Rock Sound, Eleuthera

April 10, 2013

 

We have been anchored in Rock Sound on Eleuthera for over a week and have enjoyed our stay.

 

In the 1950’s and 60’s  this area was THE place to be in the Bahamas with several exclusive resorts in the area;  Jackie Kennedy Onassis is reported to have vacationed near here on her luxury mega-yacht.   Most, if not all, of these clubs and resorts are now closed or reduced in size and scope and the area has fallen on hard times.  It is not perfectly clear to us why the change, but a women we talked to at the government dock blamed the government.   Certainly areas like Nassau and Freeport have gotten the edge in terms of development and even here on Eleuthera, the ‘exclusive’ part of the island is now in the northern section.  The people here are, however, very friendly and seem to appreciate visitors. 

 

First a little digression on Bahamian ‘language’.  The Bahamians basically speak English, but if you listen to them talking amongst themselves you might not think so. Certainly there is a little Creole mixed in but it is primarily English with differences in pronunciation and word usage.  Many can ‘switch’ into American English, but you can have some real communication problems with those that cannot.  I have gotten to about 50-70% comprehension on ‘real’ Bahamian language, but can’t really speak it very well at all. 

 

First what you DON’T hear in Bahamian speech.  We have talked to a lot of natives and have never really heard the stereotypical ‘da’ for ‘the’ – as in ‘da islands’ or  ‘da bar’.     What, however, is very prominent is dropping h’s after t’s:   ‘thing’ becomes ‘ting’; ‘three’ becomes ‘tree’, and actually ‘the’ becomes something like ‘teh’.  Secondly ‘O’ and ‘A’s are pronounced like they are in Spanish:  ‘O’  is ‘oh’; ‘A’ is ‘aah’.   For example, I get much better recognition when I introduce myself as‘T-oh-M’.  A great example of unique word usage here on Eleuthera is when I asked Michelle, the women who cut my hair, if she was a Rock Sound native, she said no, she was from some bay ‘Up South’.   If you practice, you can understand more and remember, if you can’t understand a Bahamian, he probably cannot understand you – he/she is not being ‘difficult’.

 

Our hangout here has been Sammy’s Restaurant and bar - another place where the locals flock for take-away, but that is also very accommodating to tourists.   The food is very good and we have gotten to know some of the staff.  I took it as high praise after eating the fried ‘jack’ fish special  when Jan, our server, seeing the fish backbone picked clean said “You eat fish like a Bahamian”.  I told Jan that after the dinner, which included a big helping of grits and peas, macaroni and cheese, and coleslaw, that the only thing missing was a cot for the after-dinner nap!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock Sound has an interesting ‘ocean hole’ with a nice park surrounding it.  The deep hole, which is similar to a ‘blue hole’ in some ways except that it's about ½ mile from any water.  It is sharply cut out of rock, and is filled with sea water – the water in the hole rises and falls with the tide so they are connected through some cave/tunnel system.   The water has a high mineral content and local legend is that it has ‘healing’ properties. 

 

 

 

 

Joyce relaxing in the 'Tiki' hut at the Ocean Hole

 

 

We also found our first nice coffee house of the year here – ‘Java Bytes Coffee Spot’ located just north of the Marketplace grocery store and Scotia bank.  Terri there has been a very gracious hostess on several visits. 

 

 

 

Rock Sound unexpectedly has a nice laundromat not listed in the cruising guides.  Willa Mae, one of the owners, is the daytime attendant and helps coordinate the ‘flow’ through the machines.  The owners are nice folks and we are going to try to get it listed in some of the cruising literature.

 

 

 

 

Lastly in the category of interesting signs – check out the sign on this white truck sitting in a yard.

 

"'Not 4 sale - Don't ask" - we didn't

 

 

We had originally planned to continue north from here and return to the Abacos where we were last year, but in looking at the calendar, weather, and the fact that we are about at the same latitude as Miami where we will return to the states, we have decided to start heading back. This will give us a little more time to linger in some places we enjoy like Bimini and Miami, and may allow a trip to the Dry Tortugas 90 miles west of Key West, before we head back to Bradenton.

 

 

Tom

Anchored in Rock Sound, Eleuthera