Dumore Town has narrow streets with cottages dating back to the 18th century.
Walking the pink coral sand beach is a must do in Harbour Island.
Our anchorage off of Dumore Town in Harbour Island, Eleuthera.
A storage area built right into the hill.
Dunmore Town waterfront is quite quaint.
School volleyball is played outdoors....of course in this climate!
Harbour Island is an island of contrasts....one of the most beautiful coral sand beaches on the east ocean side and sewers and garbage on some of the west side ....quaint village homes dating back as far as 1797 in the village and grandiose beach houses worth millions on the coast....hotels with rooms costing thousands per night to Bahamian homes missing second stories and windows....marinas with mega yachts (100 feet plus) to small wooden local fishing boats....playground of the rich and the famous but home to many locals eaking out a living fishing and working in tourism. I always find it hard to see the division of wealth between the haves and the have nots. That being said the locals would not likely be fairing as well if it were not for the tourist dollar.
Harbour Island is called Briland (so-called because the locals have trouble pronouncing the letters "H" and "R".) Dunmore Town has a population of about 1,500 and harks back 300 years. The town was laid out in 1791 by Lord Dunmore who was governor of The Bahamas at the time. Much of the village seems to be in a time warp and the cottages are being preserved which is wonderful to see. We enjoyed strolling around the streets looking at the architecture.
The first evening Luke and Bobbie on Latitudes hosted the "We conquered the Devil's Backbone" party. They were the only boat that could host ten of us in their cockpit for cocktails...a 42 foot Hunter.
We decided as group that we would get together the next night at Ma Ruby's Restaurant, the restaurant that our pilot Bandit had recommended. Rob and I shared a seafood platter that was very good and everyone had a good time. We had gone a little early so that I could do a blog update as seen in the picture. The Acer netbook is so much smaller and lighter to carry to shore if there is Wifi available. 
While at Harbour Island we did a lot of walking and exploring and did manage to get a brief snorkel in off the beach. The coral was sand covered with few fish but it was nice to get cooled down nonetheless. We have finally had some warm temperatures. We had to go and see the Pink Sands, said to be one of the most unpretentiously chic resort hotels in the world. It was beautifully landscaped and the 21 guest cottages are secluded among 16 acres of land spilling down to the beach. One can see why it would appeal to some of the more shutterbug-shy celebs and despite our visit we were unable to see either Christie Brinkley or Richard Gere??
The next day after doing laundry, sending a few more pictures from the local cafe and a little shopping we motored down to the southernmost part of the harbour.c
We were expecting winds from the south and wanted to get protection plus this anchorage is the jumping off spot for our sail north to the Abacos. The 2 mile wide span of water between mainland Eleuthera and Harbour Island makes a great harbour and by moving around you can get protection from wind in all directions. There is a tricky narrow spot that one needs to transit before going to the cut to the Atlantic Ocean so since it was high tide we decided to run it and see for ourselves what the depths were. We had 8 feet under the keel most of the way so we were confident that we could leave safely Sunday morning just after high tide.
For the next couple of days we enjoyed sailing Goldberry while waiting for our weather window to sail the 60 miles north to Abaco.
We had cocktails with Michel and Carole on Emotion 3 along with Peter and Lynn on our first night. Michel and Carole were a lovely fun loving couple from Montreal who are doing the great circle loop in their 36 foot Carver power boat. They have taken a year's sabbatical and will return to work in August. They had quite the stories from their journey down the Mississipi. We had a tour of Emotion 3 and it is like living in a cottage after living on a sailboat. We took Michel and Carole for dinghy rides the next day and for Carole it was the first time she had ever been sailing. They are staying for a few more days so we said our goodbyes for now at happy hour on First Edition and then it was back to Celebrian to make sure everything was ship shape for our ocean passage the next day.
Sail Fast....Live Slow
Yesterday we left Harbour Island at 7am and put the anchor down at Black Point Cay on the Sea of Abaco at 6:30pm. It had been a blistering sail for most of the day averaging 7 knots until the last couple of hours where we slowed down to 6 and high 5s; however the 8 foot swell and 4-6 foot wind chop were brutal. We were borderline sea sick with both Lynn and I taking Stugeron.
Peter wasn't able to eat anything all day but Rob and I were living on trail mix, fruit and lots of fluids. We generally would have anchored at Lynyard Cay, the first landfall but we pushed on in order to find a more protected anchorage for the night. We are here for today Monday March 29th and expect to sail the ten or so miles to Marsh Harbour tomorrow. We need to pick up some things for Celebrian in Marsh Harbour as well as get her mended summer cover in Man O War. It will be my last chance for good lettuce as well. From Marsh Harbour we will head north around The Whale and back to the Green Turtle Cay area. The Whale is our last hump so to speak as we need to have fair winds to transit this area as it is open to the Atlantic and is notorious for its high seas. We certainly lived up to the captain's t-shirt of sail fast yesterday and today we are living slow.
No comments:
Post a Comment