Rock Sound

We are anchored in the bay by Rock Sound, Eleuthera. After a couple of bouncy days in New Bight on Cat Island we asked what Chris Parker, weather guru, thought of us sailing to Little San Salvador and on to Rock Sound the following day. He said with the 13-14 ft. swells from the NE in the Exuma Sound we would not be smart to anchor in West Bay at Little San Salvador. By the time we digested that info it was 8 a.m. but we decided to pull anchor and see how far we could get up the south coast of Eleuthera. Our bail out would be Davis Harbour Marina even though the cruising guide and chart said the channel depth was too shallow for us to attempt. At that point we would be committed to traveling the remainder of the way through Davis Channel after dark which is not recommended due to shifting sand bars and shallow coral heads. We felt, however, that if we didn't leave then we would be in Cat bobbing around all night for at minimum a few days. So off we went. It was a good sail although a little intimidating. As calculated, we just made it to Davis Harbour about 1 hour prior to sunset and were grateful to hear that we could enter with no problem. 

The following morning we pulled up to the fuel dock and filled our tank to the tune of $6.00 per gallon. We departed and arrived in Rock Sound about noon. This is one of our favorite settlements as it has a great protected bay, the best grocery store south of Marsh Harbor, and Pascal's, a great bar/restaurant, where we enjoy a cold Kalik after running our errands. 

I neglected to tell you about Sandy the Manatee who lives in the waters just off the dinghy dock at Long Island Breeze in Salt Pond, Long Island. He appears to be a young manatee and he comes up to the back deck of the restaurant where the owner has left a hose for him to drink fresh water. He comes up and drinks right out of the hose. Very amazing as I assume most manatees don't get to drink fresh water. 

Anyway, yesterday "we" (my part was to crawl into the rear lazerette where I could physically fit and screw the wire to the tuner box) installed a KISS ground for our SSB as we were not getting very good reception and John cut pieces of pvc pipe to use to hold our antenna off of the back stay. We were pleasantly rewarded with improved reception this a.m.  We are here for at least one more day and then north to anchor off Pigeon Cay or in Hatchet Bay and stage for our trip through Current Cut, which has very strong currents so we must time our passage to slack or ebb tide, and on to Spanish Wells. 

We turned our clocks forward Sat. night a time I always look forward to as it means spring is near and the daylight hours are getting longer.

Best to you all,

Elyse and John