Governor's Harbour
The chart claims that the harbor's name is Governor's Harbour, and the actual town is called Colebrook Town, but all the signs - including the one on the government building - say Governor's Harbour, so that's what I'm calling it. It's a small, pretty town in which Victorian-style wooden houses which wouldn't look out of place back in Durango sit cheek by jowl with more typical Bahamian brightly-painted cinderblock and concrete houses.

Governor's Harbour was the first Bahamian capital, and is one of the oldest towns in the Bahamas. Along with the rest of Eleuthera, it was settled in 1649 by the Eleutherian Adventurers, a group led by William Sayle, the former governor of Bermuda. (The expedition began none too auspiciously as they were shipwrecked on the reefs on the north coast.)

At the moment the primary occupants of Governor's Harbour appear to be film crews. Not one but two movies are being filmed at least partly here, and the government dock area on Cupid's Cay - a once-separate island joined to the "mainland" by a causeway - is covered with tents and trailers, shipping containers full of props and scuba gear, boats and vehicles and just generally stuff. A fancy motor yacht is tied to the seawall next to a Bahamian freighter that looks like it's being used as a filming
base, along with several smaller dive boats and jetskis and pontoon craft.

One of the movies is called "Sirens of Eleuthera" which sounds like either a skin flick or a tourism promotion film. The other is "Fool's Gold," which (thanks, Linda!) stars Donald Sutherland, Kate Hudson, and Matthew McConaughey, who I think smiled and said hello to us when we passed them walking on the beach today. (The only one I would recognize is Sutherland, and I *think* it was him...maybe...) They did most of their filming in Australia but are filming "ocean scenes" here, according to one
of the crew who was setting up on Sunday.

Apparently they're only going to be here for a few days, but it looks like a crazy amount of stuff and people for a tiny amount of film. (Although, admittedly, two different movies - we can't tell which equipment is for which!) We can't figure why they are even using this place for "Fool's Gold" - the water's not all that clear, and the logistical hassles of getting things here must be insane. It's not too far from Nassau, but still, everything has to be shipped in by freighter. After all, Australia
has plenty of water as well.

(Early this morning, while I sat out in the cockpit combing my hair, I watched a small boat towing a bright yellow airplane tail section, artfully angled to look like it had wrecked, out into the harbor entrance. Hee!)

In addition to watching the antics of the film crews, Britt and I mounted an expedition to hike across the entire width of the island. It took about half an hour. On the windward side we walked along one of Eleuthera's fabled pink sand beaches; the pinkness is more a marketing ploy than anything else, but in bright sunlight the wet sand does have a pinkish cast, and when you look close you can see flecks of pink coral.

We saw lots of rental houses and cottages, and a new multi-bazillion dollar development going in where the Club Med used to be. On the chart, the bay along one of those windward beaches is called "Stinky Bay"; we predict it will be renamed something more mellifluous, akin to the renaming of Hog Island near Nassau to "Paradise Island."

In the afternoon we got into the water for our first snorkel of the cruise. Not much in the way of coral around here, but we swam around some old pilings and some underwater rocks that had broken off the cliff. A few fish - some even tasty eating size - but they were skittish and we are still out of shape, so although each of us took a few shots we didn't spear anything.

We did get a meal out of it though, as Britt found a large channel crab which he grabbed (and it grabbed back!) and stuck in the dinghy. It was a little disconcerting sharing the dinghy with something resembling a very very big spider - with BIG PINCHY CLAWS YIKES! - but it was worth it - lots of delicious meat on those crab legs, and we had ourselves some seafood at last.
- posted by S/V Windom @ 4/24/2007 [link]