March 18 – 20, 2026 (Wednesday-Friday)
We had gone to Cape Eleuthera to avoid bad weather, only some of which behaved as predicted. The first part of the weather pattern was supposed to be very strong and unpredictable squalls with thunderstorms and strong winds in the squalls from potentially any direction. This was frightening from an anchoring standpoint.
The second part of the bad weather was the strong north winds that were going to finally push the squalls away. These winds would be from a more predictable direction but sustained 20’s gusting in the 30’s.
So we hunkered down and first the thunderstorms were delayed, and then we did not get any, and when the rain did come, there was no severe wind but the strong north winds did come and lasted several days.
The rains were supposed to come on Tuesday night but started more on Wednesday. We got in a game of pickleball in the morning. Laura from S/V Aurora taught us the rules, and Teri and John from Captain Kidd had the balls and racquets. It was a fun activity although David quickly learned to adapt his ping pong spin game to pickleball, such that I didn’t stand a chance.
The rains then started on and off the rest of the day. During one of the lulls,we decided to turn in our slip. Docking is always stressful but it was calm and having our bow facing out would make it easier to leave the dock if we did have some wind.
We backed out easily and there was ample room for turning around in the marina. Backing in was another story. We tried to get our angle right so that our prop walk would correct us to straight. David was able to get our stern in enough for us to pull the rest of the way with lines. Somehow bow out position made us feel better that eventually, we would be able to move. The rain picked up again as we finished our docking.
On Thursday, even though it was still a little rainy, we decided to go to Rock Sound with Laura and Dan. Another boater had rented a car and only needed it for the morning so we could take it for the afternoon. We got provision orders from the other boaters and David drove. We decided to stop at the Cathedral Caves on our way in to town.
It was cool to see the caves again and especially the trees with their roots descending through the roof of the cave in search of water. The bats were active. And of course the spider webs. On a rainy, misty day, I truly expected to see Gollum in there or find someone wrapped in a web. The spider webs were impressive but we did not see any spiders. We had fun exploring.
We stopped at the BlueHole and then, so as not to hit the grocery hungry, we visited the Wild Orchid for lunch. It was pretty and green on a misty afternoon. The food was good and faster than I remember. I had told Laura and Dan that it was a $20 cheeseburger type of place so I felt bad when it was more like $30.
We visited the main store but they did not have some of the things the other boater’s wanted so we hit the Hall’s store too. Last year we had stopped there for lunch on the way back from our beach walk with Jeff and Deb. The take out has lovely baked goods and that is where we got the Guava Duff.
Laura and I went in the grocery while David and Dan were in charge of procuring the sweets. They returned with brownies, cookies and Dan bought a guava duff to try.
Back at the marina, boaters gathered to watch some basketball at the restaurant. Some played cards.
On Thursday night, the winds came and Friday was very windy from the north with strong gusts. The rain and clouds cleared with the winds as expected. Laura invited me to do some poolside yoga followed by a cold swim. David and I attempted some pickleball but it was difficult in the wind.
It was Friday, so we had made it to another pizza night at the marina, a full week. We ordered some extra to have for the passage. Some of the Island School staff were there and Sam, the dive instructor, recognized us and came over to talk and share our pizza. Nice to see him again.
We are thinking of heading out tomorrow although it will still be quite windy. It is supposed to calm tomorrow and be good for travel the next few days.