Island-hopping in the Bahama: Nassau, Exuma and Eleuthera 5-Day Itinerary.
Day 4: A Trip North (via plane, car, boat, golf cart).
4:15 AM
A good night sleep after a day out seeing the beauty of the nature is really worth itself in millions of dollars. We just didn’t want to move a muscle to disrupt the very tenderness and the Zen of the room. Even the coconut trees outside are sounding asleep in the breeze.
No Heavenly Dusk could do a thing to get me out of this particularly amazing bed this morning. We both decide to sleep in forever.
4:17 AM
Crap, rise and shine!
As I immediately jumped out of bed in a hurry while my wife quickly got our breakfast ready for the ride to the airport, once again.
The great motivation to be on our feet was the $500 North Eleuthera plane tickets that we booked with PineAppleAir. It works very well, since we’d waste all the money if we missed the flight.
If you want to explore more options to get to many outer islands in proximity to Nassau, you should definitely check out the Bahamas Ferries service. The Ferry from Nassau to North Eleuthera will take you across the sea for 2 hours and cost around $514 for two. The plane ticket on the other hand costs $470 for two, but the flight is only 20 minutes.
I think it’s probably a no-brainer here. Unless you really, really want to bring a vehicle with you to Eleuthera via Ferry, then plane it is. And you can certainly rent a car for a day on Eleuthera instead.
6:30 AM
There was a short wait for our flight at the airport since we arrived a little too early. The morning traffic was actually much quieter than I participated. I blame US-i95, i495 for all these PTSD’s that gives me traffic anxiety.
On another thought, as every minute slowly passes, that discount poster certainly becomes more and more enticing.
So our chartered plane on carries roughly 20 passengers, hence the boarding process took place rather quickly. Don’t forget to have your ear-plugs ready unless you hate hearing, because it will be very loud for the entire duration of the flight.
Though, that did not bother us as much as the enormous tropical storm clouds that was fast coming up ahead. Our pilot didn’t break a sweat and simply took the plane to a higher altitude. Problem solved, and we did not get to time-travel 5 years into the future this time.
Soon we were able to descend and put our worries behind like those dark clouds high above. Slowly but surely, North Eleuthera came into the view on both Google Map and the window near us.
Today’s itinerary is we are going to spend a bit of time exploring North Eleuthera portion, visiting the Sapphire Blue Hole and the Preacher’s Cave. After that, we’ll turn West and take a 10-min water taxi to cross the water channel to the quiet island of Spanish Wells.
Another popular choice for tourists who make it this far, is to visit Harbour Island on the Eastern side of North Eleuthera instead. Dunmore Town is more upscale and more developed than Spanish Wells, plus it is famous for the beautiful Pink Sands beach (Spoiler: it might not be as pink as in those photos you see online).
I love to avoid touristy place, so I decide to visit the more isolated island of Spanish Wells.
8:00 AM
The airport in North Eleuthera is as simple and minimal as an airport could get …and we are sort of loving it. Feels like we are in a faraway countryside where life is meant to be lived and not tangled in a world of the orange Mussolini’s politics.
First there is of course a fenced airstrip for flight takeoff and landing. Then the customs and immigration, as well as the check-in terminals, are all inside a one-level building with divided booths for each of the airlines and their services.
We came here in a quiet, off-season day of October so there wasn’t a line anywhere, but I could imagine the hectic it gets in the busy months (photos below). No matter what you do here on Eleuthera, don’t come back late on your return flight because the queue might be ultra long. There are not many places you can stay for the night just to watch your plane in the sky without you.
images from Google: North Eleuthera Airport
8:18 AM
We did not have to wait for long before our rental car was delivered to the waiting area outside of the airport.
If I remember correctly, the gentleman’s name is Ricky (242) 551-1726 and he was extremely helpful and friendly to us. Even though I had a list of destinations I plan to go to on my own itinerary, Ricky shared with us many of his recommendations and all of them are really spot-on.
The rental car, however, definitely has seen better days. Yet we’re no longer concerned about that as a priority. We learn to understand that we currently are on a totally remote island that’s hundreds of miles from a nearest major city. I’m not going to expect a Lincoln Navigator level of luxury here. Modern world has its perks, but you win some and lose some. This is actually much better for the soul.
So my wife and I just let ourselves enjoy everything along the way as much as the destination itself. Even for this car. And I hope the steering wheel won’t fall off. Spoiler again: it didn’t, and it took us everywhere we wanted to, including some dirt roads to the cave. Take that, Cyberstuck!
8:30 AM – Sapphire Blue Hole, North Eleuthera
We quickly parted with Ricky and began our own journey on the island of North Eleuthera. The direction is quite simple: drive along Queens Hwy until you can no more, and there you make a right turn into a narrow, unnamed and highly suspicious road that may or may not lead to the blue hole.
At some point you probably want to slow down from 20mph to 18mph, or else you might immediately miss the little welcome sign.
You can drive on this dirt trail if it’s not too crowded. The path is definitely not wide enough for two cars going on opposite direction. Another option is to park alongside the road and hike the trail. It’s a very short walk that won’t wear you out.
8:40 AM
The Sapphire Blue Hole is an absolute magical and natural wonder. It’s nested under a lush green jungle which makes this stop a sweet little escape from the heat that’s been beating down on us since the morning. The blue hole is similar to the cenotes that one could find in Cancun. However, since it is not as commercialized and way out of most tourists’ way, the water here isn’t so polluted. In fact, it looks so crystal clear that we could even see the bottom easily. And it’s frightening deep.
If you build enough courage for a quick dive, there is a rope ladder to get yourself back up. It may require some strength in your upper body and core but if you are struggling hard, just imagine being circled by a few sharks as the blue hole might be connected to the open ocean via deep tunnels.
Jk. But thanks a lot for making that fear of mine unlocked, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged.
Anyhow, I swear my old phone here really does not do the hole any glory. I promise if this blog ever takes off for a minute of internet fame like the rocket that carries Katy Perry, I will upgrade to iPhone XS 17 Pro Max like a billionaire that I’m not, so all of you guys can see all of the pixels and their justice.
Before we head out to the next stop, I’d like to give you a fair warning.
If you ever make it here, be sure you also have a solid plan to make it home in a whole one piece.
There is no lifeguard here to give you CPR, nor a hospital nearby that’s able to perform an open bone surgery. Not even a mermaid who could save you from the Leviathans. The pit gets colder, darker as you swim down to the bottom. The jump platform could get quite slippery and the rock edges, well it’s best not to land on them. I totally recommend the water shoes as they give you good grip and are more secured to your feet than a pair of flipflops. We all know if your safety flipflops fly off your feet, you are already unalived.
9:15 AM
The Preacher’s cave is our next destination and fortunately it’s just minutes away from the blue hole.
If you have a keen eye and good at reading faded words, you might be interested in the placard embedded in a rock formation near the entrance of the cave. Here you will learn the quick history of the old cave.
“William Sayle shipwrecked at Devil Backbone found refuge here. Sermons held 100 years.”
The cave is quite spacious, though not as the level of the Mountain Cave (Son Dong) in Vietnam, but it sure can accommodate 70 Puritan sailors who came from the two little ships that were wrecked at night during a raging storm near the shallow coral reef –called Devil’s Backbone, north of where we are.
These ships of refugees fled from Bermuda, led by William Sayle and later known as the “Eleutheran Adventurers.” The survivors lost one of their mates but soon adapted and survived on wild fruits and fishing. Then they became the permanent settlers in North Eleuthera.
Though they were the first British settlement of the Bahamas in the 1600’s, archaeologists discovered remains of the indigenous Lucayan-Taíno Indians that predate the Eleutheran Adventurers by thousands of years (AD 800–1300). Of course, as I mentioned earlier that the party for our Indian ancestors was over pretty quickly when Christopher Columbus’ arrival in 1492, bringing disease, enslavement, and violence along with him.
There are a few parts of the cave’s ceiling are pierced by the sea water after thousands of years, created sky chimneys that are really mesmerizing to see. I bet it was perfect for a hot pot stew or a smoking bbq in a rainy evening.
Now the shimmering light from the ceiling bores shines directly onto this one particular spot on the carbonated sandy ground.
Did they use this magical spot to hold a totally awesome wedding ceremony? Or to cast a spell to summon Davy Jones one last time to captain the Black Pearl for the journey after death? Or perhaps hiding a ton of gold right under our feet? We might be onto something here, but we may never know.
So we stood there 10 minutes, and nothing happened so it seems like just another coincidence of sun and holes. Probably. What if the last moon of Autumn in Durin’s Day shines on it though…
We soon left Preacher’s Cave and bid farewell to the spirits of William Sayle & Co.
Though William himself left Eleuthera in 1669 and moved to South Carolina as he then became the founder Charleston city –whereas one year later he became the first Governor of South Carolina in 1670. The man certainly had a great, adventurous life.