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 ..