The coast line of Palmetto Point.

After a three night stay at Warderick it was off to Eleuthera. Easy crossing of the Sound, but no fish to be had. We stayed at Rock Sound for four nights and had a great time. There were 9-11 boats there at any time in an anchorage that rivaled Big Majors in size. We buddied up with two other boats, Aventura and Mon Ami. Dave and Mary on Mon Ami are from Mass. And know our friends from Miami, Seth and Judy. Hank and Tricia on Aventura are currently from Durango, CO, but originally from AL. He worked with one of my cousins in Dallas. One of many small world stories.

In Rock Sound there are three hardware stores and three gas stations to go with two grocery stores. The grocery at their "Mall of America" was the nicest and best stocked since Nassau. We had a lunch and a breakfast at Sammy's, a light dinner and the Super Bowl Party at Paschals and the best meal of all was lunch at Rosie's Northside Cafe. Eight of us walked across the island to the end of the road, took a left and then walked about a third of a mile to a rock driveway that took you to the top of the hill, overlooking the ocean. Lunch was an all afternoon event and our meals (grouper fingers, jerk chicken, grilled snapper, cracked conch were each prepared from scratch). Everyone wanted Mac and cheese, but she did not have enough, so made a whole new batch for us. The meals included cole slaw, plantains and, of course, peas and rice. The beer was cold and plentiful, which was a good thing because it took almost two hours for her to prepare the meals. You can walk her beautiful beach while she prepares the food or just relax on the porch. We knew this going in so it was not a concern. Total cost of the lunch, including gratuity and drinks was $46 and we did not have to eat again until breakfast the next day. To top if off, she gave each couple a pumpkin squash to take back to the boat. not sure what to do with it, but it looks pretty on counter. The two mile walk back to the dinghy dock was a necessity after that meal. Rosie offered to drive some of us back (two people were on bicycles), but we declined. A noon start from the docks resulted in a 5:30 return.

Super Bowl was a hoot last night with sixteen boaters at Pascals. They had an awesome drink special - all drinks and beer were "two for the price of two". We all got a laugh out of that. They had a special menu of the usual island offerings, conch fritters, conch burgers, pizza, burgers, fries, etc and all reasonably priced.

Today we finally left that piece of paradise and headed to South Palmetto Point. Beautiful anchorage 24 mile north of RS, but best in settled weather. They report a lot of grass, but we found plenty of sand in 10-12 ft of water. We have not left the boat to explore yet, but Mary thinks she is the South Pacific with the palm trees and rocky shoreline. There are no other boats here with us and plenty of room.

The water in Eleuthera is not as pretty as Exumas, but still beautiful. There is a lot more opportunity to spend money on food, meals and shops than the Exumas and the people are super nice. Boaters actually hitchhike between settlements. We will be here at least two nights and then to Governors Harbor, Alabaster Bay, Hatchet Bay and who knows where else.

Today (Tuesday) we took a dinghy ride along the beach/rocky coast. The marina is a poor sight with a sunken sailboat and nothing but a few docks in need of repair. The entrance to the marina is pretty narrow, and we were in our dinghy. There some beautiful villas overlooking the anchorage and the only view they have is of a lone sailboat at anchor. That's right, we are here by ourselves. We are anchored off the government dock which has collapsed so there was no toeing up there. We pulled the dinghy up on the beach and tied a long anchor rode to a pole that was on the beach.

We started our walk to the Queen's Highway and saw several small shops and convenience stores. Across the highway we started our walk to North Palmetto Pt. Along the way we stopped at Muriel's Bakery. Mrs Cooper is now 81 and "retired". However she still bakes tarts and keeps a few in the freezer. We bought a Cosco sized pie (tart) that was a coconut and pineapple flavor. Mrs Cooper must be a bit lonely as she bent our ear for over an hour about her family. She is also a bit of an entrepreneur as she was trying to sell us here debut gospel CD which contained three accepella songs. Since we declined the purchase, she played the entire CD for us. A very sweet lady. We then completed our two mile hike at the Unique Resort, Bar and Restaurant on the ocean side. We were in need of cold beer by this point. Pauline was our host and served cold Sands beer at a beautiful bar overlooking the ocean. Among the things we found out were: 1, there is a Bahamian American band called Fishheads that is making its first appearance at Unique tonight and 2, that Pauline is the neighbor of a couple from NJ that we met at Sammy's in Rock Sound. The resort is very nice!

Now for the big disappoint. We headed back across the island and were picked up by a local who drove us back to the boat, saving us the two mile trek back. Along the way we asked to be dropped off at the famous Mate and Jenny's Pizza Parlor their renowned conch pizza. Lo and behold, they are closed on Tuesday. We were denied our late lunch/early dinner at Mate and Jenny's. On the other hand, we did find the huge cottonwood tree in North Palmetto Pt.

Tomorrow we are off to Governor's Harbor.

Dave & Mary