Spanish Wells to Schooner Bay and Hope Town, Great Abaco. April 3-4

 

Spanish Wells Yacht Harbor is going to be quite the destination very soon.  The restaurant had opened only 3 days before we arrived, the pool was almost ready for business, they are finishing up landscaping, etc. The food was very good, but they still had a few kinks to work out service wise.  It will come with time. It was a long trip back for the marina after having been destroyed by hurricanes in the 90's.  The landscaping being finished with the restaurant in the background.

 

 

 

 Nice docks.

 

 

 



The evening we arrived a special on the Bermuda triangle and blue holes was on the National Geographic channel.  This was right after I went swimming in a blue hole...but it was a really interesting show for sure.

 

We had a nice stay in Spanish Wells.  The grocery store had everything we needed. 

The ice cream store was great.  It was run out of a local’s garage and opened every night from 7:30 to 10:30.  Here we are enjoying some!

We rented a golf cart one day with Scott and Brigitte and went all around Spanish Wells and Russell Island checking things out. 

 

A nice home we saw on the tour of Russell Island



The Sandbar Restaurant on Russell was really nice.  It is on a small beach with covered dining and a nice bar area and good food.  What's not to like there!

We scored some great stone crab off the fishing boats too.  We asked about buying some and they said they only sold 40 pound bags.  A little later, one of the fisherman went by in his golf cart and asked if we were the group looking for crab.  He then gave us about 6 pounds and we had to convince him to take some money.  What a friendly island!!

Julie and I walked the entire island (2-1/2 miles by 1/2 mile) including the beach and the cross streets where the residential homes are located.  Very interesting contrasts as one sees large custom built homes right along with very old and modest housing from years ago.



We went to the museum one day and learned all about how the island started with Europeans looking for religious freedom.  They developed the farming and fishing on the island.  The fishing vessels are all owned by the crew in 1/9 shares.  One of their largest customers is Red Lobster.  Most homes here did not get electricity until the 1950's!  And hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Floyd in 1999 really did some damage to the island.  They were without electricity for over three months with one of the storms.

There were a lot of interesting boats at the marina.  How about this Rybovich from 1967?  Wooden and in great shape!  What a cool sportfish.   The picture really does not do it justice.

 

The view from the Shipyard Restaurant on the east end of the island.  The Ridley Cut to the north is just around that point.  More on that later.

I have developed what we believe is bursitis (Popeye elbow) in my elbow.  It happened over a period of time and I really irritated it with leaning on my elbow repairing the generator a few weeks ago and then washing the boat a few times (repetitive scrubbing).  All my symptoms are "classic" based on what we can find on the internet.  It has been almost three weeks since the first outbreak and normal expectations are a 3-4 week recovery with icing and rest.  I can tell the swelling is going down and I have no real pain or redness which could be the sign of infection.  Assuming it goes away on its own, I should be back to washing the boat soon.  In the meantime, we have been hiring a local to wash and dry the boat.  They do a nice job but I don't want to get too used to this!  :>)

Well the weather cooperated and we were able to leave Spanish Wells on Sunday morning after five nights on the small island.  Reading about the Ridley Cut made us a little nervous about leaving that way..."hiring local pilot recommended" is what the cruising guide says.  Then a boat came back to the marina with a bent prop after trying to exit that route.  And another boat went aground just a few hundred yards from our marina.  So I was getting a little apprehensive. But....our slip neighbor is a fisherman and he was leaving at "first light" through Ridley Cut.  He says you can drive a huge boat through there.   So he said just be ready and follow him.  So that is exactly what we did and it was perfect!  Thanks Rue and crew on Tuna Badger (yes they are from Wisconsin!)   Leaving Spanish Wells through Ridley Cut.

The waves were projected to be 8 second intervals and around 4-5 feet.  So had they been that, we would have had a reasonable trip over the 50 miles or so to Schooner Bay, Great Abaco.  But....we had a large swell from the east and 2-3 foot wind waves from the SW.  Oh, and we were traveling NNW.  So both wave directions were basically beam seas from both sides.  A bunch uncomfortable, especially when we had to head straight south into the channel entrance at Schooner and thus parallel to the crashing waves.  A few things rolled around in the boat on that last 1/2 mile or so!  The waves from the shore after we arrived.  From the entrance channel on our walk around the Schooner Bay property.

 

We shared the water with a couple large freighters.  In fact, some portions of the trip traversed waters 15,000 feet deep.  Radar showing the large rain area we will go through before arriving.

Note the closed curtains so Julie does not see the waves and thus does better with her potential to be seasick.  We also have the life vests at ready whenever we go this far offshore.

The marina at Schooner Bay was interesting.  Someone has poured a lot of money into the development.  There are a number of nice homes, a small hotel, a restaurant, a couple nice beaches and lots of empty lots on site.  We took a walk around the facility and found future plans for a school, etc all on site.  But for now the marina at least is half done.  No showers.  One small restroom.  And $2 a foot with no real services. One interesting feature was "in slip" fueling.  They had connections to gas and diesel each 50 feet or so down the dock and a portable pump device to wheel out to fuel boats right in their slip.  Interesting.

 

 

We also took on a passenger there.  A small gecko boarded and disappeared.  Today as we were tying up in Hope Town, it was on the bow and Julie captured it and put it off the boat on a lawn and shrubbery area at the marina.  Then we saw local cats prowling the area....hmmm.

The weather cooperated more on Monday and we made the 40 mile trip to Hope Town.  Here is the small fairway between the catamarans we had to squeeze through to get into our slip!

Some friends from the Great Lakes Grand Banks Association winter here and said to look them up.  So we reached out and Vicki and David will be showing us around the community a bit.  We planned to stay here only a few days but we are now inquiring about a month!  What a nice facility.  2 pools, hot tubs, swim up bar, restaurant, free shuttle to the other side of the harbor where shops, beaches, etc are located.  Thanks for recommending this marina Vicki!!

And how about a small world event.  The previous owners of our boat, Martha and Parker on Otter, a beautiful Fleming from Harbor Springs, are berthed just 50 yards or so from us at this marina.  We had a nice chat with them at the pool on Monday afternoon.  Small world.

We are now in position to greet our next on board visitors, Denise and Dave from Seattle.  Denise is Julie's cousin who we have visited a couple times in Washington over the years.   We look forward to their visit.

March statistics:
Miles travelled:  352 /Trip to Date: 3136
Travel days:   7 / 56
Engine hours: 27 / 344
Locks:   0/35
Bridges opened:   0 /14
Days on hook or free wall:   4 /18
Gallons of diesel:  214  / 2294
The Bahamas are truly priceless!
 

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