Crew Log for February 24th – 27th, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Hatchet Bay – Spanish Wells
• Trip Distance of 28.7 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 3,087.6 NM
• Departed at 08h30, arrived at 14h50
There are a few things that immediately hit you when you arrive in Spanish Wells, located of the northern tip of Eleuthera Island. While it is still not much larger than a typical Nova Scotia village, Spanish Wells is excellent spot to reprovision and obtain marine supplies and parts. It is also home base for an active fishing fleet, including most of the country’s lobster fleet.
However, after having spent almost 2 months travelling through Bahamas, perhaps the most striking thing you notice is that, most of the residents are white. In fact, more than 80 percent of the 2,000 residents are white, in sharp contrast to the country as a whole, where 85 percent of Bahamians are of African descent.
It’s role as a commercial hub is not surprising, given that historically, the area was where Spanish ships replenished their water supplies before returning to Europe. Hence the name, Spanish Wells. The area's ethnic make up is likely due to the resettlement of crown loyalists fleeing the United States, following the American Revolutionary War. As much as we enjoyed Spanish Wells, it felt less “Bahamian” than say, Staniel Cay or Rock Sound.
If you explore a little deeper, you’ll discover what truly makes Spanish Wells a special place for us. It has an amazing white sand beach, steps from town, that seemed to stretch for miles into the ocean as the tide goes out. As you stroll through town, you also begin to appreciate the residents’ pride in “their place”, with beautifully maintained homes, ranging from modest to ostentatious. And finally, like everywhere we’ve visited in the Bahamas, the local people were extremely friendly and truly seemed to be glad to have us there.
Our log notes for the day started with, “cooler, sunny, few clouds, winds east 8-10 knots”. Nothing too extraordinary from a weather perspective, just a typical day in the Bahamas. It was indeed sunny, with a nice easternly breeze, but in all honesty, it was 24 degrees Celsius, which in any context can not be seriously considered as “cool”. Although in fairness, our log did specifically say “cooler”, which I supposed it was. Regardless, it was a beautiful sailboat day. Our route today would be the most difficult since arriving in Eleuthera given we’d have to navigate through Current Cut.
Current Cut is a 100 yard wide, 60 yards deep channel between Current Settlement on the main island of Eleuthera and Current Island to the west. The tidal currents through here have been reported to have reached 10 knots. The cut is a popular dive spot for SCUBA enthusiasts, who drift through the opening in less than 10 minutes. It is however, a challenging area for pleasure craft, who have to time their transit through Current Cut, carefully.
Our exit from Hatchet Bay was uneventful, despite the intimidating channel opening. We hoisted the spinnaker and set course for Current Cut, adjusting our speed to time our arrival with slack tide. There was some “churn” around the Cut, but for the most part it was a comfortable and uneventful passage.
The anchorage at Spanish Wells is outside of the main harbor and was reported to be rolly. It also meant a slow, wet dinghy ride for us to get into town. We made a few enquiries and were able to secure a spot on the dock at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven and Marina. Unlike the Hatchet Bay Yacht Haven, the marina in Spanish Wells was beautiful.
They had metered water and electrical hook ups at every slip, a beautiful open air, dock side restaurant, a pool and its most exciting feature, showers! The staff here were fantastic and wonderfully helpful.
A short while later, the crew from Willow dropped by to say hello. Bruce and Kay had been in Spanish Wells on anchor for a week, while Kay worked. It wasn’t long before Judy, Corky and Kay headed to the pool, while Alex and I did a few boat chores. Admittedly, Alex’s commitment to boat work was superior to mine. I am not sure how he did however, given Anodyne was docked within ear shot of the constant laughter coming from the ladies in the pool. That evening we walked down along the Spanish Wells waterfront and enjoyed a wonderful meal of fresh wahoo, at the Shipyard Restaurant, overlooking Shipyard Point on the eastern end of the island.
There are some cars here but, by in large, the most popular way to get around Spanish Wells is by golf car. We decided to rent a golf cart for 24 hours to explore the island and reprovision. When I was reflecting on why I enjoyed Spanish Wells so much, it occurred to me that this was the first time we had access to transportation, which allowed us to see more of the local area. We just had to remember to stay to the left!
Our first stop was the grocery store, which by Bahamian standards was quite large, modern and well stocked. Later that afternoon we headed to the beach on the north end of the island, a popular spot with the bone fish, fishermen. We were up early in the next morning, given that the one constant in all the places we have visited in Eleuthera, are the roosters.
We had the golf car for the morning so we headed out to explore more of the area. Our first stop was Sand Bar and Grill out on Russell Island for a breakfast smoothy, before heading back to Spanish Wells and walking on the massive sand bar that protrudes out into the ocean. It was such a relaxing place to stroll and chat with fellow cruisers or local residents.
When we got back to the marina, we bumped into Mike and Debbie off of sv Phase 2 who told us about a marina carved out of the rock, outside of town, which they thought we’d appreciate. It truly was amazing to think about the effort it must have taken to construct the marina, which really did look like it was carved out of the rocks.
Back on the dock we got to meet Tim and Ellen on the motor cat, Onward. They were from Vermont and their daughter-in-law is the principal trumpet player for the Ottawa Symphony. As we were leaving we also got to meet Vic, a solo sailor from Maryland.
As we reflected on what we liked about Spanish Wells, we kept coming back to the thing we liked about everywhere we have visited, it was so different from anywhere else in the Bahamas. It wasn’t better or worse, it was just different. It is this sheer diversity of economy and nature that makes the Bahamas so special. The one constant however, are the residents of these islands. They are kind and welcoming.
Our time in Eleuthera had been short, but we had 70 nautical miles ahead of us to reach the Abacos, the next chain of islands we were visiting. The passage included, 50 - 60 miles of exposed open ocean between Eleuthera and Little Harbor on the south end of Great Abaco Island. And we had to navigate through the cut at Little Harbor, which can be bumpy.
We had been watching the weather and we had a window that looked good in a couple of days. There were 3 – 4 other sailboats planning to leave that day, including Willow and Phase 2. As much as we’d like to stay and explore more of Eleuthera, our schedule is dictated by the weather. Unfortunately, we have a bumpy start to our passage.
But more about that, next time.
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