Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

Anyone who has ever aspired to explore pristine, nearly deserted
beaches, caves, or follow in the footsteps of real life shipwrecked
Robinson Crusoes should go to northern Eleuthera Island in the
Bahamas. There is a stretch of white sand beach there extending
behind coral reefs amid sparkling tropical water that is simply breath
taking. The area is known as "The Devil's Backbone" because of the
outlying string of coral reefs that have claimed many ships over the
years. When the wind is blowing hard out of the north the breaking
surf on the reefs can be seen from miles away.

Sometime in the 1600s a British sea captain named William Sayles was
wrecked there with two shiploads of settlers. They sought refuge in
a nearby cave and lived there for a time.

We went out exploring along the Devil's Backbone this afternoon in our
inflatable dinghy in the hope of doing some beachcombing and finding
the cave. As luck would have it, we were able to do both.

Here are some picture links from Google Earth (not mine), of both the
beach and the cave:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7467461

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/16854726

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3328235

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18059548

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6917571

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Jun 29, 8:55*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
Anyone who has ever aspired to explore pristine, nearly deserted
beaches, caves, or follow in the footsteps of real life shipwrecked
Robinson Crusoes should go to northern Eleuthera Island in the
Bahamas. * There is a stretch of white sand beach there extending
behind coral reefs amid sparkling tropical water that is simply breath
taking. *The area is known as "The Devil's Backbone" because of the
outlying string of coral reefs that have claimed many ships over the
years. When the wind is blowing hard out of the north the breaking
surf on the reefs can be seen from miles away.

Sometime in the 1600s a British sea captain named William Sayles was
wrecked there with two shiploads of settlers. * They sought refuge in
a nearby cave and lived there for a time.

We went out exploring along the Devil's Backbone this afternoon in our
inflatable dinghy in the hope of doing some beachcombing and finding
the cave. * As luck would have it, we were able to do both.

Here are some picture links from Google Earth (not mine), of both the
beach and the cave:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7467461

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/16854726

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3328235

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18059548

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6917571

Excellent, Wayne!

however I think I'll pass on the caves. After all If I want to go
crawling in the cramped dark and dank. all I have to do is uncap the
crawl space and inch my way under my house and check for termite
advancement.

That does it for me

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:45:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

however I think I'll pass on the caves. After all If I want to go
crawling in the cramped dark and dank. all I have to do is uncap the
crawl space and inch my way under my house and check for termite
advancement.

Been there, done that (but not in a long while). Trust me, the cave
is better.

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:28:27 -0400, wrote:

If we ever get around to the sailing cruise of the Bahamas I will have
to get an itinerary from you. It sounds like you found a lot of cool
places.

We keep discovering new places as we go. I first learned of
Preacher's Cave last winter from Google Earth when I noticed a small
cluster of "picture dots" along the Devil's Backbone. I didn't have
the exact co-ordinates with us yesterday but had an idea of about
where it was. I figured that if we cruised down the beach in the
dinghy that we might be able to spot a trail leading back into the
dune grass, and that's exactly how it worked out.

It would be easy to put together a list of interesting places but
building an itinerary is more difficult due to the vagaries of wind
and weather. We have the advantage of being retired and on our own
boat, so schedules are a lot more flexible than if we were on a
charter boat for a limited time, or had a job to get back to. It's
always a good idea to have a Plan A and a Plan B, and sometimes even a
Plan C depending on how things work out.

The first decision is whether you want to cruise the Abacos (north) or
the Exumas (south). It would be impossible to do both on a one or
two week charter, so that will determine your starting point. Both
Moorings and Sunsail have big charter fleets in Marsh Harbour, Abacos
- both power and sail. There are no charter companies operating in
the Exumas that I am aware of but you might be able to get a boat out
of Nassau, Georgetown or Staniel Cay.

Geoff Schultz who can sometimes be found in rec.boats.cruising has
cruised the Bahamas extensively (and a lot of other places), and done
a really nice job documenting their trips on his web site:

http://www.geoffschultz.org/

Here's another web site documenting a family's one week charter in the
Exumas:

http://www.ed-hamilton.com/charter-connection-Pastfeatures/articles/2006.10.ed1.html

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Jun 29, 9:55*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
Anyone who has ever aspired to explore pristine, nearly deserted
beaches, caves, or follow in the footsteps of real life shipwrecked
Robinson Crusoes should go to northern Eleuthera Island in the
Bahamas. * There is a stretch of white sand beach there extending
behind coral reefs amid sparkling tropical water that is simply breath
taking. *The area is known as "The Devil's Backbone" because of the
outlying string of coral reefs that have claimed many ships over the
years. When the wind is blowing hard out of the north the breaking
surf on the reefs can be seen from miles away.

Sometime in the 1600s a British sea captain named William Sayles was
wrecked there with two shiploads of settlers. * They sought refuge in
a nearby cave and lived there for a time.

We went out exploring along the Devil's Backbone this afternoon in our
inflatable dinghy in the hope of doing some beachcombing and finding
the cave. * As luck would have it, we were able to do both.

Here are some picture links from Google Earth (not mine), of both the
beach and the cave:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7467461

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/16854726

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3328235

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18059548

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6917571

Very nice, Wayne!

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

Anyone who has ever aspired to explore pristine, nearly deserted
beaches, caves, or follow in the footsteps of real life shipwrecked
Robinson Crusoes should go to northern Eleuthera Island in the
Bahamas. There is a stretch of white sand beach there extending
behind coral reefs amid sparkling tropical water that is simply breath
taking. The area is known as "The Devil's Backbone" because of the
outlying string of coral reefs that have claimed many ships over the
years. When the wind is blowing hard out of the north the breaking
surf on the reefs can be seen from miles away.

Sometime in the 1600s a British sea captain named William Sayles was
wrecked there with two shiploads of settlers. They sought refuge in
a nearby cave and lived there for a time.

We went out exploring along the Devil's Backbone this afternoon in our
inflatable dinghy in the hope of doing some beachcombing and finding
the cave. As luck would have it, we were able to do both.

Here are some picture links from Google Earth (not mine), of both the
beach and the cave:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7467461

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/16854726

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3328235

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18059548

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6917571

Were you able to notice whether or not there is an small government
installation with a bunch of radars thereon? When I worked there it
was an 'auxilliary air force base', I believe. That's where the Coast
and Geodetic Survey would base us for our work on the island.

Eleuthera is a beautiful island, all the way around. Glad you're
having a good time there. Nice photos too!
--
John H

"A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul."
-- George Bernard Shaw

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

Visited there a couple years ago. Very impressive.
Thanks, Wayne

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

Wayne.B wrote:
Anyone who has ever aspired to explore pristine, nearly deserted
beaches, caves, or follow in the footsteps of real life shipwrecked
Robinson Crusoes should go to northern Eleuthera Island in the
Bahamas.

Thx for posting this pleasant change from some anons accusing another
anon of being a child molester.

What did those shipwrecked do for food & water?

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:39:55 -0600, slide
wrote:

What did those shipwrecked do for food & water?

Don't know all the details but Eleuthera has abundant fresh water and
good fishing nearby. The spanish sailing fleets used to stop there
to resupply. The Lucaya indians lived there for many many years
before the arrival of europeans.

Deserted beaches, caves and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoes
 

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:54:57 -0400, Just John... for today!
wrote:

Were you able to notice whether or not there is an small government
installation with a bunch of radars thereon? When I worked there it
was an 'auxilliary air force base', I believe. That's where the Coast
and Geodetic Survey would base us for our work on the island.

Eleuthera is a beautiful island, all the way around. Glad you're
having a good time there. Nice photos too!

Not my photos unfortunately but they give a good sampling of what the
scenery is like. We've been fighting really marginal weather
conditions for the last couple of weeks so good photo ops have been
few and far between.

No, I have not noticed any dedicated radar sites but they could be
hidden away somewhere, or possibly located at one of the three
airstrips on Eleuthera where they would blend in with the other nav
aids.