Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera, Bahamas

Just drinking my coffee, I heard a low rumble and saw that another large boat was coming thru the anchorage at Spanish Wells.  I think this one is carrying propane.  Amazingly busy for such a small town!

 We were off thru Current Cut before 9AM - the tide was a bit against us so we slowed down to about 4.5 knots in the middle of the cut.  No big deal but it's more fun for the tide to be pushing us along at breakneck speed. What If in the background going thru the cut. 

On the other side of the cut is a lovely anchorage for small fishing boats.

 

 

Our destination for the day - Hatchet Bay.  It's a lovely protected bay with a narrow opening thru the rocks.

 

 

Plenty of room for us to scoot thru but I wouldn't want to go in if the winds/waves were high.

 

Went ashore for a bit of exercise....we had read about nearby caves.  The guidebooks say it's about 2 miles north of town.  Easy walk...but a rather busy little highway.

 

 Several lazy dogs on the way.

 

 

Pretty nice - no barking or fussing by these old hounds.

 

Saw a papaya tree on the side of the road - stopped and grabbed the ripest one.  (This was in the middle of nowhere and didn't appear to be anyone's personal tree).

 

Sights along the way - these silos were once used for storing cow feed. 

 

Another fruit tree along the road.  I didn't pick one of these....I believe it's either a sugar apple or some sort of soursop.  I've had soursop gelato.  Interesting odd but refreshing flavor.

 

Our destination - the cave....

 

I want to pause at this point and show you how far it REALLY is to the cave.  2 miles my eye!!!  They lie!!  3.55 miles!!  So over 7 miles round trip - my feet hurt!

 Back to the adventure....the cave wasn't exactly marked - you had to wander out thru the vegetation to get to the opening.

 

While the cave was pretty neat, for some reason it was incredibly warm inside.  Usually caves have a welcome coolness.   We didn't stay long - the surfaces were moist and extremely slippery.  I had hiking boots on and felt very unsafe.  Cathy had a bit of a tumble and we all decided we'd seen enough.

 

Ed and Cathy on the way out of the cave.

 

Another view of some of the silos.  I would NOT recommend this walk down the highway.  There is only this one highway, like on many Bahamian islands.  Since it's a straight road, people speed by and appear to have little regard for us pedestrians. 

 

A cool banyan tree - always love to see the intricate root system.

 

Back to the boat with weary feet!!

 And another lovely sunset!