It’s sad to say goodbye to the Bahamas, but this post will finish up our Bahama adventure. These pictures were all taken during the month of March. The next post will highlight our trip up the coast thus far, and introduce our new adventure…The Great Loop!
If you are anchored in Hatchet Bay for any length of time, you are bound to meet Emmitt. Emmitt is the entrepreneur extraordinaire of Hatchet Bay. He has a waterfront bar & grill that seems to be the community gathering spot. He has a dock where he allows cruisers to tie dinghies, he lets people use his cans to dispose of garbage, and rents cars to island visitors. When you meet Emmitt he will most likely be singing, and his favorite song has this line…
“No other island will keep you smiling like Eleuthera”
It’s been three weeks since we left Eleuthera, and I still find myself singing that line…just the way Emmitt sang it…
“ No uda island will keep you smilin’ like E-leu-tra”
As previously mentioned, we hid out in Hatchet Bay for a long time. Luckily, we had great company in the form of our good friends on Seaquel, and our new friends (a wonderful family from Canada) on Oh Henry.
Keith organized ‘The Great Crab Roundup’ to add some fun and excitement to our dreary week. Everyone was happy to participate (I stayed on the boat to start the boiling pot of water and take pictures…I was confident they would prevail). Catching spider crabs is no easy task. Someone must first dive down and spot one hiding under the rock ledge, then surface and make a plan. The actual capture involves one person attempting to scare the crab with a ‘tickle stick’, with the hope of the crab running out from under the rock directly into a net that a second person is holding over the opening. Keep in mind that all of this requires holding your breath underwater 5 or 6 ft down.
The leg does look like a spider, with weird hairs and a very pointy tip. However, the claws look like a mandible on the end, with teeth that fit together perfectly.
This is how a successful crab roundup ends.
Oh Henry’s crew members were happy to help pick crab meat, and we all enjoyed crab dip as the reward for a job well done!
Our most exciting snorkel pictures for the week go to two squid that were as interested in us, as we were in them!
Our most exciting snorkel pictures for the week go to two squid that were as interested in us, as we were in them!
Squid have eight arms and two long tentacles used for catching fish. At first I had no idea what was in front of me. There were two identical alien creatures with flailing arms and tentacles, and I was looking straight down and only saw the crazy arms. Now that I have had time to reflect, I believe I might have interrupted some type of courtship dance…sorry!
Keith’s first attempt at getting pictures resulted in both creatures shooting away like bullets, but he didn’t give up. He did quite a bit of swimming, and followed them around until they calmed down enough for a picture. Once they realized he wasn’t there to eat them, they allowed him to get very close. Now they look like squid.
The Queen’s Bath (also known as Hot Tubs) is located on the east side of Eleuthera. Erosion in the cliffs has left a series of natural pools that fill with water from crashing waves at high tide. As the tide recedes, the water in the pools is heated by the sun, and people enjoy soaking in the warm salty water. Also, the view is spectacular!
Abandoned marinas are so picturesque.
Our niece, Allison, flew into Eleuthera to spend her Spring break with us. She had no trouble climbing on top of the golf cart to reach coconuts…getting them open was a different story. In the end, power tools prevailed and we enjoyed fresh coconut water, and freshly grated coconut meat toasted in homemade granola…yum!!
So many places…so little time!
This is a conch pen in Spanish Wells. I guess someone caught these conch and is keeping them alive for future sale or food, but they don’t look mature so maybe the intention is to allow them to get bigger first🤷🏼♀️
Make sure to have a good grip when shaking rugs and door mats over the side of the boat! I jumped in the Whaler to retrieve my mat while Keith grabbed the camera for this photo op…good eye, this mistake does make an interesting picture.
We visited the pink sand beach on the east side of Harbour Island. It looks the most pink right at the surf.
We discovered some interesting fruit trees. This is sweet sop or sugar apple. We were lucky to find a woman who made sweet sop ice cream from this local fruit…yum!
This fruit is called dilly in the Bahamas, but is known as sapodilla on other islands.
Need salt? No problem…pour a cup of sea water into a pan and leave it on the deck all day. The sun and wind will evaporate the water, and salt crystals will be left behind. This ‘experiment’ has been ongoing for 4 days, adding a cup of seawater each morning. I learned by trial and error that it is important to cover the pan each night or the salt crystals will absorb moisture out of the air, and there will be a half inch of water in the pan in the morning.
Finally, the weather cooperated and we got a chance to snorkel the amazing reefs on the north side of Eleuthera. There we found a plethora of conch.
Our second squid encounter consisted of finding this guy dead on our swim platform one morning. Something must have been chasing him overnight and he was unlucky enough to jump out of the water, and onto our swim platform. Looks like the sea gods have blessed us with bait👍
