February 22-24, 2009 -- Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Watching the weather window carefully, we departed Black Point Settlement and spent a quick night at Highborne Cay, which we’ve blogged about before. This was the perfect jumping-off point for our hop to Eleuthera, one of the Bahamian out-Islands, also known as the “Far Bahamas.” While this area is only 26.3 nautical miles from Highborne, the North Atlantic Ocean chart depths reached over 1730 meters (more than a mile deep!) on our route. The day was a relatively calm one, bookended by the usual windy days. We have learned to take our opportunity to go when we can!

Eleuthera is known as the first Bahamian settlement and the first true democracy in the New World, founded in 1647. It is about 90 miles long, thin with little more than a 2 – 3 mile width, and crescent shaped.

Our first port-o-call here is Rock Sound. Here, where we walked the town, very sleepy on a Sunday afternoon.

Many houses are gaily painted with flowering shrubs.




About one mile east of town is the famous “Ocean Hole.”

This completely landlocked tidal lake is rumored to be bottomless. Fish find their way into it through subterranean tunnels from the sea. The fish were eager to be fed!










We ate lunch at Sammy’s Place with its homey atmosphere and excellent cooking. Conch fritters were a big hit.

At Rock Sound we found the best supermarket since leaving Nassau, and a complete if somewhat dusty hardware store. Also, stopped by Nat Hall’s Produce Stand for fresh tomatoes.