Days 11 & 12

The Sunday evening after we left Spanish Wells, we made it all the way to a lovely anchorage on Eleuthera called Alabaster Bay.  We were the only boat in sight.  At the head of the beach was a cluster of charming buildings identified in the Explorer Charts as a resort.

Apparently that has changed, as the boys, dinghying ashore to investigate were headed off by a beach walker with the news that it is now private.  Well, after eating out for several days in Spanish Wells, our wallets were happy enough to stay home, and eating out of Bette Lee's galley (whether she or I cook) is never a hardship!

On Monday I was determined to get a swim in.  Don and I have been very good about doing yoga every morning, a true pleasure on the foredeck of a catamaran in such gorgeous surroundings

(but also maintained in our air-conditioned Spanish Wells apartment!), but whenever possible, I like to include an aerobic swim.  

Tom does not always choose his anchorages based on my swimming needs!    My preference is to have a destination to swim to, and waters protected from boat traffic to swim through!

Alabaster Bay seemed idyllic, with white sand to swim over and a rocky point to aim for.  Suddenly, however, everyone wanted to go, so instead of swimming over, we dinghied over.  I won't say it was an awesome snorkle spot-- there weren't many fish, but there were big submerged boulders and shady overhands to hunt under. For me, a highlight were schools of bait fish to swim through.  There is nothing more ethereal!  There was also a napping nurse shark  under one of the rocks ... reward for all the diving down to look!

And I got my swim in after all, as Bette and I opted to swim the long haul back to the boat, to the men's amazement!

In the afternoon, we sailed onward to the "bottom" of Eleuthera to Rock Sound, a huge Gulf wrapped up by the southern tail of the island.   Friends have a house here and we made several efforts to connect with Bill, but unfortunately he left for the States the previous weekend.  We've heard nice things about Rock Sound, and a bunch of cruising boats were at anchor there, but we got in late enough that we did not launch the dinghy and left the next morning early.  Because they so often have a schedule to keep (this time another couple to collect all the way back in Georgetown), cruising on Quantum Leap is kind of like being on a cruise ship, a great opportunity to get a sampling of an area you would really like to return to and spend more time.