Sailing Ohana

The route from Eleuthera to Spanish Wells goes through Current Cut, which (as the name implies) has a strong current, so we had to time our trip carefully with the tide. When we arrived at the cut it was pretty underwhelming, although we could see how it might be rough under very different conditions and tide. We were escorted to the cut by three dolphins who played between our two hulls and frolicked under the trampoline.

On our first afternoon in Spanish Wells we all anchored near Meeks Patch since the anchorage near town was bumpy and wavy. We set the anchor near a cute little beach. Unfortunately we soon discovered that it is a beach with swimming pigs for tourists to feed, and they tried to charge the boys $10 each, just to go ashore. That evening we had a good-bye potluck on Kairos, as they were leaving the next morning for Puerto Rico.

The long and bumpy dinghy ride to the town of Spanish Wells was enough to motivate us to move Ohana to the anchorage near town the next morning, plus the winds also settled down so it would be comfortable over there. As is often the case when we anchoring near a town, this was not an ideal Morris situation. There was no easy or close beach for us to take him, only a dinghy ride to the docks in town.

Spanish Wells is a unique community on St. George’s Cay, made up of mostly descendants of people who left England in the 17th century, looking for religious freedom. The fishing fleet from Spanish Wells supplies more than half of the Bahamas’ commercial fish, lobster, and conch. As a result, it is much wealthier than the other Bahamian communities we have visited. During our days of walking around the area, we noticed homes on large lots that are nicely maintained, and cars in better condition than most we have seen since the US. Another interesting fact is that they have public trash service with nice trash bins on practically every block, so there is far less litter and dumping of trash compared with the other islands we’ve been to. Many locals drive around in gas-powered golf carts and visitors can rent out golf carts, which is fun. There are many more Caucasian locals than on any of the other islands… They are the descendants of the people from England. These folks speak a sort of pidgin English with a very unique accent that is difficult to understand. It sounds Irish at first, but then there is a strong Bahamian/Island influence that is confusing. It’s hard to describe, as you can tell. We noticed that there are only about 5 last names when it comes to the local families; it was also apparent when we walked by the cemetery.

One day we had an epic adventure day with our 5 friend kid boats. To start, we dinghyed to a beautiful pink beach on the other side of the island. Then we went to explore a cave where a shipwrecked group of people lived in the 1800’s. The cave is now home to several giant bee hives. We hiked from there to the Sapphire Blue Hole which is truly sapphire-colored. Most of our group jumped off and had a great time. Climbing out required some skills, and we were really impressed that everyone was able to do it, including the 5 year old in our group! It was an adventure trying to get back into our dinghys because of the beach we anchored on and the tides. I had to swim Morris out through the waves to our dinghy while Tommy held the dinghy and lifted Morris mostly into the boat. I then swam from behind and pushed his hind legs to give a final bit of support to get him inside. I was fading fast, coming down with a cold, so we went back to the boat for dinner and rest.

One of the highlights of Spanish Wells was walking to Papa’s Scoops ice cream almost every night (they open at 7pm). They have 2 flavors that change each day. We also went out to a couple of nice restaurant dinners while we were there. Tommy and I had our 14th wedding anniversary in Spanish Wells, and after spending the afternoon exploring with the boys, we went out to dinner while Grace took Jackson and Spencer. It was honestly a really difficult couple of days as we started thinking and talking more seriously about what life will look like for us when we return home. We are struggling with our visions for the future.

We discussed with Grace our timeline for heading back to Florida. Although they have a lot more time than we do, they decided to join us at our pace, at least until our check-out point at Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos. We were thrilled to get to spend more time together before our departure. There weren’t any great days in the weather forecast to cross to the Abacos, so we chose the least messy day, knowing the passage would still not be very comfortable. Jackson and I took Morris into town at dawn for one last walk and to drop off our trash before getting back on the boat for the passage north.