Locations

Glass Window Bridge, Eleuthera, Bahamas

Apparently, Spanish Wells is the place to be for Christmas and Boxing Day! But with the excitement of finally getting our battery charger, and having spent 2 weeks in the same place, we opted to pull anchor and sail towards the Glass Window Bridge.

We sailed from Meek’s Patch to Current Settlement on Christmas Eve. Notice I said “sailed”. Yes, without the need to charge batteries, we can now resume our regularly scheduled program of moving this boat from place to place for FREE. I love me some free.

Back to travel. A quick dinghy ride to the beach led to a bit of a snorkel. But we had little Molly with us, and it turns out she isn’t the biggest fan of us snorkelling while she stays on shore. She runs down the beach in line with us  – always watching and trying to keep up. If we were on a wide open beach, I guess this would be ok. But the area we were swimming in required her to bounce around on sharp rocks and over holes. Not ideal for a pup with 4″ legs…

We called the snorkel – temporarily, and carted her back to the boat. Then we hopped in the dinghy, shot back toward the shore, and did a drift snorkel thru Current Cut.

Yes. The same crazy cut we have gone thru twice already in the big boat. The one with the washing machine currents. I should probably insert a disclaimer here along the lines of I Don’t Recommend This For Safety Reasons. Blah, blah, blah. But actually, I don’t recommend it because there was not a lot to see… You are ripping through there so fast, and it just sucks you onto a sand bar. Unless it tosses you across the cut, in which case you and your dinghy would bash into rock. This I definitely do not recommend.

But the drifting we did just before we got sucked into the cut was cool. Loads of fish everywhere. Bits of coral heads here and there. Beautiful. But not nearly as amazing as where we were heading!

Motoring on over to the Glass Window Bridge, Eleuthera, Bahamas

Christmas morning we had a lazy breakfast then pulled anchor and motored to an anchorage just off the beach – and right near the Glass Window Bridge. Yes. Motored. Can’t win ’em all, I suppose.

View of the bridge from the bank side

The Glass Window Bridge was originally nature made, but was eventually knocked down by a rogue wave. Or something along those lines… It was rebuilt and reinforced sometime in the last decade. It is AMAZING. Like actually “amazing” as in the definition of “amazing.” Not just a word I am throwing out there.

We dinghied to the beach, secured the dinghy then walked up to the road – just on the other side of some trees. We stopped a few times on the way. One side of the road is the Atlantic Ocean, all dark blue and a bit unruly. The other side is the crystal clear, calm waters of the Bahamas. The “window” is just below the bridge. The crashing waves of the Atlantic pour over the narrow strip of land and cascade down into the turquoise waters of the Great Bahama Bank.

View of the Atlantic from our hike up the rocks

It was a bit of a hike, especially with Molly, but  so worth it. (Just wear good shoes. Flip flops would not have allowed me to romp and play on the sharp rocks)

One of my favorite pics of the Atlantic crashing into shore. The rocks and waves are massive. The pic doesn’t do it justice.

Viewing the sheer power of the Atlantic as it pounds into the limestone rock of the island was unreal. We could have stood around and watched for hours. But we had a window to see! So on down the road we hiked.

Required sweaty tourist selfie. Including my finger over the lens. Classic. 

We soon arrived at the actual bridge. I felt like a little kid running back and forth looking over one edge and then the other.

The bank side – where the Atlantic crashes through the window

We ended the afternoon reading and relaxing on the beach in the shade of some sort of pines.

Today we got busy early in order to knock out some boat projects before we sail to Nassau tomorrow. I washed a couple of things (yes, laundry most often is done on deck in big orange buckets from Home Depot), scrubbed the cockpit cushions and cleaned the dodger. Mark wet sanded and waxed the starboard side of the decks (right side, if you are looking forward). Then we both polished the dodger.

After so much work, we took a break and set off in search of some sort of cell coverage or wifi. We have our gribs, but I like to get updated wind forecasts daily – particularly since we are heading out tomorrow.

A lovely British gentleman in a black speedo was kind enough to direct us to a restaurant/bar just on the other side of the Glass Window Bridge. (The Glass Window Restaurant & Bar, I believe).We zipped over to a beach just below where the bar is perched and hiked our way up. This time in flip flops… but we survived!

My mom snuck some money in our bank account for Christmas, so we took the opportunity  to enjoy lunch, a beverage, and some chatting with a couple who anchored near us and joined us at the restaurant. We are on a really tight budget, so eating and drinking out is a real treat!

Me and my drink with Eleuthera ( and Luna Sea) in the background

There was still no cell coverage or wifi, but our waiter, Keno, offered his phone as a hotspot. So nice! I was finally able to check weather  – and maybe get a quick post up on Instagram.

Lunch was great, and two hours long. But it was fun to chat with other cruisers also out for their first time. Hopefully we will run into them again when we work our way down to the Exumas!

NEXT UP: Nassau to pick up more solar and provision for the Exumas!

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8 Comments

  1. WONDERFUL ! ! ! I LOVE IT! ! ! !Ya’ll look SOOOOO GOOD and you’re having so much fun ! ! ! ! THANKS so much for sharing ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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