Mt. Alvernia - The Hermitage

March 31, 2014

 

On Friday (3/28) we visited Mt. Alvernia, The Hermitage,  which is located just outside New Bight on Cat Island.  We visited this site when we were here last year, but that was a quick visit and we had more time to explore this time.

The Hermitage is the ‘retirement’ home of Father Jerome, an architect and priest, who designed and built many churches around the Bahamas. 

 

 

 

 

Born John Cecil Hawes in 1876, he first studied architecture before becoming an Anglican priest.  He was sent by his Bishop to the Bahamas to restore churches damaged in the hurricane of 1908.  His unique stamp of thick hurricane-proof walls and barrel-vaulted roofs can be seen in the churches he built (we have seen several).

 

He became a Catholic priest in his later life and continued building churches.  Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, here in New  Bight, was his last church.

 

 

Upon arrival in New Bight, he selected Comer Hill, reputedly the highest point in the Bahamas, for his retirement home/monastery.   

 

 

 

View of The Bight from The Hermitage

 

 A series of stone carvings, representing The Stations of the Cross, line the very steep path to the front of the building.   Joyce (and Tom) are glad that there is a less steep path descending from the building on the back side – easier to scamper up the rocks than down!

 

Jesus Falls a Second Time

Empty Tomb

 

 

While it is an impressive building, it was not a luxurious place to live, with very small rooms and low ceilings.

Fireplace/Cooking Oven

Well and storage cellar

On a quick sailing note, we have weathered two moderate fronts in the week since our arrival at Cat Island last Monday.    The Bight is not protected at all from the SW-W and we have had to move around to maximize our protection from the wind and waves.  But since Cat Island is one of our favorite places in the Bahamas, it is worth it!

 

 

Tom

Anchored New Bight, Cat Island  

Eleuthera to Cat Island

March 27, 2014,

 

We had a  great two-day window to transit from Rock Sound, Eleuthera to New Bight on Cat Island on Sunday (3/23) and Monday (3/24).  Going in this direction you often face the prevailing east – southeast winds on the bow making the trip difficult, but these days offered light southwest – west winds making for a good motor-sail/motor to Cat Island.

 

Sunday was across the Davis Channel to the west shore of Eleuthera and a great motor-sail down to East Point, the southern-most point of the island.  The most notable part of the trip is how close the deep water comes to the island.  At times we were about a mile or so offshore, but in thousands of feet of water;  the actual ‘wall’ was probably less than a half mile from shore.  It is hard to capture this in a photo, but notice how close the deep blue water stretches to the shore.

 

 

East Cape, Eleuthera
We saw whales breaching here last year - no such luck this year

  

Rock Sound to New Bight, Cat Island is too far for a day-trip, so you must do an overnight or break the trip up with a stop at Half Moon Bay on Little San Salvador which is what we did.  This bay is one of the cruise ships ‘private islands’ and is probably the most beautiful one we have seen.  Here the deep water is less than a ½ mile from the beach and the water in the bay is spectacular.

Note the difference in the color of the water from the previous pictures.  Also note the 'pirate' ship in the 'playground'!

There was not a ship in when we arrived on Sunday, so we missed watching all the ‘activities’, but one arrived early the next morning as we were leaving.
 

 

Nieuw Amsterdam

 

 

 

  

We arrived at New Bight on Cat Island on Monday and faced an approaching front.  Cat Island offers little protection from southwest and west winds.  We had known about the front and planned to hide behind the sandbar at Bonefish Point as we had done on other visits, but the front was stronger than anticipated and ‘clocked' slower, so we had quite a ‘bumpy’ 24 hours Tuesday and Tuesday night. 

 

Cat Island is one of our favorite places and it looks like the weather will cooperate for our planned  1-2 week stay.

 

Tom

Anchored New Bight, Cat Island

Joyce's Birthday Lunch - Sky Beach Club, Eleuthera

March 20, 2014

To celebrate Joyce's birthday, today we went to lunch at the Sky Beach Club (http://www.skybeachclub.com/), a resort north of Rock Sound, Eleuthera. 

The view overlooking the Atlantic beach and the infinity pool were fantastic.  The meal was good, but expensive - but she is worth it!

While we love the cruising life, we know many people think it is like one long visit to a resort like Sky Beach.  The truth, however, is that it is typically more like yesterday, when we lugged almost 4 weeks of laundry to the laundromat, did our first major shopping in almost 4 weeks, got a propane tank filled - all back and forth between the boat and shore via our 10' dinghy.  Not complaining -  just sayin' it ain't like life at a resort or on a cruse ship.

Tom
Anchored Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Rock Sound, Eleuthera

March 20, 2014

 

We have spent almost 3 weeks anchored in Rock Sound, a bit longer than planned.  Rock Sound is a pleasant place with reasonably good protection from weather, decent facilities, and friendly people. 

 

Queen's Highway - Downtown Rock Sound

 

One of the reasons for staying longer was a problem with our autopilot –the device that steers the boat on a steady course so you don’t have to hand-steer all the time.  One morning after we arrived in Eleuthera, our 1 1/2  year old autopilot decided to spontaneously and ‘permanently’  go into a  ‘Demo Slide Show’ mode; this is a mode that a dealer or boat show might use to ‘demonstrate’ the unit.   A call to the manufacturer was less than helpful. Their only solution was to send the unit back for bench-testing where they would repair or replace the unit, a process that would be extremely difficult from the Bahamas.

 

We were then faced with either hand-steering  for the remainder of the trip(ugh!), or ordering a new unit (not an inexpensive nor easy solution).  We had the parts shipped DHL overnight, which is fairly reliable into Rock Sound.  The shipment, however, got held up in Customs in Nassau.  We had hired a Customs Broker and it turned out to be a good move, because he was finally able to convince them to forward the parts to Rock Sound for clearance.  Also, we ended up paying only a 1% stamp tax (instead of the stated 30% duty) due to our ‘Cruising Permit’ and the work of the broker.

 

Replacing the control unit in the cockpit was  easy, but replacing the processor and the cable connecting the two was a multiple day job involving many hours in the cramped lazerette  (locker)  where the processor is mounted.  But in the end the project was a success and our autopilot is working again!

 

We renewed some friendships from our visit here last year, especially the Culmer family that run Sammy’s Place restaurant, the locals go-to for food.   We had got to know the family last year, particularly Jan, the eldest daughter, who last year was here from Nassau recuperating from surgery and waiting for completion of the renovation of the hotel where she worked. We had expected that Jan would be back in Nassau by now, so it was a very pleasant surprise when she was behind the counter when we first entered. 

 

 

 

Sammy's Place

 

There are two sections in the restaurant:  a section with some booths and tables (where most visitors or locals desiring a quiet meal sit) and a section with a counter and some tables where most of the ‘action’ occurs (which of course is where we usually sit).  We had some some great time with Jan, her sisters (Margie and Lisa) and her mother, Kathleen.  Kathleen, at 70 years young, is at the kitchen at the restaurant each day at 4 AM, and then many afternoons goes to tend her 'farm' where she grows a variety of vegetables.  She is amazing!

We also had some good conversations with several locals. One in particular was notable.  It started when a gentleman (Chris) commented on the t-shirt I was wearing from Barraterre, a small settlement on the northern end of Exuma; he said” I didn’t know cruisers went there”.  In fact we had not taken our boat there due to the shallow water, but we did stop there on a car trip around the island.  It turned out that his wife (Monique) was from Cat Island (our next destination) and they were accompanied by a gentleman named Eris Moncur.  They said he was ‘Mr. Cat Island’.   Our discussion and later research revealed that he was an educator and Cat Island historian.  They were delightful to talk to. 

 

Another Sammy’s incident was very fun. There was an international track & field event on the television and Chris Brown, an Eleuthera native, was running in the 400 meter race.  The kitchen emptied out and the entire staff and we watched the race.  Everyone was cheering loudly for Chris (our apologies to the two US runners) and it was pandemonium when he took 2^nd place and won a silver medal. 

 

We attended the Methodist Church here twice in our visit.  It was a nice little church.  There full-time pastor was off-island, but  two lay ministers that preached the Sundays we were there.  The second Sunday service was led by the youth, and it was good to see the number of students involved.

 

Rock Sound Methodist Church

A few assorted pictures from Rock Sound:

 

Government Building

 

 

'Mission'
 Community Center endowed by the Johnson family, winter Eleuthera residents. Their company, S.C Johnson, makes household products like Pledge and many others. 

 

 

Ocean Hole - like a Blue Hole, but in the middle of Rock Sound

 

 

In the 'Interesting Sign/Business Combination Category'
Check out their logo - it says it all!

 

 

Next we hope to transit  to Cat Island (via Little San Salvador).

 

 

Tom

Anchored Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Out Islands

March 8, 2014

Last Saturday (3/1) we departed Royal Island near northern Eleuthera and transited south.  Rock Sound was too far for a day trip, so we stopped and anchored near Pineapple Cays and the settlements of North and South Palmetto Point. 

Going ashore and walking through both settlements we knew we were not in the Abacos anymore.  The people in the Abacos are predominately of European Loyalist heritage; there are a lot of cruisers, and cruiser diversions. Destinations are close together and there are many places that provide good protection.  Abaco cruisers seem to 'park' a lot, with occasional trips to nearby places in fair weather.

The people in the Out Islands, however, are predominately of African Slave heritage; there are fewer cruisers and related 'support'.  

On Tuesday (3/4) we moved on to Rock Sound where we intend to spend some time.   There are probably about 20 boats here, but Rock Sound, while providing some great services, is not focused on the cruising community.  There are no beach bars, happy hours, beer bottle bingo, trivia contests, etc. - it the largest settlement on Eleuthera and the commercial center for the people who live here.

The cruisers seem different.  There is little 'buddy boat' chatter on the VHF radio.  There are two boats hailing from France that crossed the Atlantic on their own bottoms a few years ago and a boat from South Africa. A significant cold front came through yesterday and virtually everyone just moved over to the west side of the Sound for better protection;  only one boat that we know of sought refuge in a marina.

Our hangout here is Sammy's place, where we have already had several great conversations with locals - but more on Sammy's later.

The Abacos are interesting, but it is great to be back in the Out Islands - our favorites!

Tom
Anchored Rock Sound, Eleuthera

This Year's Crusing Strategy

March 5, 2014

 

We are currently in Rock Sound, Eleuthera after traveling south from Abaco about a week ago.

 

But the theme of this blog is our ‘cruising strategy’ this year. 

 

This is our third season in the Bahamas and the first season where we are returning to areas we have visited  previously.  The first time through an area, as much as you try to prepare by reading cruising guides and  talking to other cruisers, you really don’t know what you will like the most, so you tend to stop almost ‘everywhere’.   Even though we tend to stay longer in places we discover we like, it still is somewhat of a ‘shotgun’ approach your first time through. .  Then you discover the places you really like the most.

 

Our basic strategy this year is to have quality, longer stays in the places we have previously enjoyed. We find that it really takes some time and effort to get to really know a place and the people there, but the payoff is great and returning is even better as you renew Bahamian friendships! 

 

So far we have had wonderful ‘extended stays’ in Bimini, Green Turtle Cay (New Plymouth), Marsh Harbour, and now Rock Sound.  In the next few months we hope to have quality time at Cat Island (New Bight), Exuma, and Black Point.

 

We always say that the best thing about cruising is the people you meet, particularly the locals. 

 

 

Tom

Anchored Rock Sound, Eleuthera