We have been hunkered down in the protection of Rock Sound at the south end of Eleuthera for the last several days while a series of weather systems blew through one after another.

This is an image from our anchor watch system. It alerts us if we are moving more than the allowed distance from the place we set the anchor. We arrived to light winds out of the south, and have seen winds from the NE to the SW blowing steady in the high 30’s with gusts to a little over 40.

As you might infer from the picture, we have just swung around the fixed point that is our anchor. Thanks to our 105 lb Mantus anchor, it does the job, yet again. We did not see any major issues in the harbor, although the boat nearest use did drag along for a bit in the strongest winds. They never broke free, but ended up several hundred feet downwind of where they started.

A Visit

Before we hid in here, we took a day of calm winds to go out fishing. We didn’t do a lot of catching, but had fun. At one point, we were drifting along surrounded by the collection of fish that any boat attracts here: A school of small yellowtail snapper, and an assortment of small sharks 3 or 4 feet long hoping to make a meal of whatever we might hook. Karen points off across the flat calm water and says, “There is something coming toward us in the water!” Looking over, there is a fast moving wake, headed our way, still several hundred feet away.

My first thought is a dolphin coming over to check us out, but the wave I see is bigger than I would expect. It gets closer, and breaks the surface. It is brown, not gray like a dolphin, and Geez! It is big! It passes right within arm’s reach of the back of the boat. It’s a monster tiger shark. I can’t say for sure how big it was, but Harmonie is 15 feet wide, and this fish was close to that. It didn’t stop, or even slow down, but just kept going. As he disappeared, I looked down, and ALL of the small fish including the small sharks, have disappeared. No fools, they.

Of course this all happened too fast for us to gather our wits and get a photo, so you’ll just have to take our word for it! I’m thinking it might be a while before I go swimming again…

For many years the Bahamas has outlawed the killing of any sharks. The population of these apex predators here is way higher than anywhere else we have been. The local fisherman refer to them as the “tax man” because they frequently take a bite of whatever you are trying to land on the end of your line.

Plans

We are going to be heading in to the Cape Eleuthera Marina tomorrow, where we will leave Harmonie and fly out of the Bahamas to Charleston where we will pick up a Hylas 54 for delivery to… Cape Eleuthera Marina! The round trip should take 6 or 7 days.