Eleuthera, the northernmost island in the Far Bahamas, February 6-9, 2018
The wind was in our favor, so we decided to head north from the Exumas to Eleuthera—looking for pink sand beaches, blue holes, caves and shells. The north side of the island is Spanish Wells, the east side of the island is full of reefs and pink sand beaches, the south side of the island is all wrecks and dive spots, and the west side of the 2 mile wide island is full of harbors.
We stayed in Rock Sound Harbor —very protected and close to town. Our first stop was the Blue Hole—which happened to be next door to the primary school. It is said to be immeasurably deep and Jacques Cousteau couldn’t figure out how it connected to the ocean…Pretty cool!
We met Joshua, or Lord Josh, on the beach while walking Willie and looking for shells. He has been a fisherman all his life and advised us to go and visit the Caves up the road, across from the church, and just past another Ocean Hole. We followed his directions and walked through a labyrinth of caves formed by coral heads. It was a great relief from the heat too!
On our walk back to the boat, we stopped at the gift shop to buy some postcards. The owner of the shop (who also happens to be the owner of the sewing shop next door) was super friendly. She told us all about the Island School—a school for American high school students and which also supports a grade 7-9 local school. She also offered us the use of her car anytime she was at the shop—wow! We called the Island School and arranged a tour with Brittany the next day at 10:00.
The rest of the day, we broke out the windsurfer and the girls took their first lesson. They all did great! Here are some pictures of our windsurfing.
The next day, we went to the Island School. CJ, the harbor master, met us to help guide us in. We planned to sail over, anchor out, and dinghy in to look at the school. It turned out to be a great day for a sail, a super friendly and loving staff, and a really neat marine biology/wildlife conservation school. Here are the most notable remembrances of the Island School:
Scuba certification
53 kids per class
Farm with pigs, ducks, chickens, Juju fruit trees, veggie hydroponic garden
Woodshop
Biodiesel made onsite from Princess cruise line cooking oil
Studying and tagging bonefish
Researching black oil—turning plastic into oil
Real science
Awesome outdoor dining hall
Great upkeep
Run and swim
Duck eggs for breakfast
We made plans to reconnect with Brittany to see some sights. She surprised us at the dock with homemade Bahamian macaroni and cheese—a very yummy birthday present! And a great map of the island. I would love to work at a school like this one day…For now, heading back to the Exumas Land and Sea Park.
Wow Julie!!! Sounds like you had a great time there. You would make an excellent teacher for sure!👍
Wow to all of this. Your family’s adventures are so inspiring to me! (Maybe there’s a book to be written here? Hmmm….)