We had a great trip from the Exumas to Eleuthera, sailing about 75% of it before the wind died as forecasted for the last few hours. Eleuthera is always a favorite island for us, and once again it didn’t disappoint. Some day we’ll get to explore all of the nooks and crannies, but we made the most of the time we had.

When we arrived in Rock Sound we discovered that Homecoming week would begin in a few days. Given that the weather forecast wasn’t that great, we decided to settle in and enjoy the local festivities.

We skipped last year, so it had been two years since we had been in the Bahamas. In the interim, someone (or some people) had painted these lovely murals throughout Rock Sound:

Homecoming is a very large celebration with many people coming “home” for the long weekend to visit friends and family. Several ferries from Nassau to Rock Sound were scheduled, and they were all sold out (although one group ferry ran aground in the low tide heading to the Government Dock, so the passengers had to wait for the tide to rise before they could disembark and start celebrating.) By the time Homecoming began, there were more cars and people in town than we had ever seen.

The activities included various competitions, including a junior sailing regatta on Optis with a great turnout:

There were also local bands and musicians each night, a fashion show, numerous food stalls, and the highlight for us – a Junkanoo! (Longtime readers may remember that I LOVE Junkanoo). True to form, the Junkanoo didn’t begin until around 11:00 p.m., but the time flew by as we hung out with cruisers (including some we had met in the Exumas) while we ate and drank. The local package store was doing a bang-up business!

With Homecoming wrapped up, we took a nice sail over to Alabaster Bay (one of our favorite spots) where we hoped to spend several days before poking our way up Eleuthera for a week or so. Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans, so we ended up scooting over to Spanish Wells after only two nights.

It was a hot, windless motor to Spanish Wells, but it ended up being a great stop as always. We found a great private dock with space for rent where we tucked in and enjoyed easy access to town for almost a week. We wandered the beach, stocked up on provisions at the grocery store, met up with cruisers at Buddha’s, and finally tried ice cream at Papa Scoops. We can definitely see ourselves booking a month at the dock one winter and just settling into town.

Eventually a short weather window opened up to sail back to the Abacos, so we bid Eleuthera a wistful farewell until next time.