Eluthera

March 12

Gregory Town

The Wind

After looking at the weather forecast, we pulled up anchor the morning after Pattie left and sailed to Eleuthra where we have been sitting in a protected harbor on Royal Island ever since listening to the wind howl. The day of sailing was perfect. Sunny, warm, with two sails up and no motor. We anchored and went to bed that night tucked in a calm little anchorage, only to be awakened by a fierce wind and waves that kept us up for two hours worrying all the pounding would dislodge our anchor. After a few hours it calmed down and the wind shifted enough to have the land around the harbor block the wind.

This little island, Royal Island is not really accessable to explore, it is the home of a failed resort development that is currently a fenced off construction site. Its not even worth a picture. This is a common sight in the Bahamas, beautiful little islands being controlled by resorts. We even heard Rose Island, where we visited with Pattie near Nassau is on Marriott's 10 year plan for development.

Gregory Town stone building cut into cliff

Our life is controlled by the wind. It moves us, threatens us, yanks on anchors, determines the direction we travel,  whether the ocean is calm or rough,and where we decide to drop anchor at night. Which is a serious consideration in our day. It's direction and strength determine how smoothly we sit at anchor and how comfortable sleeping will be. If we guess  wrong, sleep is fitful at best. And the wind is unpredictable, as you heard above. Because of that all sorts of web sites, and independent broadcasts, cater to all of us out sailing in the bahamas and father south. We get up at 6:30 each morning to listen to these detailed forecasts, and I'm beginning to think we put too much stock in the information.

With the wind still howling this morning (at times) we are headed farther south to Gregory Town. It will definitely be a  gusty sail, and long pants are back on, as it has gotten cool again, somewhere in the 60's. For the next few days we will hop south along Eleuthra, hopefully exploring the island and its small towns along the way. I get stir crazy staying on the boat for more than a day or two.

The ocean at Gregory Town

The pig roast officials.....

Pig roast DJs

Making conch salad right on beach!

Gregory Town and the Pig Roast

Arriving in Gregory town,  that on first glance seems to be a small remote settlement beat up by life and hurricanes. Both of which is true, but there is so much more going on. We were lucky to have arrived the day before the annual pig roast, and were invited to attend. The next day we sailed down the coast a few miles  to the beach where the party was held, and it was some party. A whole community pot luck affair, with over 200 people attending, live DJ bahamian music blaring, two pigs roasting, and besides the native bahamians,  a large community of people who come to escape from the world in general, as well as a crowd of surfers who are there for, well..... the surf. Lots of people came up to us, knowing who we were and where we were anchored (we were the only boat in Gregory town, and there is a reason for it which you'll hear about later). We met people from Jacksonville who are building a castle looking house high up on a cliff,  as well as many others who have been  coming there 30 years or more. We had Lenny Kravitts guitar player pointed out to us, as well as other sail boaters who were anchored 5 miles down the island. We met a young man from Wisconsin who was traveling the world as captain in a luxury sailboat, that pulled up beside us, and dinghyed into the party. He was quite a character, with a lot of sailing experience. He started out working on those big schooners that sponsor sailing vacations. He immediately started talking  about Fishhead's  unique rigging with Michael.

We could not have come at a better time to get to know Gregory Town. I loved it. That night we were tucked back into our little cliff lined, wind protected harbor (actually called a bite, like someone took a bite out of the rocks). And something called surge started happening. Gentle rolling rhythmic water moving, that outside the boat seems friendly and benign. Inside the boat its like being on a rocking horse. Ever try sleeping on a rocking horse? I couldn't. I was counting the hours before dawn to get out of there. It turns out that is the norm for Gregory Town, and we had really lucked out the first night.

Anyway right now we are a few miles down the island at Hatchet Bay catching up on our sleep and trying to decide where we want to sit out a big blow that is coming on Thursday night, and will last for almost a week. Right now we are thinking to get to almost the bottom of Eluthera a place called Rock Sound. But for today, I want to check out the internationally famous surfers beach nearby. Its spring break so I bet its packed.