Eleuthera or translated, Freedom

  On a number of occasions here in Eleuthera I was pleasantly surprised by the smiles the name of our boat generated. After the second pleasantry I was given a very simple explanation. When the island was settled over 300 years ago the folks that did so were looking for religious freedom and since they found it here, the name was cast. It's a shame they had to ship wreck on the Devil's Backbone in the process. Eleuthera Origins
 Now depending on who you talk to, they will tell you the name Eleuthera has different origins and one of the alternative origins is based on the separation of the Bahamas from the U.K.. At least that is what the folks have told me. So I say run with what works and we'll be grateful it doesn't mean something else to the people! Anyway, here is a photo of Preacher's Cave looking out. It's right off the Devil's Backbone that wrecked them way back when. Fortunately they were able to find some shelter there because the terrain in this area offers little protection from the elements. Something like 70 people shared this cave until they could work out better facilities.
 To get over to the main island of Eleuthera from Harbour Island we took the water taxi. It's nothing fancy and all the locals depend on it to get to work on either side of the harbour. It's a generic 26 footer or so with a couple of outboards and people pile into it at the price of five bucks a head each way. Once on the other side we hooked up with a road warrior style taxi to get to the North Eleuthera Service Center where the ride was waiting for us.
 The ride was an older but still fully functional Lincoln Town car that set us back 80 bucks for the day plus gas. At the end it drank 11 gallons and took a substantial portion of the 100 dollar cash deposit we left behind. But she ran good and carried us over the entire length of Eleuthera on the left side of the road without issue.
 Along the way South we stopped in at the Glass Window, Hatchet Bay, Governors Harbour, and North Palmetto. Having passed through all of these we then visited Rock Sound and its blue hole and continued on to Cape Eleuthera which was one of our intented stops with Freedom along the way to the Exumas.
 The Glass Window is a repaired natural bridge that connects Eleuthera and lets the ocean pass under. Yes, the island is that narrow at this point. It reminds me of the bluff just North of Sea Spray on Elbow Cay. On the way down the tide was in and water was passing through to the West underneath the bridge. While the tide was out on the way North, we could hear the relatively light surf crashing into the walls of the shoreline with authority.
 If I was to chose an island that was more interesting to tour by car, I'd give it to Eleuthera hands down. The island has more terrain as opposed to the flatness found on Abaco, and everything is open in stark comparison to the gated communities found in Outer Islands of the Abacos. Not only that but since the island is narrow, often times the roadway is on the shoreline and the views provided by this proximity are nothing less than spectacular.
 It seems as though no matter where you look there is a panorama including the turquoise waters that transition to royal blue or pale light green. But it's not really about driving to the views over here, it's about walking the beaches, enjoying the water and kicking back to the pace the Bahamas lives by. 
  I've uploaded more photos of these stops and the trip along Eleuthera to the bucket.