Location:
Hatchett Bay, Eleuthera, Bahamas
Position: N
26 20.995
W 076 29.573
We
first stopped here for a quick overnight stay, not even going ashore,
last year on our way south. After talking with friends who have
stayed here often, we decided to make it more of a destination this
year, rather than just a convenient overnight stop. We're really
glad we did.
Hatchett
Bay Pond is a small, very protected basin on the west coast of
Eleuthera and is touted as being the safest harbor in the Bahamas.
Several years ago the Bahamian government installed a bunch of
moorings and the town makes them available for free.
The
settlement on the south end of Hatchett Bay Pond is named Alice Town.
Our first day ashore happened to be Sunday. Meandering around town
we began to realize that there were a lot of churches for such a
small place. Every one of them had people singing, preaching, and
“amen”ing. Everyone we met smiled and said “hello” or “good
morning” - even the teenagers!
We
also heard about a roadside stand on the main road a couple of miles
south of town that sells fresh vegetables. The next day being
Monday, we decided to go check it out. It was a bit of a walk but
we're glad we made the effort. Marilyn and her husband (who wasn't
there at the time) have a farm where they grow vegetables, herbs, and
fruits. When we arrived we were happy to see a table full of okra,
papayas, grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes, squash and herbs amongst
other things.
We
had a bit of a sit down in the shade and a lovely chat with Marilyn.
When we gave her our boat card she looked at it and said “Blacksburg,
VA. I almost went to Virginia Tech!” Small world eh? She is a
construction project manager and her husband is in construction.
They are trying to make a go of the farm and then she'll be looking
for some project management work. There is quite a lot of home
construction going on in Eleuthera so we wished her well in this
endeavor.
With
a bag full of goodies we hitchhiked back to the boat. Within a
couple of minutes 2 construction guys in a pickup truck stopped to
give us a ride. We clambered into the back and off we went. It
didn't seem nearly as far on the way back, although we did have to
stop for an errant cow in the middle of the road!
They
stopped at a little local bar called “Da Spot” for lunch, and
being on the lookout for local dining opportunities, we decided it
was a good day to treat ourselves to lunch, too. We'd heard this
place had good food and was a good place to mingle with the locals.
They have a fixed price $7 lunch - it was delicious, especially when
accompanied by an ice cold Kalik beer. Mmmm.
We
ended up spending a week here. The people were really friendly and
helpful, the little grocery was really well stocked, and we walked up
and down every road in town and across the island to the beautiful
ocean side beach a couple of times. Julie even came back from the
beach with a pocket full of sea glass! We visited all the little
shops, had a nice wander around the graveyard (which was right on a
beach), and generally enjoyed ourselves meeting and chatting with the
locals. All in all it was a very enjoyable week.
Unfortunately,
our camera battery chose to run out of juice just as we arrived here
and we discovered that the charger was back in Florida in our van.
Oops! Luckily some friends were able to find it and take it to our
mail forwarding service. We got it in our next mail package,
forwarded and delivered to us at the end of February by a visiting
friend. Guess you'll just have to take our word for it...
