South Eleuthera - The Bahamas’ First Settlement

After leaving Hatchet Bay, our next stop was in the first settlement of the Bahamas: Governor’s Harbour.  This sleepy little town has almost as many white people as black it would seem due mostly to people who were leaving governments and slavery laws they did not agree with.  The first night there, we stumbled into the elementary school’s variety show because I was beckoned off the boat by the smell of grilling chicken (which was not as good as the jerk chicken found in Jamaica, but still good) and the sounds of large stacks of speakers.  We were entertained by the school kids performing songs, poetry readings, and choreographed dance routines; however, I was more fascinated by all the white faces and blond hair I was seeing than by the kids whose voices were turned up to ear-splitting levels on the sound system.

North Eleuthera – Nature’s Powers

Calypso's Fire in a Hatchet Bay sunset

We were welcomed to Eleuthera by Rainbow Cay and the turquoise waters of its northern cove and white sand beach that was as ideal as any postcard you could conceive.  I jumped off the boat after breakfast to swim across the harbor toward the rocks in hopes of finding a lobster dinner for the Captain and myself, but was fairly disappointed in the amount of sea life there was in general – definitely no lobsters to be found!  After such a hard go of it the day before, the Captain and I decided to take the day to clean the boat, relax, and do some swimming in the area to just unwind.  Unfortunately, the night of rocking due to sea swells was enough of an annoyance that the next morning, we were a bit wound up again and ready to work our way back up to the original destination the night before: Alice Town off Hatchet Bay.