Spanish Wells, Windows, and Baths

We moved the boat from the more protected anchorage by Hoffman's Blue Hole and back to where we anchored the first day so we could get an early start heading for Eleuthera.  We made our way out the cut between Hoffman's and Devils cays, raised the sails, and pointed the bow towards Eleuthera.

Since arriving in Bimini, we have done our best to sail and not motor, and this was no exception.  The ideal wind would be from the side, or beam, of the boat.  This day, like many, it was a little forward of that, but still a decent angle and we made reasonable time without having to burn any diesel.  Still, we sailed a bit slower than we wanted, perhaps because we are a bit loaded down with supplies or that the bottom of the hull could stand a light cleaning.  This wouldn't have been bad, except a bit of a thunderstorm had developed and moved in right as we got into the shallow waters on the approach to Spanish Wells.  At one point, we considered diverting to an alternate anchorage, but decided to push on through so we would be near the town in the morning.

The winds clocked around until they were right on our nose, so we dropped the sails and started the motors.  Then the heavy rain started.  It reduced visibility to about a quarter mile and we were using sound signals and the chartplotter to navigate through it.  I was starting to wonder if we had made a mistake by not diverting, but the storm eventually passed and we were able to see boats and the Meeks Patch island where we intended to anchor.  The storm had further slowed us, so we dropped anchor at dusk and settled in for the night.  It wasn't until we were done that we noticed we actually anchored about 200 yards from iCat.

The weather improved overnight and in the morning we repositioned our boats to an anchorage just outside the entrance to Spanish Wells harbor.  From there we launched the dinghy to explore town with the crew of iCat and do a little shopping.  Spanish Wells, although smaller than Bimini, had much more to offer.  A couple grocery stores (one very well stocked and reasonable prices, at least by Bahamas standards), hardware store, liquor store, and several restaurants. They even had a boatyard and 2 marine stores, one of which had the hose I was looking for.  In addition to the hose, we picked up some fresh produce, eggs, and a couple other items on our excursion.  We had lunch at a local restaurant on the waterfront.  It was a successful trip.

The next day we left Spanish Wells and headed south around Current Cay to Glass Window and the Queen's Baths.  We unfortunately got a late start and missed slack tide at Current Cut and had to go the long way around through Flemming Channel.  Although wider than Current Cut, the current and wind made the channel a bit of a rough ride as the current opposed the wind direction.  We arrived late at the anchorage after once again sailing all the way (except for a brief bit in the channel), dropped the hook, had dinner, and went to bed.

Glass Window Bridge

The following day we visited the Glass Window Bridge and the Queen's Baths.  The bridge is the thinnest point on the island and shows the vast difference between the shallow waters of the Bight of Eleuthera to the west and the deep Atlantic ocean to the east. The Queen's Baths are pools formed in the rocky shoreline that are heated by the sun.  The water in the pools is saltwater, although I'm not sure how they are filled as many seem to be well above the coastline.  I guess I could see a queen taking a soak here, there were several visitors doing the same.

The crew of Rover and ICat

Small pools at the Baths

The waves crash at the Baths

Since the anchorage we were at had nice clean water surrounding the boat, we also decided it was time to break out the watermaker and replenish our fresh water supply.  We last filled our tanks a couple days before leaving Bimini and one was now empty.  Since it had been a while since we used the watermaker, I also wanted to make sure it was working.  We fired up the generator and proceeded to slowly turn Seawater into fresh until our tanks were once again full.  I wondered if the inverter could run the Rainman watermaker, but it didn't work.  Too bad, it would be nice to be able to make a little water when we had excess solar power to burn.  We also gave the underside a little cleaning.  There was some soft growth and our friends suggested using cut-resistant gloves to brush it off and that worked well.

Pretty water at the anchorage 

Next we decided to check out Hatchet Bay and Alice Town....