This sign on a grocery store in Hope Town says a lot about life in the islands, though it's a reflection of the how supplies arrive as well as a relaxed attitude.  Everything comes in by mail boat or small plane from Nassau, and everything comes to Nassau by boat or ship. 

On the suggestion of a few DeFever friends, we decided to pay a  visit to Eleuthera as we make our way northwards.  We caught a nice fast ride through the aptly-named Current Cut and headed up to the town of Spanish Wells.  This area is home to a lot of commercial fishing boats, and claims to be the largest source of conch and lobster in the Bahamas. 

The town is very nice - pretty cottages and flowering landscaping, clean and well-supplied.  There are some good marine services available on the island, as well as a few shops and cafes.  The Anchor Snack Cafe right on the waterfront gets our vote for an extensive menu, good food, reasonable prices, and excellent ice cream (frozen pies as well as treats).  Jim is still talking about it!

Spanish Wells is on an island about a mile from the main part of Eleuthera, and small ferries run constantly between the two, some for people and some little mini-barges with an outboard motor to transport cars and golf carts.  On the islands nearly everyone gets around on gas-powered golf carts - some with more style than others.

 As with all the islands, the mail boat is the source of most everything - fuel for the generators (and to power desalinization machines to make fresh water) and supplies of every shape and size.  These mail boats look like small freighters with a big drop-down ramp on the front.  It's amazing to watch the captains maneuver these behemoths into and out of the tightest little places!  When the mail boat arrives the town is abuzz, distributing pallets and truck loads of supplies. 

Spanish Wells is close to the trendy community on Harbour Island, so we took the fast ferry over for a little day trip.  The ferry is one of several that provides service between Nassau and bigger towns on some of the out islands.

The ferry transits a notorious area of reefs called the Devil's Backbone, and if you want to make the trip in your own boat all the cruising guides strongly recommend the services of a local pilot to guide you through.  $50 is much less than repairs to your running gear or a hole in your boat!  The fast ferry has the right local knowledge and zips across the Backbone at an impressive 25 knots!

We rented a golf cart on Harbour Island and toured the tree-lined streets, with pastel-colored houses and magnificent royal poinciana trees in full bloom.  We stopped for lunch near the waterfront, bought a nice pineapple from a road-side stand, and walked on the famous 3-mile-long pink beach (with a storm in the distance).  It was a lovely trip, capped off with another ice cream treat back in Spanish Wells (Jim insisted, after a long hot day).

On Friday (6/11) we headed out past the coral-studded Ridley Head, into the ocean for the 50 mile passage north to the Abacos.

I found a very old bone (that looked human) stuck in the sand next to one so we reported it to the Park.  Luckily an archaeologist happened to be doing surveys in the Park, so we took her to see it but I couldn't find it before the current got too strong.  She said that she'd have the underwater archaeology group do a proper search when they come in November, and she took our card to let us know what they find.
Bananaquits are among the little tropical birds found on the island.  The Park lets people put sugar in their hand, and the little birds will come for a party.

We ran into DeFever friends Dennis and Nellie, who gave us some great tips for our visit to Eleuthera.  Small world!

From Warderick Wells we jumped back up to Highborne Cay to visit one of the dive spots I got from the CORAL REEF II.  We had a really nice dive on one of the steep drop-offs, and saw eagle rays, big lobsters, spadefish, and the usual pretty reef fish.

From there we headed up to the very northern end of the Exuma Islands since the weather was favorable to anchor where there is little protection.  We stopped at another of CORAL REEF's dive sites north of Ship Channel Cay that turned out to be really outstanding - it was a beautiful reef at 35' with very deep slot canyons that cascaded down to a wall that dropped off into the very deep Exuma Sound (hundreds to thousands of feet).  It was one of the most dramatic formations I've seen - with eagle rays and larger ocean fish cruising by.
We moved farther north to anchor off a huge sand bank cay for the night, and we managed to avoid some ugly storm clouds that passed north of us.  Watching the clouds (from a safe distance thank goodness!) we saw 5 waterspouts form and hit the water. 

Wednesday 9 June we headed up to Eleuthera to visit Spanish Wells and Harbour Island.

One of the sights we were told to see is the "Garden of Eden" - Mr. Willie Rolle's yard which is full of various pieces of driftwood.  You knock on his door and he or his wife will come out and give you a tour - showing you the things that he sees in his carefully arranged driftwood.  It seems a bit strange at first, but if you let your inner child loose it's fun to see what you can find in the driftwood.  Willie also showed us some of the local flowers and unusual fruit trees - the sapodilla was our favorite to taste, and the wine tamarind wasn't too tart if it's ripe enough.  A smile, some appreciative words, and a small donation compensate Willie for the generous time he spent on the tour.

Walking around town we could see wooden boats under construction - sailing boats for the famous family races around parts of the Bahamas.  The boats carry an enormous amount of sail area, and they use long boards to move human weight outboard to balance the boat, similar to a Chesapeake Bay log canoe.  The work is traditional, using wooden "knees" found where trees form right angles naturally to create strong structural framing.

We headed back up to Staniel to start our journey northwards, and met up with some DeFever friends for cocktails on the beach.  It really is a small world.
Northbound, we spent two nights at Cambridge Cay, back in the Exuma Land & Sea Park.  Jim, Dan, and Carol were swarmed with sergeant majors when we jumped in to snorkel "the Aquarium" (a beautiful spot).

We also did a great drift snorkel on a large reef - there's so much life where the current is strong.  We just hang the bow and stern lines from the dinghy into the water, jump in, and let the current carry us (and our dink) over the reef.  We saw sea turtles, some big nurse sharks, and all the usual pretty reef fish.  On another spot I found a large queen triggerfish that seemed more like a pet - it let me get close and kept hanging around - they're normally quite shy.

There are several holes in the roof so you can float on the surface and see the sky, and the sun can create some dramatic lighting effects.

The cave is full of fish and brightly colored sponges, and it's fun to imagine Sean Connery and a film crew making "movie magic".

All through the Exumas the snorkeling has been great, though the patches we can get to without too much current are getting smaller as we move down the chain.  You never know what you'll find - sometimes the smallest patch of coral or rock can have an amazing collection of sea life - this rock had corals, two small nurse sharks (one didn't like being photographed), small jacknife fish with impossibly tall dorsal fins, banded coral shrimp, and a large number of lionfish. 

Lionfish are magnificent fish but they belong in the Pacific, not the Caribbean where they have no predators.  They're carniverous and they multiply very rapidly so they are taking over every little patch - it's a huge problem impacting the reefs and small fish populations so we're saddened to see so many lionfish everywhere we go.

In general the fish have been plentiful and beautiful - queen angels with their neon blue crown, gray angels with their surprise patch of yellow inside their pectoral fins, and french angels with each scale edged in bright yellow.  These are "teen angels" (one gray, one french) - getting bigger but they still haven't lost their baby stripes yet.

We're at the half-way point in our trip and we just turned north on Monday.  We'll meander back up through the Exuma chain hitting some places we missed on the way south, then over to the west end of Eleuthera and then to the Abaco islands for a few weeks.  We're so lucky to be able to do this, and we don't take any of it for granted.

Dr. Charles Knapp is the iguana expert and his lovely wife Sylvia (a Ph.D. candidate working on a rainforest study) were so kind to us, sharing lots of information about their work, the negative impacts of tourists feeding the iguanas, the rarity of this particular species, etc.  They let us watch as they "processed" an iguana for study, showing us how they insert a tiny RFID chip, take a small blood sample, weigh and measure them, paint a number on their sides with White-Out, and release them. 

They even let us release one of the bigger ones!

A few days later Shedd Aquarium's research vessel, the R/V Coral Reef II anchored nearby with a group of volunteers for another session of iguana-catching and we were invited to join the fun.  The iguanas are smart and they head for the thick brush or into the rocky cliffs, and we lost many more than we caught but it was a very fun adventure.  I think the ones with numbers told the un-numbered ones what was going on so they were wise to our tricks!  We got a lovely tour of the Aquarium's research ship, and we reciprocated with a tour of our "little ship" for the two captains.  What absolutely wonderful people - the researchers, the volunteers, and the captains and cook!!!  This has been the highlight of our trip.
Between us we caught three and a half iguanas (the half was an assist).  All this was done wearing big floppy sun hats, long sleeves (it's an all-day affair), long pants, boots, and heavy leather work gloves to keep from getting scratched or bitten.  We both bled a little in the name of science, but that was from the vegetation and not from the speedy iguanas.

We can't give enough thanks to the wonderful staff and volunteers from Shedd Aquarium for such kind treatment, friendship, and fun.

Once the winds eased we moved down the island chain to anchor between Compass and Pipe Cays.  We dinghied up to the north end of Compass to experience "Rachel's Bubble Bath" - a natural basin where waves crash over the rocks at high tide.  It's fun to wade and swim in the basin while the waves crash over your head, and we giggled like little kids.  At low tide we dinghied over to snorkel the limestone caves on Rocky Dundas - which were very neat!  All these limestone islands are pock-marked with holes of all shapes and sizes, as well as lots of caves. 

This is the first place since Norman's Cay that there's a little "restaurant" - you can have a burger with or without cheese or a fresh fish sandwich of some sort. 

It seems that wherever there's a marina (few and far between, so far) there is a fish cleaning station that attracts a herd of nurse sharks who become pretty tame.  They're fat and happy, and they congregate when they hear a dinghy or boat come in because that could mean another free meal!

You can pet them and swim with them.  I'm not a fan of feeding wild life - it makes things behave in an unnatural manner, but I do like to pet them when I can.
There are many cuts between the rock islands between the Exuma Sound (ocean) and the shallow banks, and if the cuts are small the current can be quite brisk except at slack tide.  Many of the best snorkeling spots are in places where there's a lot of water movement, but that means we have to wait for slack to snorkel them.  Regardless, we've been rewarded with great sights including a school of 26 reef squid, grouper, tiny blennies, parrotfish, angelfish, chromis, wrasses, and rays.

We need to do the same thing on our boat - our morning routine is to run the generator for 2 hours to charge batteries and (every other day or so) make water.  We are still living quite nicely with our on-board stores of food, and I'm proud to say that I kept my romaine lettuce supply going for almost 4 weeks using the green produce storage bags.  Everything else is frozen or shelf-stable, and we have enough for many months!

Much of the Bahamas are vast sandy plains which is the reason for the incredible water colors we see.  Reefs are typically very small patches, but they are fairly healthy with good fish populations, big gorgoinians and yellor or purple sea fans.

We had to stay put for a few days to wait for strong winds to pass, so we did some hiking around the island when it was too rough to snorkel.  The trails can be challenging on the jagged limestone or near the beach on soft sand, with lots of ups and downs. 

 

We also participated in an old cruiser's tradition by making a sign out of driftwood with our boat's name on it, and placing it on top of Boo Boo Hill.  Jim did the carving with his dremel tool and I painted the carved letters - a team effort.

We installed our sign (lower left) among the hundreds of others stacked haphazardly around the hill top - it's the only place you can leave something behind in the Park.  You can even see ADVENTURES on her mooring in the center background.