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In the morning the other boat is gone and we have the place to ourselves.
After a quiet night the wind starts blowing harder from the W but it was that
way yesterday as we sailed in and we hope it will go down a bit although it is
down wind to Spanish Wells and should not be a problem. Around 10 a shrimp boat
pulls in with a load of children. It anchors and the kids start jumping into the
water from the highest point on the boat. Paradise ruined. We pull up our
anchors and motor out and then have a nice down wind sail to Spanish Wells. A
local freight boat is anchored outside of town. The entrance is straight
foreword and deep but the waterway runs between the town and an undeveloped
island and is much narrower than it looks on the map with large shrimp boats
docked on one side and a sunken wreck on the other side. Someone ashore waves at
us, it is Bill from Imagine. A little further on we see Gretchen standing at one
of the docks. At the end of town it opens up a little to a small anchorage with
about 10 moorings surrounded by shallows. After circling a few times it is not
as bad as it looks, it is almost empty with only one cruiser, one sailboat and
one local fishing boat. We see Imagine anchored outside to the E of town in the
channel that runs between Spanish Wells and Eleuthera. We pick up one of the
moorings that seems to be furthest from the shallows and other boats. It is
12:30 so we have lunch and then relax and try to stay cool. Around 3 we see 3
sailboats coming in the E entrance, 2 take moorings and another continues on. A
local in a small outboard helps them pick up the moorings. Afterwards he comes
over and collects for the mooring. His name is Bradley Newbold and he takes
people around the Devils Backbone to Harbor Island. The third boat, Freedom is
planning to take the trip and we could get a discount of more than one boat goes
at a time. Freedom is taking a slip at the marina. We relax until 5, another
motorboat came in and picked up a mooring. I am glad we got in early and did not
have to find a mooring among all the boats here now.
At 5 it is starting to cool off a little and we get in the dingy and tour the waterfront. There are no obvious dingy docks but lots of small outboards are tied to the seawall with anchors to keep them off. A 90’ yacht goes thru the harbor, it looks out of place here, more suited to Ft. Lauderdale. After touring the waterfront we return to the center of town and find a convenient place to tie up. It is high tide and not difficult to climb to the top of the seawall but there are no ladders and only a few stairs at widely spaced intervals on the seawall so it would be very difficult to get out at low tide. We walk up the steep hill where the water tower is and get a good view of the water on both sides of the island. A little further on we find the Batelco station and call home. All the stores are closed, it is the local custom to close on Wednesdays at noon. We locate some of the shops and the museum. On the way back to the dingy we find a small restaurant open and have dinner there. We ordered milkshakes and onion rings, have not had anything like that for quite a while. The whole town seems very quiet, the only activity is the ferry which goes by every half hour and a number of small fishing boats zipping thru the harbor. We see several people out weeding their lawns. The most activity is a group of people painting one of the hauled out shrimp boats, still working even though it is getting dark, what dedication. We feel a few no-see-um bites on the way back to the boat and light a pick when we get back on board. I hear one mosquito but that seems to be the limit of our insect problems. The wind drops during the night and I put up the wind scoop over the center hatch which improves the ventilation considerably but it is still a hot night.
Awoke to a strong North-Westerly breeze. Our neighbor is gone. Rich just read that large "money bats" are around Eleuthera. If one lands on you, wealth awaits! :) We saw one at "the yacht club ruins". Last night lots of small and large moths drove us inside. Oddly, we did not see butterflies. It is still cool this AM. Yesterday we swam and snorkeled all around the anchorage. We have 2 anchors out. There is a care taker somewhere here according to a sign and the cruising guide but we don't see him anywhere.
NAKED MAN PORTSIDE (no picture proof). ha, ha Just cruising around the harbor! :) About 10 AM the "Miss Emily" came in to anchor loaded with kids! Rich is pulling up both anchors ha. ha. Soon after the boat load of 20 thirteen year olds arrived we left... and sailed to Spanish ells. Quaint place. No sailboats! Only fast little fishing boats. Well groomed homes and yards. Five restaurants, no ETOH. We looked around town. Saw a pilot bringing in 3 other sailboats to moorings and the only Marina. The marina boat is Freedom. Bradley Newbold - who collected on the mooring states Freedom wants to go to Harbor Island with him as pilot (( (809 333-4079 VHF 16 Call "Cinnabar"))...
We did a boat ride down the Spanish Wells seawall and a quick walk around town. Then ate supper at the "Snack Shack" - good. 1/2 the Abaco prices.
It seems cool enough in the morning and we make preparations to tour the
town. We bring the dingy anchor this time to keep the boat off the dock. Another
dingy goes over to one of the docks and we follow and tie up next to him
although we find out that the pier is private and the public dock is the
seawall. We walk to the store next to the museum, they operate it but only one
person is there and she can not leave. She says the museum will be open at 1 so
we continue walking around. We walk W along the N road which is very busy with
cars and motorcycles and a few bikes. We walk to the large grocery store and buy
a few items. On the edge of the parking lot is an abandoned fire truck with one
rear wheel missing. We walk to the waterfront road and back E past the marina
and to the Outback restaurant. After lunch we walk back to the marina to talk to
the people on Freedom about going together to Harbor Island. The boat is closed
up but we find them at the marina restaurant. They are Bill and Trisch and have
been doing laundry and working on the boat and plan to see the town tomorrow and
possibly go to Harbor Island on Saturday. We walk back to the museum and store
but it is still closed for lunch. We walk a short way W to the Captains
Restaurant and have ice cream and sodas. When we get back to the store the
second person is still out but comes back after a few minutes and opens up the
museum. The museum is in a small wood frame 2 story house similar to the one in
Hope Town, the 2nd story is the bedroom but it is really just an
attic. The presentation is a bit more professional than the one in Hope Town
with engraved plaques to explain the exhibits instead of typewritten pieces of
paper. The living room has a model of the first motorboat used for fishing in
the area and displays showing the Lucian Indians and the first English settlers.
A display cabinet with roll out drawers shows the pipes used for tobacco and how
they evolved as tobacco became more available the bowls became larger and the
hole in the stem bigger. They had displays of glass bottles and glass and
ceramic bowls. Upstairs they had a number of sewing machines, quilts and lace
work that was done locally. One exhibit was pictures of the Glass Wall, a low
narrow spot in Eleuthera where the island is only 50’ wide and 10’ hi. A long time
ago a natural arch spanned this cut but a tsunami in the 1870’s swept it away as
well as a number of picnickers. A bridge was built in its place and around 1950
large waves from a rage smashed the bridge and shifted it. The museum has
termite problems with piles of droppings in various places. They used to have
other exhibits outside, a Lucian type hut and a local dingy but termites and
hurricanes did them in.
Across the street from the museum is a small hut used by
the local women to do quilting. Two women were in there doing a large blanket
while another watched. We talked for a while and Jill took a picture.
We bought a 30’ bag of ice at the marine store near where we left the dingy and returned to the boat. While we were getting the ice put away Bill and Trisch and another couple came by in a dingy. They were coming back from the liquor store on Eleuthera, about half a mile away and said they were going to go to Harbor Island on Saturday at noon and we agreed to go at the same time. A little later Mr. Newbold came by with his partner, Mr. Roberts and also told us about the trip so it is all arraigned. We put up both wind scoops and extra shades for the cockpit but it was still hot. The wind died and was almost gone by nightfall. I slept in the cockpit for a while until it cooled off more. There was a lot of activity on the waterfront, loud motors and trucks. Tomorrow is a holiday and perhaps they are trying to get 2 days work in today.
Saturday we and Freedom are going to Harbor Island with Pilot Bradley. We walked all over Spanish Wells. We went to the museum - nice. We took pictures at the quilt shop! Sisters quilting... choked me up - the tulip pattern. Ate lunch at Jack's Outback - good!
In the morning several of our neighbors were gone and in the afternoon the last sailboat, the one that was here when we arrived left. We have the place to ourselves except for the 2 boats in storage. We worked on letters and postcards expecting to mail them in the afternoon but after lunch we noticed water around the bottom of the kitchen cabinet and traced it to the foot pump. The fasteners were difficult to get at but I eventually got them out and removed the pump. I did find several steel cans hidden in the compartment, lost treasure! I disassembled the pump and found that one diaphragm had a small hole. We can try the marine stores tomorrow to see if they have a repair kit. I thought about moving the pump from the head to the kitchen but then remembered that we still had the pressure water system. I plugged the water host that went to the foot pump and cleaned up. I filled the sun shower with the pressure water, it goes much faster than the foot pump and we went swimming. I scrubbed some of the new growth from the hull and Jill found a conch shell with a hermit crab, the biggest hermit crab I have ever seen. She also saw a large fish (shark?) swimming next to the boat. While we were swimming the bilge pump came on and almost splashed Jill. After showering I checked the plumbing and the makeshift plug I installed was not holding so I connected the line to the filter, bypassing the foot pump and this connection appears to be holding. I hate plumbing but at least this is better than toilets.
We have happy hour to celebrate the successful solution to our problem. The wind decreases at dusk but is still from the W. As yesterday I sleep in the cockpit or at least rest until things cool off more and then go below.
Bahamian Labor Day : Swam - I saw the tail end of a big fish under Phoenix. The water has only about 6 ft visibility and Lots of particles because of the white muck type sand. Nice and refreshing though. H2O temp about 86°F. The air temp is 90°+F. No sign of rain. Rich is reading the Fledgling and then Cyber Space... I started A Case of Need, med. mystery by Michael Crichton. Rich beat me again at Spite and Malice. He practices too much with his computer game. Unfair advantage. :)
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