Because we were expecting some high winds and heavy seas (too much for comfortable sailing in and out of cuts & anchorages), we decided to delay our voyage across Exuma Sound and enjoy a few days of (relative) luxury at Cape Eleuthera Marina on the southern end of the island. Furthermore, we would be able to look up friends of our nephew, Jack, who worked at The Island School in Eleuthera in its' formidable years.
Our friends, Mike & Mary on Dream Weaver thought our plan sounded like a good one so together, we weighed anchor and proceeded to pick our way through the sandbars of Davis Cut. Having a 6 1/2 foot draft (vs. our 7 feet), Dream Weaver was very helpful taking first position and steering us away from low spots. We arrived at the marina around noon, finding beautiful white cottages at it's entrance with an inviting pool, overlooking the exquisite turquoise blue ocean and white sand beaches. Quintessential Bahamas and we had access to it for the next few days.
That first day, we hung at the pool, got laundry done and made plans to meet up with Chris & Pam Maxey, friends of our nephew and founders of The Island School. The second day, we rented a car with Mike & Mary and on the way out of town watched a kite surfer doing flips off the ocean waves. We would later find out, it was Chris!
Our first stop in the car was the Blue Hole in Rock Sound. It looked refreshing but we didn't have suits so we briefly watched the other families dare each other to jump in from the low cliffs and proceeded on our island tour.
We drove through Tarpoon Bay to Governors Harbor, which was a spot I had wanted to stop in the boat but was talked out of by Mike, who has been to the Bahamas before and knew that the harbor didn't have holding. Andrew concurred. Driving through town on the harbors' edge, watching the choppy water splash up over the road and the boats lurching this way and that in the harbor, I was thankful to be sailing with such skilled seamen!
From Governors Harbor on Exuma Sound, we drove to the Atlantic Ocean side of the island in search of lunch with a view. We found La Bougainvillea restaurant & resort, the perfect spot for sharing grouper fingers and a chicken curry wrap.
On the way back to the marina, we went grocery shopping in Rock Sound and thought about getting a turkey breast for Thanksgiving but deciding it was too much for just Andrew and I, so we went for pork ribs. Mike & Mary had a similar thought but went with the turkey and invited us over to their boat for Thanksgiving dinner! What a great idea!! With the continued high winds, we had decided to stay another night in our slips and make our way to Exuma for turkey day.
That evening, Andrew & I were invited to Chris & Pam's for sundowners and to discuss a plan for a tour of The Island School the following day. It was great getting reconnected with them having met some 20 years ago!
The tour of the school was certainly one of the highlights of our visit to Eleuthera. Chris showed us the cistern supported buildings that our nephew Jack was instrumental in designing and building with a crew of college mates that he had recruited to help.
Chris told us about the program that Jack designed which took gallons of green cans full of vegetable oil from cruise ships and made it into biodiesel for use in the schools' trucks and boats. He explained the gardening system that used pigs to fertilize rotating sections of a pie shaped garden, and the hydroponic system that used fish poop to make lettuce grow! It was fascinating and fun to learn about this amazing organization that supports non traditional learning for students all over the world and to hear about what a legend our nephew, Jack is at The Island School.
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