Pink Sand Beach
When we first started cruising last year we were told that the stressful times come when you’re close to land, but when you’re out in deep water you can relax. We’ve most definitely felt this several times, especially again after being hung up at Rocky Point (what an appropriate name) in Abacos. Being free and out in deep water felt so good, and even though we could have anchored some place since it was the middle of the night, all we wanted to do was keep sailing. Our Angel Creatures were fast asleep down in their berths, and the ocean was wide and deep and safe.
As the morning progressed, I hooked a big beautiful Mahi Mahi, who kept jumping high out of the water and thrashing around as I reeled him in. When he was fairly close to the stern, he finally wiggled loose and sped off into the depths. Later in the morning Danny was reeling in a large Barracuda, and when he was close to Tanda Malaika, a very rude shark swam up and bit his body off right behind the head.
About 48 nautical miles later, we saw Eluthera on our horizon, and sailed over to the east side to work our way into the beautiful bay at Harbor Island. Being in the bay felt like floating inside a large caldera. Elutheran islands surrounded us in a circle, with 3 small gaps leading out to open ocean – one of them called ‘The Devils Backbone! The bay was so picturesque with beautiful turquoise water, white sandy beaches, a small harbor filled with power yachts and quaint homes and businesses lining the shore. We motored over to where 3 other sailboats were anchored, and as we prepared to drop anchor, we were greeted by a beautiful big Lemon Shark.
We took the dinghy in and tied up to a small wooden dock. Seagulls and Terns were perched on the posts and seemed annoyed with us for interrupting them. Golf cart whizzed past followed periodically by a car, and friendly people went about their day. Aidan skateboarded up and down the hills following the rest of us as we made our way to the beach.
The pink sand beach is a beautiful three and a half mile stretch and gets its color from thousands of broken coral pieces and tiny pink and red shells that live in the coral reefs that surround the beach. When you look closely at a handful of sand it looks much like regular white beach sand with strawberry jello powder mixed in with it. With the UV filter on my camera, it picked up the color even more.
The small town on Harbor Island is called Dunmore Town, named after the governor of the Bahamas in 1786. John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, had a summer home on Harbor Island. When we past the town cemetery, we saw graves dating back to the late 1700’s.
Several of the locals greeted us, welcoming us to Bahamas, and people with friendly smiling faces waved as we passed fruit stands and a little shop on the beach. The creatures were impressed that even their signs are polite, using the correct magic word.
We returned to our trusty dinghy, passing a group of gentleman harvesting conch, and made our way back to our home on the sea. What a beautiful day in a beautiful place.
Adventures of a Tribe 