Underway Again #21: Still at Spanish Wells

Spanish Wells Yacht Haven in the Eleuthra guide book is listed as having water, laundry, WiFi and even a restaurant. There is no restaurant. The Laundry is one washer and one dryer. It costs $9.00 to do one load as you have to run the dryer twice to get things dry. I did two loads of laundry and used two tokens in the dryer to dry the heavier things but the shirts and smaller items I dried on a line Roman put up on the boat. The water that is $.20 is not for drinking and the drinking water is $.50 a gallon which is delivered in large bottles. We ordered 40 gallons. You don't realize how precious water is until you have to be careful with the usage. We watched The Gods Must be Crazy I and II and besides being very entertaining, it really shows how people can survive with very little water. I highly recommend this movie. WiFi is unreliable; most of the time you cannot get on the internet, but sometimes I will get on and ten minutes later, the connection will be lost. Very Frustrating!!! However the shower is hot and the staff is great not to mention the camaraderie of our fellow boaters, so we have little to complain about.  I have just found out the reason for the description in the guide book.  Apparently there are plans to turn this marina into a mini-resort with accommodations, swimming pool, restaurant, updated laundry and showers by the end of the year. It sounds wonderful, but the question remains: the end of which year?   In the Bahamas things do not happen quickly but maybe this will be the exception.

One of the things that kept us busy was cleaning the rust off the stainless steel.  Yes even stainless steel cannot resist the effect of the sea water.  The salt is terrible and big flakes of salt stick to everything on deck after every sail or crossing.  I cleaned 95% of the boat but Roman didn't take a picture.  I, however, caught him as he cleaned the part of the bow sprint that I could not reach.

We are currently in a holding pattern waiting for the weather. The swells on the Atlantic Ocean are 12-14 feet high and we will not be able to get through the cuts into the Abacos so we are waiting. We have been to see the little museum.

View from the one lane bridge

 

The bananas that grow here are the small very sweet ones called little sugar bananas.

One of the wonderful things about a trip such as ours is that we have time to appreciate the beauty around us and to spot even the little crab on the flowers which abound everywhere.

 

It was too windy on the beach and too cool with the north wind so Roman hauled out the bikes and we biked not only around the island but also crossed the one lane bridge to Russell Island where there are beautiful and very large homes built on huge lots,who have gone over to Russell Island, especially those that made a lot of money fishing. The price of lobsters is down and the economy is hurting

Pelican Bay, a resort started on Russell Island viewed from the road where we were biking.  It has a multitude of properties and lots for sale.

I talked to one of the shopkeepers who told me that there were many who had bought homes and then could not keep them in this economy. This explains the multitude of the For Sale signs on many of the homes in Spanish Wells as well as on the many lots for sale on Russell Island. Some of these look like cottages but there are a few very large waterfront properties with mansion houses for sale as well. It would be nice to have a cottage here but the airfare is very expensive to get here and there is really no where to go but around the island unless you make use of the extensive ferry system to one of the other islands.  

Roman's starter motor bit had to be rebuilt and fortunately we were in the right place. Spanish Wells has excellent mechanics as they service the multitude of fishing boats and they are quick. Roman took the motor in on Monday morning and it was ready the next day. We have played farkel and enjoyed time with our friends. I have collected shells for my grandchildren on the beach. Roman has finally made himself a conch horn to blow at sunset.

Roman and Bill collected and shelled coconuts.  Bill even made coconut cups.  The coconut milk is delicious as is the coconut.  But we really want to get going!



This is the exit through Spanish Wells harbour.  You can see the sand bars only when the tide is down.  When we came in at high tide, none of the sand bars were visible and it was lucky that we read the paper charts about which side to hug while entering the harbour.  The electronic charts are great but we have found them not to be accurate 100% of the time.  Paper charts and visual sighting is critical in the Bahamas.    Below is a picture of a boat that relied on the electronic charts only and got stuck on a sandbar during a falling tide and had to put up the sails and four boats were required to pull him off.  The captain even put up the sails to enlist the aid of the wind to get off the sand bank.  If he was not pulled off in time, he would have had to wait many hours until high tide. 

 

The weather has continued to improve and we finally left Spanish Wells after spending eleven days at the marina. It was very nice there but we were glad to move on to Egg Island where we anchored, rested and left by 1:00 in the morning so that we could go through the cuts at high tide. All passages between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sea of Abaco are impassable at times due to breaking seas. Breaking seas occur not only due to high winds but also when ocean swells build after travelling miles over the deep water of the ocean. These swells seen on the horizon, look like what Bill, captain of Kalunamoo and an author, calls "elephants in the water". The swells encounter the shallow water and reefs of the Bahamas. If these swells are forced through a narrow passage or cut between two islands or cays, as they are called here, what occurs are huge swells and gigantic waves especially when they encounter an opposing tide or current making these cuts impassable. Some cuts may be better than others in certain wind conditions. That is why, as sailors, we need to pay attention to wind direction, wind velocity, wave height, wave interval, water depth, reefs as well as the direction and speed of fronts. It is always better to err on the side of caution so that is why we waited for eleven days in Spanish Wells.



Our last sunset at Spanish Wells