Harbour Island

With our cruising friends Mark and Cathy, and their rental car, we drove to the east side of Eleuthera to find a water taxi to take us to Harbour Island.

Ricky Ricardo and Taxi #26

Ricky gave us a fast ride over to Harbour Island.  We could visit Harbour Island on our boat, but that would involve a passage through “The Devils Backbone,” a reef strewn stretch between Spanish Wells and Harbour Island.

We hadn't gone faster than 7 knots in months

Once we got to Harbour Island and Dunmore Town, it was my turn to drive,

with Mark as the navigator.

Driving in the Bahamas is a bit of a challenge for us Americans.  Following their British heritage, they drive on the left side with cars equipped both right and left hand drive.  We got some strange looks on our bicycles until we figured that one out.  Seldom will you find a center line or a side walk for the pedestrians, and stop signs are merely a suggestion. 

 Our first stop was the famed pink sand beaches.

Then we cruised around in our reluctant golf cart finding many photo opportunities.

Tidal flats

“Haunted” house

New Mexico tag

Upscale marinas

Harbour Island is one of the playgrounds for the rich and famous. Unfortunately, the pricing reflects it. Kalik, the “Beer of the Bahamas,” was six dollars each.

On the way back to Hatchet Bay, we took a look at Current Cut that we will transit the next day.

Hatchet Bay

After Rock Sound Harbour, we had a nice motor sail north to Hatchet Bay.

Dolphins playing in our bow wake

The entrance to Hatchet Bay Pond was cut for a cattle ranching operation on the island that failed like too many other Bahamian ventures.  It is one of those entrances you want to get right the first time because there is little room for error.

But, once again luck is better than skill, and we made it.  In the Pond, we found a great place to anchor, only to be warned that we were in the approach to the Government Dock.

We managed to find a better place to anchor before the fuel barge and high speed ferry came in.

The settlement at Hatchet Bay is Alice Town. A sign in town advertizes Hatchet Bay Pond as the safest harbor in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, Hurricane Andrew disproved that theory, and there are boats still strewn on the beaches. It is well protected has good holding for the anchor, and is a great place to wait out a frontal passage. About the only thing Alice Town has to offer the cruisers since the grocery store burned down is The Front Porch.

Mark and Cathy on Carina, and Jane and Gary on Dream Catcher

Mark and Cathy rented a car the next day and invited us to join them for a ride over to the eastern shore where we could catch a water taxi to Harbour Island.  On the way we stopped at the Glass Window.

The Glass Window is a rock formation where the Bight of Eleuthera and the Atlantic Ocean almost meet.  It originally had a natural rock bridge which was washed away by a hurricane in 1926 and replaced by a bridge in 1960.  On Halloween Day in 1991 a rogue wave picked it up the northern end and moved it 7’ to the west.  Using Bahamian engineering, the bridge was shored up a little and the road moved to meet the bridge.

To be continued... 

Cat Island to Eleuthera Island

After New Bight, we moved a few miles north on Cat Island to Fernandez Bay, and the Fernandez Bay Resort.

We stayed for steak and lobster night with some cruiser friends.

Then we moved to the north with a touch-and-go at Arthur’s Town.  Didn’t seem to be a there, there.

Because the Hard Rock Café was closed, we moved on to Orange Creek, the northern most anchorage on Cat Island because we needed provisions.



But, the store was not open on Saturday.

So, we went out for pizza with cruisers from 5 other boats. It was a hike, but we made it to Shannas Cove Resort (www.shannas-cove.com). This place was great! Gabi and Frank, the owners have done a fantastic job at creating a little slice of paradise.

After a deep water passage, we went into Cape Eleuthera Marina on Eleuthera Island. After taking on water and doing laundry, we took off again. We are beginning to understand why so many cruisers shun marinas. This place was very unprofessional, and overpriced.

Our next stop was Rock Sound Harbour on Eleuthera Island. There we found about 20 other boats enjoying a picturesque little Bahamian town.

On a whim, Pollie and I rode our little bikes uphill both ways to the eastern shore and to Nort’ Side Restaurant (http://www.northsideinneleuthera.com/) for lunch.

The proprietor, Rose Gibson, fixed us lunch and chatted us up. Rose has put her 5 kids through college including graduate school. One daughter is an attorney in the UK, another is in medicine, and her youngest son is a project engineer in Sidney, Australia.

There is a reason people return to the Nort’ Side.

Grouper fingers, Bahamian rice & peas, and coleslaw

That had to be worked off, so we rode to Ocean Hole a natural "blue hole" that the locals say is bottomless. It is actually an inland salt water lake, a mile from the oceans, yet it is filled with salt water sea life, and rises and ebbs with the tides.  Therefore, it definitely has a connection with the ocean, although no-one has found the connection (Jacques Cousteau, formerly a part-time resident of Windemere, tried unsuccessfully.)

Caves are very common in the Bahamas as the limestone is very porous and is in a constant state of erosion.  On up the road, we found another blue hole with a very interesting cave nearby.

The over 20 foot tall tree roots made for a very eerie scene.

After cleaning up a bit, it was time to join cruiser friends for dinner at the 4 Points Restaurant.

Can’t believe she’s taking pictures while I am struggling with the dinghy

“It’s not a vacation, it’s a lifestyle”

The Hermitage

Probably the most noted tourist attraction on Cat Island is The Hermitage which can be seen from the New Bight anchorage.  It sits atop the highest point of land in the Bahamas, 206’ high Mt. Alvernia.  Many Cat Island residents claim Christopher Columbus’s first landfall in the New World was Cat Island because in his records he stated that he landed on the island with the highest point.

Walking/climbing path begins here



John Hawes, known as Father Jerome, was born in 1876,   He studied architecture for five years before becoming an Anglican Minister.  In 1911 Father Jerome went to Rome where he studied for three years for the Catholic Priesthood.   He built both St. Paul’s and St. Peter’s Churches in Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas.  Later, he went to Australia as a bush priest, but when it came time to retire, he requested and received permission from the Catholic Bishop in Nassau to retire as a hermit on Cat Island.

In 1940 he began construction of The Hermitage, a miniature replica of a European Franciscan Monastery.  Father Jerome built the entire structure out of native rock, and lived there until his death at age 80.

The alter

Looking from below, the scale of the structure is very deceiving.  

Entrance to the sanctuary



Father Jerome was not a very big man, and The Hermitage was sized accordingly.

His bedroom

But, as Pollie pointed out, “he had more room than we have on the boat.”

Writing in her journal at Father Jerome’s desk

We found the site very peaceful, visually stunning and architecturally interesting.  Also, the bike ride and hike up the trail was exhilarating.  

Serenity anchored to the left of the phone tower

Flying Machines

Your options for visiting the Bahamas are by boat or aircraft.  So the two kind of live side-by-side in the Bahamas.  General aviation in the Bahamas has a pre-9/11 feel that we will probably never see again in the States.  The whole climate is so relaxed that it is a little intimidating for us visitors.

To get from one side to the other on many islands, one must cross the runway.  Usually they have a warning sign.

Somewhat unnerving, we have found that golf carts sans muffler sounds much like a small aircraft taking off.

Looking at the aircraft on the ramp is always fun.

Especially, when you find one that is very interesting:

This Piaggio P-136 L-1 Royal Gull amphibian was built in 1958 and bears the marks of the Italian Air Force where it was used for search and rescue.  Evidently, someone has a sense of humor, because it has fake bullet holes.

Rumor has it that the aircraft is owned by Harrison Ford.

New Bight (24 17.10 N/075 25.20 W)

After a few days at Hawk’s Nest Marina and Resort:

It was time to move on to the ”real Bahamas” and New Bight about 10 miles north of Hawks Nest:

Duke's Deck

After getting fortified on ice cream at Grammy Farah’s:

We went exploring:

Our first stop was the ruins of the old Armbrister Plantation house, which was burned by slaves during a revolt during the days prior to emancipation.  The house was pre-Loyalist period, it was built in the 1760’s.

As we continue north into the Eleuthera Islands, the Loyalist influence will become more acute. After the Declaration of Independence in 1776, many of the English Loyalists (Tories) fled Georgia and the Carolinas either to Florida (then English-owned), or to the Bahamas. The Treaty of Versailles in 1783 restored Florida to Spain, and a great number of these transplanted Florida Loyalists had to flee to the Bahamas to remain under the British flag. By 1788, about 9,300 Tories had fled to the Bahamas and more would follow, but they all had tasted life in the U.S. The 1776 influx of Loyalists quickly brought in 3,000 or more slaves and the 1783 influx attracted 1,000 more.

Religion is significant part of the Bahamian life. New Bight is no different, but seems to have a significant number of churches in various state of disrepair.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Father Jerome’s Hermitage, one of the more significant sights on Cat Island.

Before the dinghy ride back to the anchorage, we shared a Kalik with these two characters to get the low-down on Cat Island.