Spanish Wells, Eleuthera

Spanish Wells, Eleuthera   …   Thursday 21st february 2013

We slept well last night - happy to have made it safely to Eleuthera. Royal Island Harbor is an excellent natural harbor and actually quite beautiful. We had a leisurely breakfast, made some banana bread from old ripe bananas, and pulled up anchor at 9.30am. It was only a very short journey (~5 miles) into Spanish Wells harbor and we were happily tied up on a mooring before 11am. Spanish Wells is a serious fishing port with quite  a lot of boat traffic including trawlers, lobster boats, ferries and transport ships. The harbor itself is really a narrow channel between two islands and there is no room for anchoring. In fact we heard from some other boaters that when the container ships that supply the community arrive from Nassau they tie up perpendicular to the dock for unloading and completely block the channel for hours at a time. The water here is a beautiful turquoise color and with all the colorful buildings of the town creates a beautiful scene. I was itching to get ashore, but before that could happen we needed to clean up the engine compartment that was full of black dust and bits from alternator belt and shredded lint from an oil drop cloth that was under the engine and got fouled up as the belt disintegrated. It was dirty job, but once complete the engine looked as good as ever. We  then re-inflated the dinghy and headed to the town to explore. The town itself is quite striking with houses of many vibrant colors. The beach to the north across the other side of the island is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen - with absolutely no one on it. We managed to buy a replacement alternator belt at a local garage and also took a quick look around the food store, which seemed somewhat limited. We returned to Cotinga to cook dinner and spend a quiet evening aboard.

25 32.504 N, 76 44.711 W

Mike

The mooring field in Spanish Wells Harbor with town behind

The fast ferry from Nassau - Spanish Wells - Harbor Island

Dinghy at Spanish Wells Beach

Laughing gull on Spanish Wells Beach

One of the locals hanging out on his porch

Abstract - steps and door

Abstract - old oil drums used to collect trash

Abstract - steps

Abstract - building corner

Abstract - building corner

Abstract - green door