While Jim picked up money and groceries on Thursday, I trundled my little cart filled with sheets and towels up the road to Willa May’s laundry in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. No water problems this time so within 2 hours I had everything clean. Once again, we had a good time chatting as I waited. It is easy to guess that Willa May is a former teacher - her establishment is orderly and spotless. The little grocery section is well stocked with the staples that people need to pick up regularly (milk, rice, beans, oils, canned meats, soups, cleaning supplies), on the shelf behind the cash desk is a stack of scribblers and jars of pencils all ready for action, and jars of penny candy line the counter.

Bob and Martha (D.H.Crow) joined us for happy hour on Thursday evening, and we had a great time getting to know some new friends. We had seen the boat a few times and were pleased to meet these Canadians who are making their first visit here.

At 0615 on Friday, we were on our way out of Rock Sound, headed for either Little San Salvador or Cat Island. It was one of those days of Plan A, Plan B, back to Plan A. We weren’t sure that the wind would allow us to go to Little San Salvador so we left early enough to get to Cat Island in one day. We sailed down along the “whale’s tail” that forms the southern part of Eleuthera with the main and the Yankee in winds of 15 - 17 knots and decided that perhaps we’d be better served by switching to the smaller stay sail before we cleared the land mass and took the wind and swells full on. Good idea! With winds consistently 18-20 and gusts to 22 and 6 ft seas, we still had a terrific sail but safer with a more reasonable amount of sail area.

As we got closer to Little San Salvador, we decided that we didn’t really want to go another 40 miles to Cat Island with the seas the way they were, so we started tacking our way over closer and pulled into the beautiful Halfmoon Bay just as the Holland America “Eurodam” pulled out. We had explored the beach and facilities on our last trip (boaters are allowed on shore after the cruise ships leave) and we weren’t staying over so we just left the dinghy up and had a quiet evening aboard.

Unfortunately the quiet didn’t last through the night. An ocean swell moved in and we rocked and rolled all night. We have an irritating creeeeaaaakkkk in the wall between the head and the main cabin by the mast just opposite the nav station. We never hear it except when we are really rolling. And oh boy, did we hear it that night! We rolled back and forth in our berth and listened to every single noise our boat can make. Not much sleep!

We cleared out of there at 6:15 to continue on to Cat Island. It was a gorgeous morning - the moon was still casting a silvery path across the water in the west as the east began to glow all gold and rosy. Two minutes later, the sun was up, the moon was just a shadow and the day was started. We have discovered that we like that “just before dawn” departure time. We get the anchor up, the main sail up and then as I take us on our way, Jim goes down below to listen to Chris Parker’s 6:30 broadcast on the SSB. By the time the Cruiser’s net comes on at 8:30 we already have a couple of hours under our keel.

It was another great sailing day. We’ve used very little diesel this year and have been able to sail almost all our passages from one cay to another. We pulled into New Bight, Cat Island just after 2 pm and anchored near Blue Pearl; by evening, there were 6 boats here. After a short visit with Blue Pearl, we hiked up to the top of Mount Como - the highest peak in the Bahamas - all of 206 feet! It is the site of Father Jerome’s Hermitage, and the view from there is stunning. It is a quaint collection of stone turrets and arches and little corners and passages to wander through. But the best part for me is the opportunity to look down over this beautiful land and sea where courageous and determined people who landed here under all sorts of difficult circumstances earn their livings and raise their families. These rocks and waves sure have tales to tell. The messages of mourning and weeping along the stairs don’t really do anything for me, so I rejoiced about love and joy and faith and hope as we climbed. Thankfully, there was no one there who might be offended by the overlaying of my own theology on that of Father Jerome.

In the evening, we joined Glenn and Pam (Blue Pearl) ashore as we looked for food and music. We ended up at one of the colourful little stands along the beach. A backgammon game was in progress at one of the tables out front, and the women cheerfully heated up some chicken and pork chops along with mac’n’cheese and peas’n’rice. It wasn’t quite the fresh fish we had hoped to find, but the ambiance was good - especially when the two servers picked up saw, screwdriver, goatskin drum and began to accompany a gentleman on the accordion. They played some traditional rake’n’scrape and even a couple little waltzes. The most amusing thing was listening to “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” rake’n’scrape style!!

Thanks to Ed and Karin (Passages) we had a remarkable day on Sunday. They had told me about a trail that goes across to the ocean side, so we filled our packs with lunch and water, put on our sturdy walking sandals and set off. It is about a 10 minute walk south from the beach and then 50 minutes at a good pace across the island. Once there, we found a gorgeous beach, and more of them around the headlands in each direction. While there were old footprints and one set of recent ones, we were the only folks there all day until the owner of those prints showed up late in the day on his way back from a bottle gathering walk. We picked up lovely pieces of sea glass, a pretty cowrie shell, half a dozen sea hearts and a hamburger bean. We played in the waves, we sat and watched the water, we took pictures of the wrecked vessel on the reef. And then at the end of the day, we hiked back home again - feeling well exercised and filled to the brim with fresh air and sunshine. This was one of those days when we pinch ourselves and say, “Are we really living this life??”