Spanish Wells

Thursday April 17, 2014

25 32.469 N

76 45.379 W

Restful night. After two “pain killers” on Mud Puddle Rose I ended up back on Tide Hiker and in bed by 9 PM. Next morning there was nothing to keep us in Royal Harbor so we headed for Spanish Wells hoping to get a mooring ball. No dice, so we took a slip at the one and only marina. We were towing the dinghy but I was advised to back the boat in. So Deidre grabbed the towing harness and dragged the dink around to the bow where she secured it under the flag pole. We then backed in OK.

The slips were old but solid. The facilities ashore were primitive to say the best. Seemed like the place was being rebuilt and the site was a disaster. To get to the office we had to clamber over building materials and the wreckage of demolished buildings. In the “office” I politely suggested they gave us a “construction site discount” but no dice.

We had arrived about 11AM so we had the day ahead of us and so unloaded the bikes and toured the island. The island was maybe 2 miles long and ½ mile wide at its’ widest. The Island was named because the Spanish galleons stopped here to take on water. The Eleuthera Island group (of which Spanish Wells it is a small part) was named after a religious group (“escaping persecution in Europe”) that was wrecked on the island in the 1700’s. By Bahamian standards it is “busy” because the harbor is home to one of the larger fishing fleets.

Exploring the harbour

We were looking for lunch but turned our noses up at the typical Bahamian places, but then came across a restaurant overlooking the beach that looked like it had some class. And the food turned out to be decent. Then rode back thru the fishing part of the port to Tide Hiker. Later in the day we investigated the island from the dink.