Wallowing Westward to Spanish Wells

2/28 - We were up early this morning and ready to leave. The settlement had been burning their garbage all night and, unfortunately, we were directly in the path of the “smell”. With the wind strength and wave direction we had entertained the idea of staying another day in Hatchet Bay, but with the “smell” wafting through the harbor, both boats were ready to leave. We decided the lesser of two evils would be the wind and waves.

Once through the entrance we encountered seas of about 3-4 feet that were on our beam. This is our least favorite point of sail as we wallow quite a bit. However, we pressed on and once we made a slight turn we were able to maintain that course with the waves mostly behind us and the ride was more comfortable.

To get to Spanish Wells we cruised through the Bight of Eleuthera and then through Current Cut. The Cut separates Current Island and Eleuthera Island. The guidebooks stressed caution as there is swift tidal current that flows through the Cut which can be intensified with wind. It suggested the best time to pass through the Cut was slack water at high tide. That wasn’t in the cards for us as high tide today was early in the morning or late in the evening. Slack low tide was around 1:00. Because we had the wind and current in the same direction on our stern, we figured we’d be fine going through at anytime. We ended up traversing the cut around 11:15 a.m. without any problem at all. We estimated the current at around 2-3 knots. Once through the Cut we pressed on to Spanish Wells arriving around 12:45. We had called about mooring balls, but they were all full, so we stayed at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven.

The rest of the day was spent exploring Spanish Wells. This is truly an impressive place – not touristy, but they have about everything a person needs and the homes and yards are meticulous. I’ll post several pictures to give you an idea what it looks like. A large percentage of the inhabitants are white native Bahamians and can trace their ancestry from the first British settlers in the 1600’s or the Loyalist settlers in the 1700’s. English here is spoken with somewhat of a Scottish/British accent. The main occupation is fishing, with the island producing about 75% of the nation’s exported spiny lobster.

Leaving Hatchet Bay

Approaching Current Cut

Second Star following a sailboat through Current Cut

Traveling through the Cut

The mailboat, Current Pride, at the dock

Exiting the Cut

While approaching Spanish Wells harbor, we encountered
a most unusual looking vessel. Seemed to be a trawler
with a ketch rig. Here they are hoisting the sails.