Surfers Beach

hatchet bay proprietor

 a bit of his gardens

Surfer beach shack

Surfers beach with rocks at shoreline!

Notice the clothing? no swimming for me yet it's too cold.

another surfer shack with surf bum.

A surf lookout

March 15

Hitchhiking to surfers beach was an odd experience. After two thumbs out and no rides I ws ready to call it quits, with Michael taunting me that I can't handle rejection, so we make a deal that if two more cars pass us by we'll give up. The very next car stops and off we head to an uncertain path from the main road to the beach. Surprisingly we find it no problem and after a short walk down what is left of a washed out road we find a handmade sign pointing the way to "Surfers Beach". The beach is magnificent, out in the middle of nowhere, with some rough shacks constructed by surfers to give a little shade and shelter. The seas are rough, but the color of the ocean and the expanse of sand was well worth the trip. The waves are breaking onto a shore with pointed rocks that look like dog teeth jutting out of the sand. Nothing I'd want to wade out into. And the sand is so soft my feet sank a good 8 inches with every step as I walked along the wet shoreline. The land between the highway and the beach has been carved with  a grid of rough dirt roads with occasional lots for sale signs and some houses going up. Some are as simple as a camping platform with a locked storage area. All have lookout over the tree tops to see the ocean. At one point in the road we can see the ocean on both sides of the island.

I've been surprised how little attempt anyone has to landscape in the Bahamas, yet in Hatchet Bay  I've seen beautiful, naturalized yards. The Front Porch proprietor has a beautiful hillside of native plants, and trees interspersed with  vegetables and herbs. He said all the citrus has been killed off in the out islands with canker disease, and that hundreds of thousands of coconut trees have died of a yellowing disease. 

Where is all this plant die off going to end?

March 18-

We woke up early yesterday and had a glorious sail to Rock Harbor. The sea was almost flat with a wind that filled both sails and kept us at a 5-6+mph pace, which is as fast as Michael likes the boat go. We are getting changing and conflicting weather reports that a strong day or two of 30 mph winds are coming, we do not want to be undersail for that,  what day it will happen seems to be a moving target. Our next trip is a longer sail to Exhumas so we want to know more before we plan to head out. There are about 20 boats at anchor here, everyone in the same situation, and this anchorage is protected from those strong winds, so it is a good place to wait out a blow. In the meantime this is another community to explore, and a chance to visit with some friends we had made in Nassau, that are here as well. We here there is a local fish fry tonight on the beach........