Rock Sound Homecoming 04/02/13

Homecoming!  Easter weekend is the biggest holiday in the Bahamas, especially in Eleuthera where there are more permanent settlements and population.  Rock Sound’s Homecoming (Easter) celebration had events over the entire week beginning with the “stalls” along the waterfront opening for business the Monday before selling plates of BBQ and conch salad, etc.

The real activity starts on Thursday with several events planned each day – from musical entertainment to a big Easter egg hunt.   Businesses start closing for the weekend around noon on Thursday and many don’t reopen until the following Tuesday with Easter Monday being a holiday as well.

We enjoyed watching the small town prepare for the festivities – of course this is different than what we’d expect in Charleston!   Supplies in each Bahamian town arrive by mail boat once a week (or not).  The boat is as anxiously awaited by cruisers as it is by locals as the day after its arrival the stores have fresh and more varied produce and supplies to offer. 

We were anchored very near the government dock when the mail boat arrived with the big stores of goods for the holiday.  The boat’s crane removed pallet after pallet while hundreds of people broke them down and moved their orders from the dock to their business with cars or by hand.  Heavy equipment and even truck access is virtually non-existent here.

We moved our anchorage while the unloading was going on and were pretty surprised when it took off and headed straight between two of our anchored boats instead of going further into the sound!  They made their way within 100 yards of us when we saw the next delivery boat approaching – it was a busy day for Rock Sound!

The weekend was filled with lots of events most of which happened some time after 9pm and going well after 2am.  The “fashion show” was scheduled for 9 and included children from 4 years old through junior high.  It didn’t actually get started until after 10 – ah, Bahamian time!  These little tots strutted their stuff until well after 11 interspersed with other kids performing different dances to the most well loved of the traditional rake and scrape songs of the islands. 

It was really interesting to see how virtually non-existent the applause from the crowd was (other than us cruisers).  Here are these kids giving it all they’ve got and, although there were hundreds of people watching, there was NO applause as they’d end.  I’m sure this is a cultural thing but I haven’t been able to glean the origin of it from anyone yet.  Even the big entertainers brought in from Nassau the next two nights could barely get more than a casual shout from the crowd despite all of the coaxing from the act. 

The list of activities turned out to be somewhat inaccurate – okay, that’s being really nice!  There was a parade, a junkanoo rush out with marching bands, a Bahamian sloop regatta, a pool party and fireworks all on the schedule that never happened.  We’d laugh as the scheduled times would approach, we’d plan on arriving within the hour after for it to really start and then leave another hour or so later with nothing having materialized.  This is the way of the Bahamas!

Of course the late starts didn’t cut anything short.  LONG after we’d left the scene to get back on our boats, the bumping and beating of the music continued ashore.  We'd put a movie on at 11pm to try to stay up until we were so exhausted that we’d manage sleep to the boom boom boom from across the harbor.  No curfew here!

We had a great time and met a lot of great local folks from policemen/ women to business owners who made us feel more than welcome in their community.  The crowds for the weekend come in by the droves – mostly families coming home – and swelling to great numbers as the nights progressed.  The dress each night also became progressively festive with heels of every shape and size paired with skin tight dresses of every style and color.   The “after parties”, we’d heard, don’t end until some time before sunrise!

Us cruisers took advantage of all there was to see and do and we supplemented our experience with shared times together.  I went to church Easter morning while Rob went spearfishing with Jim and Devon.  They scored 6 nice crabs and we gathered that afternoon for a wonderful pot luck Easter dinner before Lammeroo went ashore so Daniel could score some goodies at the big Easter egg hunt in town.  We went to the much anticipated gospel concert before saying our good byes and good nights for our separate departures the next morning.

We woke early to set sail and had a rolling, wavy journey back across to the Exumas where we were thrilled to find our friends on Truansea at our chosen anchorage.  Although we had a great time in Eleuthera, I was very happy to be back in the Exumas with the crystal water, gorgeous anchorages and familiar faces.