February 22nd- Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island Bahamas

Nice, easy, sailing for much of the day. We didn’t need much speed since we were trying to time our passage into Little Harbour for late in the day. The entrance is shallow and the high tide was around 7:00 pm. We were shooting for 5:00 pm which would give us plenty of water under Evergeen’s keel (maybe).

The sea of Abaco was calm but we could see breakers and rages in the various cuts along the way. The Abacos are protected by reefs and the Atlantic breaks on the reefs and islands, leaving the Sea of Abaco relatively flat. We weren’t heading out to sea today so no problem for us. Right? More on that in a minute.

Breaking seas at North Bar inlet.

As we got closer to little Harbour the water got a lot more bouncy due to water surging through Little Harbour Cut. A lot of water. Waves smashing against cliffs. Water rebounding off afore mentioned cliffs. Confused seas due to rebounding waves. You get the picture. On the other hand it was 5:00 and we were ready for sundowners. Our friend on S/V Outward Bound watched us coming in with binoculars. The crew on Island Girl watched us from their dinghy. Both told us that they’d see Evergreen almost look like it was going to shoot out of the water, pound down, then roll heavily side to side. Very violent motion. Back onboard Evergreen, I was basically gunning the engine to keep the boat from broaching. There are a couple of bouys marking the entrance and I had a Lazer focus on keeping Evergreen centered in the deeper water between them. We’re pretty sure we hit bottom on the low end of these surging seas but momentum exploded us into the harbor. We then tied to Outward Bound’s mooring which he made available for us. That’s it, five very exciting minutes during a slow, sunny day. We had our sundowners.

February 23rd and 24th- Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island Bahamas

Little Harbour is such a scenic place. It’s easy to just spend the day lounging around and seeing the sights. Of course Ollie is great at motivating us to get some exercise. We went on some nice walks in the hilly surroundings with the captains of Outward Bound and Ecola. Friday night there was entertainment at Pete’s Pub and finally, FINALLY, we were going out for dinner and drinks at the pub. This was supposed to be the apex of our trip last year, but when we got to Little Harbour I was sick for several days and had nothing. We had dinner with the crews from 4 different boats this year. What a great night! Good food and good conversation. Lynne and I had Wahoo with peas n rice. Many drinks were had and the entertainment was good.

Some scenes from Little Harbour.

Colvin schooner owned and built by the son of the designer.

Pete’s Pub.

Boats come in and leave stickers or tee shirts hanging from the rafters.

Finally some good weather for another crossing.

February 25th- Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island to Meeks Patch, Eleuthera Bahamas

I’ve had Eleuthera on my mind for a while. It’s an oddly shaped island. Much of it is undeveloped. Surfers love it. Lenny Kravitz lives here. That’s about all I know about this place. 

We crossed the deep blue sea from the Abaco island chain to Eleuthera. I believe the charts had us crossing over 16000 ft depths. Hard to imagine. We wondered what is down there. Our crossing went well. We were able to sail for a while but the wind died out and we fired up Evergeen’s diesel. Our first stop was the harbor at Royal Island. This looked like a perfect place to anchor but it seemed like it would be difficult to get Ollie to shore. If we have bad weather we might wind up back in here but the weather is nice so we decided to move on.

Next stop, Meeks Patch. This is a small island near Spanish Wells which is a town we eventually want to check out. It has multiple beaches, and swimming spots. It’s also got some easy coral reefs to snorkel on. I am an absolute amateur at snorkeling so easy is good for me! We anchored Evergreen and I brought Ollie in for his evening commando raid about sunset. Today was a great day and we were happy to be in Eleuthera.

Sunset off of Meeks Patch, Eleuthera.

February 26th- Meeks Patch, Eleuthera Bahamas

Days like today are why we do this. We explored much of the island and went to most of the beaches. We avoided the island’s main attraction, the swimming pig beach. I am unsure how a meeting would go. Ollie has been near goats with no problems but every once in a while the werewolf comes up. Regardless we had a wonderful day and Ollie is a salty, sandy, mess (and tired).

Forgot to take pictures today.