davenportsailing: Easter, Eleuthera

As of today, Friday the 13th we are still enjoying time in Eleuthera. We spent Easter in Rock Sound at a lovely Anglican church on the water. It was a very special church experience for our family. The church service balanced a typical Episcopal Easter mass with a warm, friendly Bahamian get-together. The congregation was very welcoming and they involved our children in the service. The bonus for all of us was that we could look out the window of the church and see our boat at anchor in the beautiful blue water of the Sound. Sam furthered his religious experience with some bonefishing in the afternoon and we finished the day with a big Easter dinner of Cornish game hens, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes and gravy.
The day after Easter the four boys retraced Sam's steps from the previous day and went bonefishing. In the afternoon we rejoined our friends from Osprey and Celilo in a little bay North of Governor's Harbor called Alabaster. After a late arrival and several nights of little sleep (the music in Rock Sound was VERY loud until 3am every night), we turned in early and slept soundly. After school on Tuesday we snorkeled and bonefished a bit before moving down to Governor's Harbor. We visit here most every year with our friends, the Nugents. It was very different arriving by boat. It is a beautiful town with lovely Victorian homes. On Wednesday we rented a car and traveled to some of our favorite spots including Island Farm, Savannah Sound, Half-Sound, and Double Bay. The island seems to be in great shape after Hurricane Irene although the Atlantic reefs close to shore are silted over and largely dead. It was disappointing to have some of our favorite snorkeling and spearing sites ruined. We joined our friends at the Sunset Inn for a light dinner and returned to our boat tired and sandy.
On Thursday we did some errands in Governor's and completed our schoolwork. In the afternoon our friends Kaeo and Bird from Osprey came on board and we travelled up to Alabaster bay together. We were lucky enough to spot a huge (300-500lb) loggerhead turtle on the trip. After anchoring, the crew went snorkeling and spearing on some small off-shore islands and filled the freezer with all sorts of fish. After a dinner including conch salad, fried plantains, fried snapper, fried grouper and fried grunt, we joined our friends on Osprey for Kaeo's Birthday celebration. We are waiting out a few squalls and travelling slowly up the coast in the next few days until we have a weather window that will allow us to move north to the Abacos.