Spanish Wells Wharf Area
22 February 2013 | Spanish Wells, Bahamas
Sunny and warm
We spent the the 15-19 back in Hatchet Bay as another windy front passed through. The good news was we met up with our friends Gratitude who are southbound. We last saw them in Nassau. Saturday afternoon the very calm and warm weather disappeared and a wall of rain raced across the anchorage and did a great job of washing the salt off the boat. The winds kept up through Monday so we sat still. Monday we did rent a car again with Van and Lauren for a day of sightseeing. In addition to a return trip to the Glass Window we also stopped at a great gift shop in Gregory Town (it was closed on our last adventure). We also went to Preacher's Cave where the first settlers landed, at the expense of a shipwreck on the Devil's Backbone, a coral reef. 70 survivors lived in the cave for over a year. It was a fun day and I survived my second challenging day of driving on the wrong side of the road, a carry over from the early British settlers.
Tuesday morning we left Hatchet Bay headed for Spanish Wells. The only thing of note is getting through Current Cut, a narrow channel with swift running current except at slack tide. That point on the trip requires some reverse planning to get there at the right time to catch the last of the ebb (northbound), slack or the early flood tide. The cruising guide suggests 1.5-2.0 hrs after slack tide at Nassau. People we talked to suggested 1.5-1.75 hrs after Nassau.
Tuesday, the low tide at Nassau was at 0908 and we scheduled our arrival at Current Island for 1038. We left the Hatchet Bay wp at 0726 with sails up and engine on to maintain an average of 6.0 kts. We had a following current and had trouble keeping the speed down, even with the engine off at the end. We had a half knot following current as we headed to Current Island. There were three other boats leaving at the same time.
Although we were the lead boat, we deferred to the boat behind us to lead us through since they had done this several times. Dousing sails and waiting on Early Out helped to get us closer to our arrival time, although we were still a little early at the wp, arriving at 1024. The tide was still ebbing, but the following current was 1.0-1.2 kts and was no problem.
There are mooring balls in Spanish Wells (about 7 or 8) and no where to anchor inside the harbor. We are on ball #1 and we have a ringside seat to everything happening along the waterfront. It is a very busy wharf with water taxis, fishing boats, ferries, and cargo ships and tankers. Due to the heavy traffic and shallow water off the channel the water stays churned up, but not bouncy as they have a strict 4 kt speed limit.
Another point of interest, this is a dry island with no bars and few restaurants. There is one licensed liquor store that has recently opened amid local concern. They have beautiful beaches on the other side. We found two sand dollars the first time we walked the beach. Fresh fish and lobster are available from Bernard around 2-3 pm at his dock down by the bridge to Russell Island. They do have a large grocery store. The museum is worth a stop, not for the artifacts, but to listen to the docent. She gives you a history about the beginning settlers, the lobster hotel business and what makes this island so prosperous as compared to the other settlements in Eleuthera. She talks for about 1-1.5 hour. Very educational. They even have a decent FM radio station (89.9). For the Bahamas, this is a well stocked island and very industrious. Think of a more commercialized Tangier Island. We plan to spend about a week here before heading west to Florida.
Yesterday we went to the west end of the island by dinghy to swim and shell. No shells, but good swimming. Today we took a more extensive walking tour of the island and beach (found two more sand dollars) with stops at the grocery store, several shops and, most importantly, the Bahamas Telephone Co (Batelco) office to get our SIM card reloaded as our original 30 day internet plan expired yesterday morning and we were "off the grid" for 24 hours. That was a first since we were in Warderick Wells. This afternoon we have to pick up lobsters at 3 pm from Bernard, the fisherman. For Happy Hour we are invited to drinks on the porch of the museum docent's house. There is always something going on here.
The weather has been delightful with full sun and lots of solar energy to recharge our batteries. Other than for hot water, we have not had to run the generator or engine for three days.
Dave & Mary