Arriving at Spanish Wells

Friday, February 8, 2013

Arriving at Spanish Wells

At note about the Eleuthera chain of islands- they are not a prime “tourist or boaters” destination. I think that intrigued both Tom and I after Nassau. There are towns that dot the island and Spanish Wells is considered the Lobster Capital of the Bahamas. We decided to start there and work our way south and then to the Exumas.

There were two Catamarans anchored close to the harbor entrance when we arrived, but we chose a place a litter further down and out of the path of fishing boats. We settled in for the night the sky studded with stars and roosters crowing in the distance. Yep roosters… dozens and dozens of roosters that do not seem to know the difference between sun rise and sunset so …. They crow for both.

On Tuesday we took the dingy into the harbor and the town Spanish Wells. There are two Islands that are linked by a bridge Russell on the south/West side and Spanish Wells on the North/east side (see Map). You can rent a golf cart and take the tour of the island. The first thing that stuck Tom and I; no trash, the streets were clean, picked up. There were crews out doing road clean up and trimming the dead limbs back. The homes are colorful but coordinated, the owners taking pride in their property. Houses have a base of white with bright colors to accent. Since the yards are rock (the island is limestone) there are no green lush lawns. Instead there are colorful dracaena plants, flowers hibiscus, bougainvillea, and palms. You also notice that they need rain. Everything here is dry and showing the stress from the lack of moisture. We drove the entire length of the island then went back to visit a few special places.

First stop was the post office; I mailed a letter to the states. The Postmistress said the mail boat would be in on Wednesday and she would make sure it was on that boat BUT… it was going to Nassau and she had no idea how long it would stay there.

Next stop was the Quilt Shop This was a small house – just one room really – I peeked in side and there were boxes with material, miscellaneous sewing supplies and a quilt frame with a quilt on it. A woman from next door Ms. Cecile Dunnam came out and told me to go on in. The quilt they were making was for a local boy who was leaving for school. She invited me into her home and showed me a sail boat quilt she just finished and we had a delightful conversation about material and quilting. She advised that the variety store across the way had the Batik material made on Andros Island, so after saying good bye we

went and I purchase some material in hopes that Meghan (hint hint) will make us a quilt. They suggested a restaurant for lunch, then a walk on the beach where the sand really does have a pink/peach cast to it, and then we returned the golf cart.

We both agreed that we would come back to Spanish Wells. On the Atlantic side of this chain we could go to Harbor Island and a bigger Pink Sand beach, Coral reef and well not much else until you get all the way down to the southern end. If a storm came in from the east we would have no protection. So we have decided to take the inside track. Early to bed, tomorrow we move.