Some of the stunning scenery we saw in northern Eleuthera going a different route to Current Cut.
Rock Point, Eleuthera is another popular spot for cruisers as it has a great protected harbour, decent grocery and hardware store, propane, diesel, gas and internet. The only thing lacking is laundry facilities but the local general store will make arrangements for your laundry to be sent out; however it takes over a day and someone said that they thought the clothes were being washed in sea water so that is not what we want. For now I keep on doing daily hand laundry and when we are stopped for a day we swish our sheets and towels in a bucket with ammonia. You use warm water and no soap so there is no rinsing. It saves water because it is the rinsing that takes all the water. It sounds crude but it does work and by the time things are dry the ammonia smell has disappeared.
Sometimes we clean up okay despite our 19th century laundry ways!?!?
Rose's beach restaurant in her home was our night out in Rock Point. She does a very good buffet for $17.00 and Rob had seconds. The unfortunate thing was that it was a very cool night on her porch and we were all shivering. Nonetheless it was an enjoyable evening out with Peter and Lynn.
The next day we headed north along the coast of Eleuthera to Alabaster Bay. The bay offers good protection and is quite pretty. Lynn and Peter came for a spaghetti dinner on Celebrian and as always a pleasant evening was had by all.
The next morning we sailed all along the western coast which is miles and miles of rugged imposing bluffs with dark caves and crevasses carved into the weeping limestone. Adventuresome "cliffdwellers" have perched their beautiful homes right at the water's edge 100 feet or more above the water. Some have elaborate stair cases down to the water and others have even carved their stairs into the limestone. It was definitely worth the detour to go further north this year as the scenery was spectacular. 
We anchored near the Glass Window, now a breached bridge at the island's narrowest part. On its ocean side , where the reef is not continuous , waves gnawed at this weak point and broke the island's natural bridge in two. The manmade bridge over this scenic crevasse was knocked seven feet to the west by a rogue wave in 1991 and was impassable for some time. It is now repaired, and land travellers can tour the whole island once again. Imagine the wave it would take to knock down a bridge 85 feet high? We anchored in the bay near the bridge and went with Peter and Lynn in their dinghy for a tour. From the bank side it was like looking through a peephole to the ocean; however it was difficult to get high enough to see the water on the ocean side, but we did see the ocean waves coming over the rocks. The limestone cliffs set against the periwinkle ocean on one side and the aqua bank on the other create a stunning view from all angles.
The next morning we sailed off to Current Cut to time our trip through the cut with an ebbing tide. The current is quite fierce in this cut and Celebrian surfed through at over 8 knots. We had no problems; however First Edition got off the track a little before the cut and ran hard aground. We were ahead of them and did not know what happened until after the fact. The friends that we had met in Rock Point on Endorphins came to their rescue in their dinghy with a 35HP motor. If you are interested in the story click on the link to Lynn and Peter's blog....it is worth reading especially if you are a sailor.
