Good morning from Spanish Wells. Since the last post we have moved up Eleuthera Island and have anchored 4 nights and we are now at Yacht Haven Marina in Spanish Wells. We have really enjoyed exploring Eleuthera Island.

We left Cape Eleuthera Saturday for an easy and calm run up to Governor’s Harbor.

We anchored in the bay and should have been protected well from the wind and waves. That was the plan, but the waves bounced off the rocks to our north and we had a surge all evening. It was a little rolly so we decided to only spend one night here and move north the next day, but not before seeing as much of the town as possible and having a great dinner.

The bay was large but we were tucked into a small corner. The rocks are to the left of this picture that the waves bounced off all night!

Pano of Governors Harbor from the beach.

Not quite the same Buccaneer that we did our honeymoon at 35 years ago, but it was fun!

We were treated to a great sunset as we went in for dinner.

The winds were supposed to change more to the west for Sunday, so we decided after rolling all night that we would move to a more protected anchorage at Hatchet Bay. The winds picked up earlier than expected so we were off by 9am and arrived at Hatchet Bay with large waves and heavy winds.

This would have been fine except for the very narrow cut we needed to get through in the 2-4′ waves bouncing off the rocks. I hit the cut at about 12 MPH, as it was all or nothing at that point.

This is a picture of the cut the next day after the waves calmed down.

We got in early and the anchorage filled up by late afternoon. There were over 30 boats in there that night for protection from the wind.

There was a very small bar and grill with a dinghy dock at one end of the hole, so we enjoyed a few drinks and local entertainment Sunday night with a lot of other boaters. I think we all wanted off the boats for a bit after the run into the bay that day!

Local liquor store named after my nephew!

We ended up spending 3 nights here on the anchor and explored the area with caves and local farms.

We toured that day with another looper couple from Three Sons.

It was very dark, but we had “A” light and our cell phones. We needed more light

After finding our way back out of the cave, we toured Emmet’s farm.

Did not know this is how pineapples grow!

I also did not know this is how they start coconut trees.

We learned a lot about the local farming and what they feel is important in the area. The soil is good, but they now have racoons on the island and that is hurting the crops.

We also had a visit from a very large turtle. Had to be at least 6′ diameter.

We enjoyed the next couple nights at Hatchet Bay before moving over to Spanish Wells on Wednesday 3/13/2024.

This meant we had to go out the narrow cut again, but at least it was calm this time.

Approaching the pass from the inside.

You can see by the white water, there is not much room off the sides of the boat to the rocks. Amy likes to close her eyes for these maneuvers. But this time I talked her into taking pictures.

The weather was great for this run once again!

As you can see, we bumped up the speed on the way over, as we needed fuel and they closed for lunch from noon-1pm. Most everything down here closes for an hour for lunch. This worked out fine, as it brought us into Spanish Wells at high tide. This is a shallow area, so we needed to approach at that time anyway.

We are now nicely tucked in at Yacht Haven and will remain here for 4 nights.

We will explore Spanish Wells for the next couple days as we watch the weather for a window to cross over to the Abacos. Right now, it looks like Sunday will be our day for this crossing. We will be going through the ocean and in over 15,000 feet of water. That will be the deepest we have ever been boating in!!

Hope you have a good rest of your week and I will post again Saturday before we head out to the Abacos!