Sailing Abacos to Eleuthera – Sailing Into The New Year
Ahoy! In this article we are sailing Abacos to Eleuthera. I’ll go into our time in Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas, and why that was our only stop in the Abacos this season before sailing Abacos to Eleuthera. I’ll talk about where we left the Abacos from, and where we sailed into Eleuthera and how we enjoyed New Years Eve at sail. So grab your favorite passage drink and read on.
Green Turtle Cay
It was nice spending some time in Green Turtle after our overnight passage across the Gulf Stream from West Palm Beach. On our first sail to Green Turtle, we were unclear if Black Sound (the sound closest to the downtown area of New Plymouth) was deep enough to get our 5.5’ draft Hunter 450 Passage through, so we stayed at Bluff House Marina in White Sound at the north end of the island.
I’m glad we got to stay in different places on the island because I love exploring new places. However, while White Sound was nice, Black Sound is within walking distance to New Plymouth, and nearby Gillam Bay with a beautiful beach. You really need to rent a golf cart if you want to get down to New Plymouth from White Sound. Between the cost of the gulf cart and the marina in White Sound, it is more economical to stay on a mooring ball in Black Sound.
So we researched the tides, the depths of the Black Sound channel (and we since knew some cruisers with a draft as deep as ours who have been in Black Sound) and went for it. As luck had it (or maybe Scott’s planning is actually pretty good!), we arrived to Green Turtle Cay from West Palm Beach at high tide at about 8:30 AM with enough daylight to go through the channel. We saw no less than 2.5 feet under keel on both our entry and exit into Black Sound. Once in Black Sound we tied off to a mooring ball at Donny’s Boat Rentals and Marina. Donny’s is truly a special place and we enjoyed our time there!
We also know that Black Sound in Green Turtle Cay is a harbour well protected from the numerous frontal systems that come through during this time of year.
We loved the vibe on Green Turtle Cay on our first visit and found several great things to do while we were there. This trip, we were sure to hit our favorite spots like Pineapples for conch fritters, Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar for the famous Goombay Smash, and had breakfast at the Liquor Store.
Sailing Abacos To Eleuthera
Our Route
For all these reasons, Green Turtle Cay was a great stop for passing through the Abacos. We spent about 6 weeks sailing in the Abacos this past spring, so we really wanted to move on and explore and sail Eleuthera.
Looking at the weather on PredictWind and our other favorite weather apps, as we all do daily, we saw we had a weather window to get through Whale Cut just south of Green Turtle and could continue on the outside of Great Abaco Island on down to Eleuthera.
We did not want to go through the devil’s backbone to get to into Eleuthera, as there are shifting sand shoals and a hired pilot is highly recommended for this cut. Therefore, we opted to go west a little bit and made our way around Egg Island, coming in through Egg Island Cut.
Our Passage
Our plan to sail Abacos to Eleuthera took us from Green Turtle Cay (26-45.70 N 077-20.70 W), through Whale Cut (26-43.35 N 077-14.30W) to Egg Island Cut (25-30.00 N 76-54.50W) then over to Meeks Patch (25-31.50 N 76-47.00W) where we anchored on the east side of the island. This trip is approximately 105 nautical miles, and took us about 20 hours.
Due to the limited daylight during the winter months, we made this an overnight passage so we could get through both cuts during daylight. After leaving Black Sound at high tide, we anchored of the coast of Great Abaco Island for a couple of hours until mid-afternoon, then made our way through Whale Cut.
We were hoping to sail once we got through Whale Cut and were on the outside of the islands, however, the winds were not cooperating with our plans, as they were a little too much behind us out of the northwest and a little too light to make any ground on sail alone, so motor sailing it was.
Having visited Hope Town and Elbow Reef Lighthouse in the Spring, it was really cool to see the light from the lighthouse as we sailed by in the evening. They even decorated the lighthouse with Christmas lights to look like a giant Christmas tree, which we were able to see as well.
As I mentioned earlier, the day we left was New Year’s Eve! This meant I would actually be awake this year for bringing in the new year sailing Abacos to Eleuthera! 😊 We do 4-hour watches on overnight passages, and we brought in the new year together at sea.
At the stroke of midnight, we heard several mariners on Channel 16 wishing others a Happy New Year, and we got to see fireworks off in the distance from Great Abaco Island. It was quite the experience.
Our Arrival
We arrived to Egg Island Cut between Egg Island and Little Egg Island around 7:30 AM. We had very light winds out of the north, so we anchored on the east side of Meeks Patch to enjoy its beautiful beaches.
Having been to Meek’s Patch before, we know that the pigs on the island mainly hang out on the west side of the island. While the pigs are cool to see, we like to find more secluded beaches for Mangaux to run around on and not interfere with the pigs (i.e. the pigs and Mangaux don’t get along very well!).
Summary
While we love the Abacos, we were eager to explore new to us areas in Eleuthera and beyond. Sailing straight to Green Turtle Cay from West Palm Beach, then leaving from Green Turtle Cay and going on the outside of the islands to Eleuthera worked well for us.
Stay tuned for our visit to Spanish Wells, then through the infamous Current Cut and across the Bight of Eleuthera to explore Eleuthera Island.
Live your dream,
