Location: Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas
Position: N23 21.619 W075 08.287
Almost every island in the Bahamas has a connection to the rest of the world via the mail boat. Once a week the boat arrives and it seems like everyone from the island congregates on the government dock. All the stock for the island stores arrives, all mail comes and goes, anything that anyone has ordered arrives, from washing machines to cars to palm trees is unloaded onto the dock. Trucks arrive, everyone mills around loading their goods, chatting, catching up on news. Slowly as the day progresses almost everything is claimed. From what we can see there doesn’t appear to be much security, people just show up, pick up what is theirs, and cart it off. Sometimes for a few days after the boat leaves there are still a few piles of building materials or propane gas tanks but eventually they are all taken away and the dock is quiet for another week.
For cruisers and locals this means, any mail you are waiting for will hopefully have arrived. If not, you have to wait another week unless you pay extra to have it flown in. The shops will have fresh vegetables, fruit, and eggs. Now the trick is to wait long enough that the shelves are stocked, but not so long that the islanders and all the other cruisers have picked through the new arrivals. Sometimes you are lucky and get there while the shelves still contain nice-looking broccoli, tomatoes, avocados and other scrumptious goodies.
There’s just one thing we have not yet figured out. Everywhere we have been in the Bahamas, the mail boat always arrives on a Wednesday – like Santa Claus – it arrives everywhere on the same day!!
We had a lovely 40 mile crossing over the Exuma Sound on Sunday from the Exumas to Eleuthera. The island of Eleuthera is 100 miles long and most of it is barely 2 miles wide. Our first impression was that it is much greener than the other islands we’ve visited in the Bahamas. As we’ve walked around the town of Rock Sound we’ve seen wild cotton plants growing, maybe a remnant of old plantation days. Many varieties of trees abound and lots of very pretty flowers are blooming, this may of course have something to do with it now being spring. Oh – and there’s actual soil here, too! And yards – with grass!
Today, “Terrible Monday”, also held great disappointment for us. We have been sadly, cruelly disillusioned. As we were walking around the town and doing some shopping we learned that the mail boat comes to Rock Sound tomorrow - on Tuesday!!! Oh no! So much for the “Santa Theory”!!!
Disillusioned, yet valiantly carrying on,
Position: N23 21.619 W075 08.287
Almost every island in the Bahamas has a connection to the rest of the world via the mail boat. Once a week the boat arrives and it seems like everyone from the island congregates on the government dock. All the stock for the island stores arrives, all mail comes and goes, anything that anyone has ordered arrives, from washing machines to cars to palm trees is unloaded onto the dock. Trucks arrive, everyone mills around loading their goods, chatting, catching up on news. Slowly as the day progresses almost everything is claimed. From what we can see there doesn’t appear to be much security, people just show up, pick up what is theirs, and cart it off. Sometimes for a few days after the boat leaves there are still a few piles of building materials or propane gas tanks but eventually they are all taken away and the dock is quiet for another week.
For cruisers and locals this means, any mail you are waiting for will hopefully have arrived. If not, you have to wait another week unless you pay extra to have it flown in. The shops will have fresh vegetables, fruit, and eggs. Now the trick is to wait long enough that the shelves are stocked, but not so long that the islanders and all the other cruisers have picked through the new arrivals. Sometimes you are lucky and get there while the shelves still contain nice-looking broccoli, tomatoes, avocados and other scrumptious goodies.
There’s just one thing we have not yet figured out. Everywhere we have been in the Bahamas, the mail boat always arrives on a Wednesday – like Santa Claus – it arrives everywhere on the same day!!
We had a lovely 40 mile crossing over the Exuma Sound on Sunday from the Exumas to Eleuthera. The island of Eleuthera is 100 miles long and most of it is barely 2 miles wide. Our first impression was that it is much greener than the other islands we’ve visited in the Bahamas. As we’ve walked around the town of Rock Sound we’ve seen wild cotton plants growing, maybe a remnant of old plantation days. Many varieties of trees abound and lots of very pretty flowers are blooming, this may of course have something to do with it now being spring. Oh – and there’s actual soil here, too! And yards – with grass!
Today, “Terrible Monday”, also held great disappointment for us. We have been sadly, cruelly disillusioned. As we were walking around the town and doing some shopping we learned that the mail boat comes to Rock Sound tomorrow - on Tuesday!!! Oh no! So much for the “Santa Theory”!!!
Disillusioned, yet valiantly carrying on,
