Adventure day

Harbour Island
If you look at a map of Eleuthera, at the very top you will notice a series of islands that are not connected to each other. Spanish Wells is on St. Georges Cay which is about a half kilometer wide and 2.8 km long. In order to get anywhere else in the area you must first take a ferry to the main island of Eleuthera. Quite a few people told us that we should be sure to see Harbour Island, so yesterday was adventure day. With the help of two very nice girls in the marina office, Hugh and I arranged for our trip over. Not a straight forward trip!! 
We met Bill and Michael at the government dock with Bob and Sheila to catch the 9:40 ferry, driven by Kason, the husband of one of the office girls. The ferry is not a big one, holding maybe a dozen or so people and runs continuously across the bay from Spanish Wells to Gene Bay, Eleuthera.

The first ferry ride with the gang

 Once docked, we were greeted by our taxi driver, David, also arranged by the girls. He drove us across the island, about a 20 minute drive, to a landing, where we boarded another ferry, driven by Ovincent (but just call him Vincent, the "O" is silent). And then we were finally at Harbour Island! At the dock we rented two golf carts and were ready to explore the island. Armed with maps and a goal to see as much as possible, we set off. 

Our trusty steeds!

First stop was the straw market just around the corner, where Sheila and Bill both bought straw hats.  Did I mention it was the first beautiful, sunny, hot day we have had in a long time? That sure makes the spirit rise!! There were a few stores in this little strip along the shore, and one of them, selling very lovely (and super expensive) clothes was staffed by a Toronto girl! So of course we had to chat. This particular shop also sells its own rum, of which she had only one bottle, but with a little persuasion she opened it up and gave us all a sample (its noon somewhere). Great way to start the day!

Starting the day with a shot of rum!

Hugh had done some research about the island before hand, so as our unofficial guide he drove us around the island, stopping at little local stores along the way. The island reminded us slightly of Hope Town, with its colourful houses and narrow streets.

Harbour Town house

Next stop was the pink beach, where we walked along the shore, looking for sea glass and shells, but there were none at all. Nothing! The beach was not busy, even though there were two high end resorts lining the beachfront. Again we were reminded that it is considered low season, and with the weather lately I can understand why.

Pink Sand Beach

We also found the Lone Tree, which is a dead tree standing alone in the water, which you can walk to at low tide. Apparently this is a popular location for photo shoots (Sports Illustrated Swim Suit edition?).

Lone Tree

After being on the beach and getting all sandy and damp, we climbed back into the carts and headed back down to the main harbour area in search of lunch. Bill and Michael had found a vegan restaurant, so they went there, and the one that had been recommended to us, right on the water, was overrun with flies. Eww. Not very appealing.  So we went in search of somewhere else and ended up at Arthurs bakery where everyone was able to find something to their liking.  
After lunch we toured the south part of the island, as far as we were able to go, as this is a very high end area with private communities where the large No Trespassing signs where very convincing! We ended up at Valentines, a very nice resort/marina, filled with mega-yachts, for a celebratory beer (of course) and then headed back to the ferry dock for the reverse rides home.

Valentines

What was amazing was that each of the guys called the next guy ahead so they were all there waiting for us when we pulled in. All in all a very fun and entertaining day.
So, now on to our current situation. Eleuthera is a long and skinny island (110 miles long) with very few fully protected harbours or marinas along the west (non-Atlantic) coast. So no matter where we go from here it is longer sailing days and mostly anchoring, until you get to the very bottom tip of the island. And as I have mentioned before, weather controls our life.  So, tomorrow a big front is coming in with winds ranging from 25-35 knots for the next week.  Looks like we will be getting to know Spanish Wells very well! There will be four, maybe more, boats in the marina for the weather, so we will have lots of company. A pot luck has already been discussed, as well as a car rental to explore the island by car rather than boat. And I'm getting a much needed pedicure tomorrow!
Such is boating life! No plans are the best plans. Lets hope it calms down sooner rather than later, so we can keep going south.
More adventures to come ... one day at a time!