grand Ma’s Art Gallery. The imagery here was very similar to the paintings for sale. We did not buy any but did get a couple of free sapodilla just for chatting. Sapodilla must be like zucchini, they are so abundant everyone gives them away as we’ve received them multiple times in the Bahamas.

A Visit From Leesa

We had been texting with our friend Leesa from Santa Fe and the next thing we knew she was coming in 3 days for a 3 day visit. Leesa is our most reliable boat visitor, this would be her 4th trip to the boat. it would be nice to see another face from New Mexico.

Jim and I managed to rent a car on Easter/Homecoming weekend when they were quite scarce. We drove the 2 hours north to pick Leesa up. We did not mind as we wanted to scope out the island by car in any case. I loved this view coming into Tarpum Bay with the beautiful water in the distance. The road turns right along the water.
Leesa arrived on Good Friday so finding a place for lunch was tricky, but we found a spot with good fish and more of the beautiful colors of the Bahamas.

The Glass Window

After lunch, the trip back down island allowed us to sightsee some of the northern spots of Eleuthera.

This is the Glass Window looking to the Atlantic. The Glass window is a 30 foot wide spot on the island where during weather, the waves will wash from the Atlantic to the other side of the island through a cut. It used to be an arch, but at some unknown point in time through weather and hurricanes, the arch broke away. I have not found a date when this actually happen. It has been replaced by a bridge multiple times. In 1885 Winslow Homer painted the arch, so it was obviously after that when it fell.
The Bight of Eleuthera, the western, non-Atlantic side of the Glass Window. Such a difference 30 feet can make.

The Queens Bath

Just a bit further south on the road is the Queen’s Bath. The Queen seems to have lots of highways (which I’m sure she helped to facilitate) and other things like baths. King Charles does not seem to have accumulated any of these things, but he’s not had much time.

The seas were a bit rough today, I have the feeling this spot is always rough with the water and waves funneling in. These spots really give you an understanding of the power of the ocean without having to be out in crappy weather.
I’m assuming these calm waters are the Queen would bathe, not the tumultuous parts that fill them.
There was such a variety of water and rock formations to see at the baths.
Another type of rock formation at the baths. A bit higher but would definitely get very wet in rough weather. So very pretty.
And yes, a cave to explore. I’m all the way in, so not tons of exploring. But, I do like this type of cave. Obviously the water must get here as well for the cave to exist. Scary big water!
And a lovely spot for Jim and Leesa to contemplate the beauty of the place and to catch up a bit.

Farming

There is lots of farming on Eleuthera, including a couple Farm-to-table restaurants. They were closed when we went by, but we did managed to find this fruit stand open.

Gregory Town is the pineapple capital of Eleuthera. This roadside stand was open. We bought a pineapple, tomato, a cucumber and pseudo-mammay. $24!!! But, I did get this guys photo in the bargain.

The Banyan Tree

I saw a little marker on Google maps that said Banyan Tree Trail. It was right along the main road so we’d better stop. I love these sort of stops. There is a wide spot to stop your car and you can see a little trail through the scrub.

There is a tiny arrow pointing down the trail but beyond that, you have no indication there will really be a banyan tree there. Walking is easy and the path is sufficiently worn to keep you on track. About a quarter mile in, you find the tree!
What a pretty tree! This one is much nicer in that you can wander the “banyan maze”. I think every other banyan I’ve seen was cordoned off to protect it. But this one is not heavily visited and thus open to the public.
It was fun to follow the branches and see where it sent down new runners for support or nourishment or to “replace” old and dying parts.

A Visit to the Leon Levey Native Plant Preserve

I always like to visit botanical gardens but sometimes can be disappointed in less developed place. This was a very nice garden. The goat is to preserve the native plants of the Bahamas and eradicate those non-natives from at least the garden area. What a pretty garden!

There was decent birding which was a plus! The Bahamas does not seem to attract birders, partially as it does not have a big endemic bird list. It was nice to see this yellow-crowned night heron on the trail. There were very few visitors so the birds are a bit easier to encounter. We only saw 8 species, but one was a life bird for us, the Greater Antillean Bullfinch, a red and black bird.
They had a little turtle pond and Leesa had purchased a couple bags of turtle food. it looked like kitten kibble, but the turtles loved it. A bit of a challenge for the little turtles, but they managed.
I don’t know if these are native turtles, but we had fun feeding them and photographing them.
They had an eclectic mix of habitats; marsh boardwalks, medicinal plants, hilly areas and more. We managed to walk nearly 6 miles which was nice!
Jim and Leesa looking at at what we though was bread fruit. Turns out it was calabash, which is not native to the Bahamas but over time has been used to make bowls and plates.

Leesa was flying out of the airport near Spanish Wells, so we either had to drive her back, get her a taxi (for the 2 hour trip), or take the boat there. We’d done what we wanted to do based in Rock Sound so decided to move the 6 hours to Spanish Wells, a small island at the north end of Eleuthera.

The waters were not as clear as in the Exumas, but we enjoyed our time in Rock Sound. it was a good exploring base.

Spanish Wells

The run up to Spanish Wells was actually quite nice. We’d though we might have a bit of roll along the way with the east winds, but it was a very pleasant trip.

The entrance to the little harbour between Spanish Wells Island and Russell Island is suffiently deep but very shoaly on both sides and in many places within the harbour. We had secured a dock straight in from this entrance.
Low tide to the right of our dock. The last pole is at the north end of the entrance. Enter between the shoals turn to port, and immediately to starboard to get to our dock.
A very nice, new dock, but the fishing boats at the dock to the west kept catching LOTS of fish and cleaning them which kept the laughing gulls hanging on the piers on our dock all day long waiting for fish scraps. After so much quite time for the last several months, the noise got a bit old.
Leesa only got an evening in Spanish Wells (with everything closed for Easter Monday) before she caught the shuttle across the harbour to the taxi to the airport.

We spent a couple days syncing again with Greg and Lara who had moved up the Spanish Wells a few days before us and meeting in person some other Krogen (our boat make) owners who were there.

Although there are lots of tourist homes for rent, Spanish Wells is definitely a working town. It was interesting to see a marine railway in action. The boat drives into a slip that is on rails. Everything is secured and the boat is taken out of the water on rails to be worked on.
There is clearly some money in Spanish Wells. Although still very local, the homes are well painted and many have nice gardens. This is the biggest elephant foot plant I’ve ever seen!
On the ocean side, the beaches are expansive and shallow. One can walk, I’m sure a mile out at low tide.
This beach at the west end of Spanish Wells Island is a bit more protected and a favorite for locals and tourists.
Although there are cars in Spanish Wells, many people just use golf carts of various types. I particularly liked this one.
As with everywhere in the Caribbean and Bahamas, color is important. I loved this business. Ronalds, the owners of this building sell fish, have a gas doc, a big hardware store, ice and pure water and likely more.
We had spent enough time in Spanish Wells and had a window to head to the Abacos and meet up with our friends Mark and Christine. We left our dock, visited the St Georges Cay Power Company dock where you can by diesel for $4.43/gallon (a very good price!) The dock was a pain to get to, very tall, with cross swell pushing me away and no help tying up. It took me two tries to get close enough for Jim to get the lines on. But the price was very good!

We then tucked into Royal Harbour Cay, a very protected little bay for two nights to wait for our window north. Turns out it was a good place to duck the strong north winds.

In talking with other boats, it was much rockier outside this pleasant little bay.

We are now in the Abacos after a better than expected 9 hour passage. But, once again, you’ll have to wait for the next installment.

Comments

Eleuthera – Another Piece of the Bahamas — 5 Comments

  1. I have visited the boat 3 times! So I guess I better get moving to catch up to Leesa! But probably not this year…oh well

  2. We’ll have to meet Leesa one of these days.
    Great photos. Looking forward to seeing you guys in person.

    Deano

  3. Great to talk to you yesterday and to catch up more through your blog post today. Safe travels back to the states, up north, and home to Santa Fe!