Wednesday, January 8

Rather than move back to Royal Harbor from Spanish Wells,  we started our move further south going through Current Cut and anchoring near a place called the Glass Window.  At this location, Eleuthera is only about 100 feet wide and their use to be an arch which looked out into the Atlantic Ocean from the shallow waters of Eleuthera Bank.  The arch collapsed in a hurricane many years ago but a road spans the chasm and recreates the “Window.”  

Glass Window

The wind will be blowing up to 40 knots for the next 4-5 days so we will hunker down here until the winds relax.  The Glass Window is a phenomenal spot to watch the power of the ocean especially with these strong winds.  Another spot that we  saw for the first time is a place called “Queen’s Baths” located about 1/2 mile south of the Glass Window and right across the road from our anchorage.  We were walking Sasi and she headed up a trail to the road.  On the other side was a small parking area and a sign saying “Queen’s Baths.  We crossed the road and Sasi headed down the other trail to an overlook of the Baths.  We think that these are more spectacular than the Glass Window.  In calm weather I’m sure you can climb down and enjoy some peaceful relaxation in one of the pools.  In this weather the waves are crashing over the pools and I’m sure anyone foolish enough to get into the pools would soon be swept out to the Ocean.

Sausage-Pepperoni Pizza

This section of Eleuthera is pretty far from the nourishing current of the Ocean and Exuma Sound so we find very little marine life which for us means no hunting.  We’re making use of our time doing a few boat chores and walking with Sasi.  We’ve also had a neighbor at this anchorage, Pelican Express, with whom we’ve enjoyed cocktails.  They’ve been living aboard for 24 years and have circumnavigated the globe.  We hope to hear more stories of their adventures in the South Pacific.

Kathi and I both enjoy pizza so normally once a week I make some crusts and Kathi devises the ingredients to go on top.  We love to take this opportunity to also have guests for dinner and will bake 4-6 pizzas.  This week, it’s only us so limited the pizzas to 2, an old standby, Sausage-Pepperoni, and a new pizza, Jalapeño Popper pizza; both were delicious.

Jalapeno Popper Pizza

Tonight we are listening to the 49er-Viking game.  To my wondrous surprise they win!!!  Go niners in the NFC championship game next week.

Timing is everything when it comes to moving from one anchorage to another.  We first thought of moving about 18 miles south to Governor’s Harbor on Saturday.  We decided we wanted to stay where we were at, take one more trip to Queens Bath to enjoy the scenery.  We left the anchorage on Sunday morning.  The sail would be to the SE and the wind was projected to be from the East;  Good conditions.  Unfortunately the wind turned to the SE, increased its briskness and caused the swells to build to 3-5 feet directly on the nose.  We motored into the waves making about 3.5 knots.  After about a half hour of beating into the waves, one of the attachments holding the dinghy onto the davits broke leaving the dinghy swinging precariously as we bounced through each wave.  We bailed out into the nearest cove, dropped anchor and intended to spend the night.  Unfortunately the swells were rounding the point of the cove, hitting Makani on its side causing us to roll sickeningly from side to side.  We decided that this was not a good anchorage to spend the night.  We got the dinghy secured once again to the davits, left our tenuous anchorage and headed to the next cove, about a mile away.  Again, as we motored into the cove, we saw that once again the swells were rounding the point and creating a less than desirable anchorage.  We continued south for the 5 miles to Hatchet Bay which does not seem like a long ways but at 3.5 knots, into the wind and swells, it can seem endless to someone on a boat.  The entrance to Hatchet Bay is about 50 feet wide with sheer rock walls on either side.  Inside the bay, the water was calm as could be.  We found our anchoring spot and enjoyed the peacefulness of a calm boat with no rolling.  If we had left yesterday, as we originally intended, our trip would have been a pleasant sail.  Timing is everything.