Sail Ariel: Visiting Eleuthera

We returned to Warderick Wells, moving about 28 miles south of Normans Cay after saying farewell to Warren and Karen. With the forecast wind direction we wanted to improve our wind angle for the crossing to Eleuthera. The move paid off big time. We turned the engine off as soon as we cleared the cut and had a wonderful sail all the way over until we were on the bank at Eleuthera. Every place we visit is unique. Eleuthera gets far fewer visiting cruisers and therefore it is not really part of their economy as is with many of the islands. We made three overnight stops on Eleuthera. Our plan was to stop at Spanish Wells which is just north of Eleuthera, but with a forecast for approaching high winds we did not want to get pinned down. Near Spanish Wells is Royal Island with a great anchorage, but the island is private. There really are not good anchorages in the crowded harbor at Spanish Wells. Not wanting to spend a week on the boat waiting on weather at Royal Island, we pushed on, and at that we were cutting it close. The winds were forecast to build in the afternoon and to be almost directly on our nose. We left early and pushed hard and the winds came in exactly as predicted, but we arrived at Little Harbour at our planned time which was near high tide. The passage into Little Harbour can be challenging and for us the waves were breaking about one half way across the cut but we did not have any difficulty. We wanted high tide so we could enter the protected harbour just inside the cut. We saw a low reading of 5'7" which isn't too bad for us. We will have to leave on a high tide as well. It is great to come back to familiar territory. Pete's Pub is at Little Harbour and one of our favorites. This is a great place to wait for fairer winds.