Spanish Wells...a quaint end to the season

We have reached the end of our permit and the last point we can get to in the Bahamas without taking another PCR COVID test and it's really been a great little stop! Frank had been here before for a few hours as part of a boat delivery, but it was the first visit for the rest of us. We had a nice sail over from Royal Island, navigated the skinny western channel into Spanish Wells, and picked up one of Bandit's mooring balls. At first, they look really close together and you can see shallow water all around the tiny field, but it was actually quite roomy given that we were surrounded by other 40-ish foot monohulls (and we all had connections to the PACNORWEST!). 

Love the moorings in SW!

While I took stock of what we needed in town, the guys ran in with our trash and cash to pay Bandit. Their very first contact ashore set the tone for the whole visit! As they scaled the concrete wall with our trash, a woman invited them drop it in her bin. I mean, we had LOTS of trash at that point...hadn't dropped it off in weeks so we had two big bags and two small bags of bottles and cans (always hoping for recycling), but she didn't seem to mind. Come to find out she and her husband were former cruisers who had settled in Spanish Wells. They shared their trash bins, porch, book collection, and access to the local museum with cruisers passing through. So sweet!

We spent the first afternoon on an epic field trip to the northern tip of Eleuthera. I didn't want to leave without a visit to the Sapphire Blue Hole and Preacher's Cave. It was fairly calm so we opted to take the dinghy and tried to head around the north side of the island to the cave first--no go! It was pretty rough so we enjoyed the sites and blue water and headed back to the protected ferry dock beach on Eleuthera. And like many of our Bahamas land adventures, the 35-minute walk to get to the blue hole was a bit of a death march, exposed to the midday sun on hot pavement and dirt roads. But the reward was AMAZING! This blue hole is truly sapphire blue! The local rotary club has built a nice railing around it and picnic tables nearby so you can really enjoy it. A few local guys were there when we arrived and gave us some encouragement to jump before they left and we had this entire place to ourselves. It was just stunning. The drop in was a little higher than at Hoffman's Blue Hole, maybe 30' here, and it took a few minutes for us to get jumping. The cool water was a welcome relief after the walk there and we soaked in the peaceful beauty for a bit before heading back. Oh, and the only way out of the hole is to scale the wall! Thankfully there is a rope to help, but it's definitely not a trip for non adventurous, out-of-shape folks.

This water is so blue!

Sapphire Blue Hole...so much fun!

3/4 of the crew didn't want to continue on to Preacher's Cave so we headed back to Spanish Wells and got ready for an evening ashore! That nice lady the guys met invited us over for happy hour and we enjoyed talking with Jean and her husband, Tom, and Tom's brother, Bob, at their home, "Done Reach." We shared cruising tales, reminisced about New England (their old home), and they gave the kids hamburger beans to polish and make into necklaces. It was such a nice time. From there we headed to Budda's for a less-refined happy hour--drinks and tons of food!

"I got dizzy at Budda's!"

The next day we rented a golf cart and just roamed all over. We hit the beach, stocked up on food for the transit, hit a beach bar for really good cocktails, and had a little fun on some deserted roads. And then we got to close the day with another night at Budda’s and ice cream with our kid boat friends (and met another awesome kid boat!). This was absolutely the most amazing way to end our time in the Bahamas.

One last beach day in the Bahamas

Golf cart fun!

Love all of these boat kids! Really hope to share more anchorages with them in the future. And why do the adults never remember to take photos when we are together???

So after two nights in Spanish Wells, we are off! Our departure was a little exciting as a freighter was coming in and we needed to sneak past or get stuck for a while—we opted for the “hug the edge of the channel and deal with being mere feet from a 200+ foot vessel” option! All good! And since I was having so much fun yesterday, time to finally work on prepping our transit food—Jollof rice, hummus, potato salad, and cut-up meats and cheeses. Farewell, Bahamas!

Underway!