The early morning peace of Hatchet Bay Pond turned to a wake-up call as birds started visiting just after sunup:


"What kind of bird is this?" I asked Derek as I zoomed my lens, He answered groggily from our bunk: "A loud one."


Actually, I think it's a Gray Kingbird, AKA Pitirre
The Gray Kingbird is a kind of flycatcher, but he seemed to be checking our radar reflector to be sure it wasn't actually a birdfeeder. They are also a famously aggressive species: with other birds, including large fierce hunting birds, and even with humans. No wonder the cat didn't alarm him! Speaking of alarms, he makes a good one...

We headed NW toward Current Cut, with the wind having backed to SSW, we were even able to put the jib out. A little weather formed up ahead of us, but it was moving away as we progressed:

Sailing toward the weather

When we got to Current Cut, the weather was already northeast of it. Lightning occasionally lanced down toward Eleuthera from a gray cloudbank, but sunlight illuminated the near scenery in an eerily beautiful way. This set of pilings (wrecked dock) and moored small blue boat were on the southeastern side of Current Cut where a sandbank extends southward. Derek managed to take this picture at my urging (I was steering at the time) before we made a more-than-90-degree turn to port, putting the scene behind us:

I think he's a very patient and wonderful husband (indulging my "oh, please shoot that!" requests). Plus, he takes a good photo!

There is no anchoring allowed within the harbor of Spanish Wells -- not enough room. Checking into a marina for tonight. Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. Hooked up to power, access to a shower that includes walls, water 20 cents/gal, and nice neighbors. Tomorrow we will go to Immigration to get Derek's permission to be in the country extended. We're not sure why these permissions are not automatically as long as the cruising permit duration, since the people generally have to stay with the boat, but in the Bahamas typically you get 90 days at a time, only, while the cruising permit is good for six months (and can also be extended).

Tomorrow being Monday, we will also get provisions, gas/diesel, and look for a dive shop; the diving at the north side of this island is said to be wonderful. Certainly it should be dramatic: there are dozens of wrecks along the Devil's Backbone reef complex between Spanish Wells and North Eleuthera, and there is a huge "wall" where the depth goes from 20 feet to 300-plus in a short horizontal distance. This being an awesome fishing center, we'd also sort of expect to see many fish :-)

Spanish Wells is one of the most prosperous Bahamian communities per capita; the main industry here is fishing. The island is small, just a couple of miles long and not very wide, so view like this one are common:


The community owns its own supermarket (Food Fair), and its own power company (it's a co-op). The lady who checked us into the marina, Angela, explained that she just celebrated her 20th birthday -- she was born on Feb 29th. I could not believe it, she looks like she's at most in her 60s, but she has five children, 11 grand children and six great-grands, IIRC, she is 80. Wow! There must be something very healthy either in the Spanish Wells environment/lifestyle or in her genes :-) Genes here are similar to the out-islands of the Abacos: white Crown loyalists from the American Revolution, overlaid on British Eleutherian Adventurers who came looking for religious freedom. The accent is still faintly British, and the people are deeply religious and gracious, and very proud of the cleanliness and orderliness of their island. Because of its small size, many residents choose to drive golf carts rather than cars and trucks:

Spanish Wells home with hipped white roof and golf cart
The hipped roof is more hurricane-resistant, and white is not only cool for a roof, it is also the color often chosen for rain catchment roofs. Spanish Wells has its own wells, but some residents have cisterns as well: Yacht Haven Marina in fact has a cistern.

They are also proud of their gardens, and although I don't have many shots of those, here's one for Helen:


No alcohol is sold here, although residents and visitors may bring it in for their own use; to that end, the first large business at the Eleutheran end of the Spanish Wells-Eleuthera ferry is a big liquor store. Pascal and La'Tisha warned us about this a couple of weeks back!

The J42 sailboat (S/V Shazaam, from St. Petersburg, FL) that pulled in just after us completed the Newport-to-Bermuda race, then was supposed to be delivered back to its home in the US by way of the Bahamas -- but things were difficult, the owner and his brother were expecting another crewmember who suddenly ripped something in his knee and needed an operation, so two of his buddies stepped in to crew -- and then the whole boat encountered Tropical Storm Debby as it headed offshore and toward Bermuda: 19-foot seas and 35-knot sustained winds. These guys are glad to be here. They did not actually kiss the sweet ground when they arrived, but Derek gave them each a beer (which I followed up by giving two of them the Bahamian stout known as Strong Back: it tastes suspiciously like Guinness, which is to say it has a wonderful creamy head and it's delicious. I suspect industrial espionage, but hey, it's good stuff and it's brewed here!). Pictures of our supply of lager and stout follow: we knew we were coming to Spanish Wells and we knew the policy on alcohol sales, what can I say -- there was room in the cockpit!

essential cruising gear

So, tonight we are going to dinner: we'd just cook for the guys (who are down to beans and hot dogs), but there are four of them... maybe we could cook on Parallax and serve over in their boat, which is bigger :-) The guys took turns doing laundry and showering, pinned the clean clothes to the lifelines, then headed to Eagle's Landing (about 10 minutes before they'd planned, I guess), so at 7pm, we headed to "The Gap" (The Generation Gap), at the recommendation of Miz Angela.


We were afraid it was closed (after all, Sunday evening): no cars or golf carts out front. No one inside, either:


Church being the serious thing that it is here, there is a morning service, a Lord's Supper at noon, and an evening service from 6:30 to 7:30. So after 7:30 the restaurants expect the church folk to stop in. At The Gap after 7:30 were a fisherman and his large family, a family of boaters from M/V Wish For Fish who are also staying at SWYH (we hadn't gotten to talk to them much, earlier), and a couple of the young ladies of the town stopping in after services.

Took a walk to the eastern end of the island and back along the fishing docks after dinner. There was a tiny "tugboat" at the seawall, instead of having truck tires buffering its front it had golf cart tires!