January 19-20, 2016 Spanish Wells

Whimbrel - Sandpiper

Great Blue Heron

the school of all ages …

this island is very religious 

the only place that we saw had solar ..

this tug picture is for Norm Menary, GYC

a cat boat from Rhode Island, the skipper sailed it here a few years ago 

1,800 miles  … 26 ft and 10 ft beam, a real beauty

the sand flats  that will be behind our boat when the next storm hits us, which is Friday and Saturday

the dinghy dock .. everything looks good right ???  we are the furthest one

lumber being delivered to this island

I didn't get the best shot but they are loading cement blocks and commented that it is tricky to

position them properly so they don't shift during heavy seas

a local radio station

this is what we came back to after 2 hours ashore

another boater brought me to Modaki with all our supplies, then he went back and brought Janine and our dinghy .. and Dave and Joe brought our motor

this is the family that helped us … I gave little David a Shack Shack seed pod

this family is full time living on their boat and home schooling David

repairing our 4 inch seam opening … clothes pins, kitchen utensils and weights from my dive belt

we are also repairing a sliding door from one of the cupboards

this guy flew over us a few times .. he waves with his feet

Mike on Lagom, came to the last available mooring ball, since he is single handling, Alan, Joe and Dave went to get the mooring ball for him

the Amish women that came on the same barge that the truck was on in an earlier picture

we are heading off to the local fish man, for some lobster

some of the fishing boats 

we all got fresh lobster for $16 pound

another day coming to a close

there is a storm coming for two days, with winds during the Thunderstorms, of 70 knots

that is why we are on mooring balls .. they are a bit pricy at $25 night, but after the 40 knot winds and

2 of us dragging … we will pay the price

January 18, 2016 Joe's pictures of Spanish Wells

there is a community here of Amish people… they are moving a truck to one of the other islands

the fast ferry, Bo Hengy, from Harbour Island to Nassau daily .. we inquired on prices to go from Spanish Wells to Harbour Island, but it was $55 per person for only 4 hours in the island

these are not used anymore, but it was a communal cooking oven, for bread

some of the well maintained gardens and homes

the grave yard, all in sand

brightly painted homes

this is a railway system to bring the boats to shore, and the road is just behind the boat ..

interesting concept

January 18, 2016 our first look at Spanish Wells, Eleuthra's , Bahamas

entering Spanish Wells … Moonlight Maid ahead of us .. Snowbird is aground in the entrance, when they where coming in two sporty power boats rushed out and their wake lifted Snowbird up and pushed them into the shallows …. and the tide is going down .. a local came and took their halyard and tilted them … and managed to get them back into deeper water

on one side is all the town

and the other side a mud flat … the area at high tide is about 300 ft wide .. low tide 250 ft

some pictures as we motored to the mooring field

we sailed with just the foresail for 5 miles

there is a lot of boats moving today, the first good day in about 3

the 3 boats that you see at Meeks Patch are also Canadian, we met them in

the Abacos last month

The Community of Spanish Wells occupies most of St. George's Cay and

is connected by a bridge to Russell Island (the two islands to the centre and left of page), out the other cut past Gun Point is the Devel's Backbone, you need a pilot to take you thru this area to Harbour Island  …Spanish Wells is approx. 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide.  Russell Island just over 3 miles long …. Spanish Wells name is derived from an early explorer who found fresh water here.  It is famous for its prosperous fishing fleet, which supplies well over half of the Bahamas commercial crop of Lobster, conch and fish.

packing up the dinghy for a garbage run and diesel 

out of the 7 mooring balls in this area there is 5 Canadian Boats, 1 USA, and 1 Netherland

in a few days we rent a couple of the Golf Carts to see the islands

this is about a 100 ft boat, we are told the owner was the only one aboard and he was down below

when it ran into a rock … but all the damage was above the water line and he managed to get to a dock

this is an interesting tree, we don't know the name of it but …

it has these spikes all over it .. for sure not a climbing tree

the locals take great pride in this island. The lawns are well manicured and

the houses kept up

an old water collecting station

this island actually has some soil … here they are growing cabbage and tomatoes .

another garden was full of multiplier onions and spanish onions

I'm not too sure if Joe is behaving .. ha ha

we finished off this day with Moonlight Maid (Halifax), for a drink and conch fritters 

at a place called Budda's .. this island has been dry for years and now has a small, well stocked liquor, wine and beer store … beer is $55 for a case of 24  … hard liquor is cheap ..