Dredge at work
Eleuthera is a large, thin island in the Bahamas. It is 110 miles long but only about 2 miles wide. There are approximately 11,000 people that live on the island. Cape Eleuthera and our marina is toward the southern tip.
The wind moved in overnight Friday and we were seeing gusts at the dock over 30 mph. We put a few extra lines on the boat to try to keep us from rocking around too much and it seemed to help. Saturday despite the wind, we got a rental car and drove up the island to The Glass Window Bridge. This is the narrowest part of the island of Eleuthera at just 30 feet across. On the west side is the calm, shallow, turquoise water of the Bight of Eleuthera and on the east side is the churning, dark blue, deep water of the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1885 artist Winslow Homer was on assignment for Century Magazine to chronicle the islands of the Bahamas. He saw the bridge in its original state. It was a grand stone archway and he painted it in watercolor entitling it, "The Glass Bridge". Since then the original stone arch has been washed away by hurricanes and a concrete bridge now spans the area. Arial shots best show this striking difference in the two bodies of water. You can pull up some of these pictures on the internet. We did not have the drone with us and the wind would have been too strong for us to fly it anyway.
The Glass Window Bridge
Tranquil water of the Bight of Eleuthera. This is the view toward the west from the bridge.
30 feet across the road the Atlantic was boiling. This is looking east from the bridge.
These waves were 10 to 15 feet tall.
Waves in the Atlantic Ocean
Here you can see a bit of the road/bridge just in the lower right of the picture with a wave coming over the cliffs by the road. The top of the cliff is 50 feet above the water.
Occasionally the weather gets so fierce, the bridge must be closed down. Cars and unfortunately even people, have been washed away, over the edge by waves in the past.
In addition to visiting the Glass Window Bridge we stopped at several beaches to do some shelling. Let me tell you, this is no small feat. There are very few, if any, signs around here so finding these beaches was quite an adventure. We were able to have some success and I found several tulip shells which I have been wanting for some time. I was also able to get a large conch that was still in good shape with nice color.
My recent treasures displayed by Pengi
We also drove out to Lighthouse Beach one day. This beach is very wide and beautiful. Very few people go to this beach because it is such a commitment to get to it. The dirt road leading out to the beach is narrow and filled with huge ruts, pot holes and wash outs. Keith and I made it to within about 1 mile of the beach before we had to park the car and walk the rest of the way due to the road be unpassable without four wheel drive. We were afraid of getting stuck with the small rental car we had. An SUV might have been a better option for this adventure.
Lighthouse Beach
Our next adventure took us to Cathedral Cave. Many of the Bahamian islands have caves and cave holes. This is because the islands are made of limestone reefs. When rain falls through the atmosphere, it picks up carbon dioxide and forms a weak acid that can leach through the limestone. Over hundreds of thousands of years, this leaching has created the many caves and similar formations throughout the islands.
The first inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Lucayans, believed the caves were a gateway to the afterlife and buried their dead within the caves. Remains of these ancient peoples have been found in several caves in Eleuthera and throughout the Bahamas in general.
Cathedral Cave
Roots from trees grow down through holes in the ceiling of the cave making it appear like spiders legs. This led to some calling the cave "Spider Cave". I think Cathedral sounds much nicer.
On the trail to Cathedral Cave there is a "blue hole". As I have mentioned in a previous post, blue holes are pond or "lake like" bodies of water that are actually filled with salt water. They are very deep and have connection to the ocean via underground water filled caves. The blue hole near Cathedral Cave is called the "Boiling Hole". It got this name as a result of the tide changes. The water can sometimes appear to boil. Ancient inhabitants and even some old timer islanders believe the blue hole is the home of a giant octopus or other ocean creature and they will not venture into the water.
Boiling Hole near Cathedral Cave
For our final adventure before leaving Eleuthera, we took a tour of The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute. The Island School was founded in 1999 by Chris and Pam Maxey. For some 20 years the school has been bringing high school students to Eleuthera to participate in a semester learning program. They teach not just about the marine ecosystems in the Bahamas, but also work on sustainability projects.
The Cape Eleuthera Institute grew from the school. Here researchers and scientists are conducting advanced studies on sustainable marine and land based projects. Students and researchers have a substantial amount of interaction during the semester. In addition to all their studies, students and faculty grow all their own food and generate their energy needs right on campus. It was quite an interesting place. And just to show how small the world really is; our tour guide Lori was from Beaufort, North Carolina and had gone to college at UNC Wilmington.
Some of the wet lab tanks at The Eleuthera Institute
Our next weather window appears to be Wednesday, February 26th when we are planning to head to St George's Cay and the settlement of Spanish Wells.
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