CODA : Moving on to Eleuthera, Bahamas.
1 March 2025
Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina, Eleuthera, Bahamas
This classic wooden yacht was anchored at Shroud Cay near us this morning.
Marc- We said farewell to the Exuma Land and Sea Park this morning. Our intention was to head north to Hoffman Cut to cross over to the ocean on our way to Powell Point, Eleuthera. Two large sailboats left just before us and one was a 75 foot Oyster sailboat and they were taking Wax Cay Cut. I decided to follow them out since both were deeper draft vessels so if they got stuck we could just turn around. The charts were good but a surprise was in store for us. Coda proceeded at about 6 knots out this rather long Cut (passage between two islands leading from the shallow banks to the ocean). Our speed soon increased to 8.9 knots as the ebbing tidal current rushed out. The light east winds did not alert me to any problems. After we passed through the first exposed reefs the breaking waves began. I saw the Oyster crashing through the white water. We followed through some 6 foot breaking waves. The unusual part was that this continued for 1/4 mile before calming down to just some long ocean swells from the southeast. With our sails up Coda did fine and by the time that we reached the mid way point the ocean was flat calm.
Our plan for the day was to stay at the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina. Eleuthera is a 90 mile long set of connected islands (by bridge and ferry). Eleuthera is 35 miles northeast of the northern Exumas.
I was not aware of anchorages so we made reservations. We later saw boats anchored off the resort ocean beach (very exposed).
Land Ho. We saw the clouds hanging out over an area ahead before seeing the land beneath.
Crossing from the Exumas to Eleuthera the depths go down to over 15,000 feet
(these are metric depths indicated on the chart). I thought that I was seeing things when my face appeared on the screen as well.
The entrance and basin are a major man made enlargement of a creek mouth on Powell Point.
Easy entrance with 12 foot depths and deep berths for visiting boats.
There are over 200 slips in this basin with many cottages, condos and private homes.
View from the Clubhouse restaurant and bar.
Looks comfy.
Beautiful ocean beach. The cottages are just behind the sea grapes.
One area of the resort is Powell Pointe (Andy Powell is this somehow related to you?).
Nice tree house style cottage for sale on Powell Pointe.
Next door to the marina is a large Ocean Life research Center and School. The Island School is impressive. See https://islandschool.org/#:~:text=The%20Island%20School%20offers%20a,learn%20about%20the%20natural%20world.
Some of the high school students were at the Marina Gift Shop getting ice cream and other snacks when we stopped by. The rear of the store houses the laundry, bathrooms and showers. We took advantage to do three loads of laundry and take real showers (hot water, plenty of it, a first for us in the Bahamas).
Sue: It is beautiful here, but reminiscent of the fancy resort end of Bimini, which is completely different from how the locals live. The marina is half full, and I did not see anyone at all in the new cottages (we failed to get a photo of them). There were people in the Powell Point homes. The cottages and homes are super nice and built out of cement block. There was hardly anyone at the restaurant. I guess it is early for people to be getting to Eleuthera?
No comments:
Post a Comment