We left the Abacos on Sunday (Jan 16th) heading out Little Harbour Cut at 7:00 am. To our surprise we were not the last to get underway. In fact we were third in a parade of seven boats; one trawler, two catamaran and four monohull sailboats. Of the six sailboats only two of us actually sailed. We had a beautiful day, warming up with winds of 10-15 on the beam. For the full sixty miles we were side by side with a 40' Hallberg-Rassey. For a short while the H-R (Terra Nova) tried to carry a Code Zero sail but gave up. It was a beautiful sail and we were safely anchored in Royal Island by 5:00 pm and in bed by 8:00 pm. In the morning we checked the weather and decided to head in to Spanish Wells. The forecast was for winds from the south or west for a couple of days with some serious squalls for Monday night, so with that we motored in the five miles to Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. We tied up next to Terra Nova, and met the Australian couple aboard. By days end three more cruisers had come in. Spanish Wells is a very prosperous town where the Bahamas fishing industry is located. The tiny harbour is lined with 60' to 90' fishing boats that fish the banks all across the Bahamas, going out for weeks at a time. The harbour is about three miles long and 300' wide, with wharves and marinas jutting out into it. We spent the day exploring and buying a few supplies and admiring the well-kept homes with neat gardens carefully tended. Like Man-O-War in the Abacos, Spanish Wells is populated nearly exclusively by descendants of the original settlers from England and while being very friendly, they maintain a very no-nonsense work ethic that is not evident everywhere in the Bahamas. Evening saw the wind rising and we were tucked in below with some nice sautéed hog-fish, fresh green beans and roast potatoes, and, of course, a nice cold white wine. At 2:00 am the only squall of the night came through. We could hear the thunder in the distance and hear the screaming wind, but in the excellent protection of Spanish Wells, the boat didn't even rock. The name Spanish Wells comes from the fresh water wells the Spanish explorers thought the "sweetest water in the Bahamas". I don't know because today water is piped over from nearby Eleuthera. This morning we checked the weather, as usual, and decided to head back to Royal Island for the night. Here we anchored and dinghied ashore to explore the crumbling remains of an estate built in the 1930's but abandoned shortly after the owner's death. Today the remains are just barely visible under the vegetation that is claiming the area back. Further down the island is an abandoned construction site. Last time we were here three years ago they were just beginning to clear the site. It must have shut down just after we left, because it looks the same today. Speaking with a caretaker, he says it will re-start in a few days, but I doubt it. From here we'll head south along the west coast of Eleuthera to Rock Sound where we'll meet up with Seabird. But the first project is to get through Current Cut, a narrow opening on to the banks where currents run at up to six knots, our top speed. And to make it entertaining, there is a 90 degree turn in it that if missed will see you swept on to the banks and aground. Our plan is to time it at slack water. We think that will be about 1-1.5 hours after high tide. The next question is when is high tide. I have information on four nearby tide stations, and they are all significantly different. In fact the difference between the earliest and latest is 4 hours. Not much help. So I watched the tide this morning in Spanish Wells, and decided it was high about 8:30 am. So we'll try it about 10:30 and see.