Monday March 5, 2018 - Layover in Rock Sound

Today was an adventure day. I had met cruisers Mike and Lisa about a week ago in the Exumas.  They were planning to leave for Rock Sound the same day as me so we left about the same time and crossed over to Eleuthera together.  Since then, we have had brief chats while dinghying back and forth to shore.  Last night, Mike sent me an email saying that they were going to be renting a car today to drive north on Eleuthera - and invited me to go along.  I was a little nervous about moving the boat (from the sound west side back to the east side) this morning and then immediately leaving it. 

We started out at 8:30am.  We drove north, checked out Governors Harbour and continued north until we encountered our first obstacle.  We were unaware of the sea/weather event that had occurred the night before.  The Atlantic storms that had brought all the wind to the northeast US last weekend had stirred up some huge swells that finally reached Eleuthera last night.  Our first obstacle was flooding over the main road (the main road is like a 2 lane highway   that runs the entire length of the island).  We got directions for a detour around the flooded section of road so we continued driving north.  Our destination was the Glass Window with stops on the way back at Hatchet Bay and Sweetings Pond near Hatchet Bay.  Lisa also wanted to do some beach combing at several beaches on the way back.  About 2 miles south of the Glass window, we ran into our final obstacle - another flooding.  But this one was not just standing water, it was more like a small river flowing across the road way.  There were lots of locals milling around and some police insisting that people keep a good distance from the water.  One of the locals had been caught in the current and was missing.   We spent a little more time in the area, talking to some of the locals and learned that this weather event was very unusual and something they had never seen.  Many had driven from 40 to 50 miles just to see the damage. 

On our way back south, we drove down a couple roads on the East (ocean) side of the island.  I could hardly believe conditions along the shore.  The east coast in this area is very rocky with reefs that extend out about a half mile.  The waves coming in were breaking at about 20' further out and coming into the shore with a scary and amazing force.  I'm not sure I've ever seen such an ANGRY sea.  It was low tide so the waves were not coming in as far as earlier.  We walked along a section of road that is right on the shoreline.  We stood in an area where the road had been washed away the previous night.  There were sections of the road the size of a car that had been carried 50 to 100' further up on shore.  Sections of the road that were missing were 200' long by the 50 or 60' width of the road.  I was in awe at what Mother Nature can do in hours what man has spent days or weeks building.  I took several videos but it will be a while before I can process them.

We had a little trouble locating the Sweetings Bay area where Lisa wanted to do some snorkeling.  She had heard there were seahorses in this isolated salt water pond.  We finally found it and she and I both went in the water while Mike stayed ashore with the dogs.  We did see some sea horses and a couple large crabs.  It was a great place for snorkeling.  Then we stopped at a local pineapple farm where the farm manager, Russell, gave us a great tour and explanation of when they harvest, and how they force the pineapples to grow to extend the growing season. 

We made one more stop on the east shore and Lisa did some beach combing while Mike and I had a beer at "The Deck Bar and Grill".

We got back to Rock Sound around 6pm.  What a great day.  Thank You Mike and Lisa!  Note: one of the highlights for me was spending time with the two dogs - mother and son golden retrievers. 

Governor's Harbour drive thru

Flooding event

Pineapple Farm