South to Eleuthera

When we arrived in the Bahamas mid-January, our itinerary was somewhat sketchy beyond sailing the Abacos Islands in the north. Our Bahamian cruising permit was for three months to cruise and explore over 700 islands in an archipelago of islands and cays spread out over 180,000 square miles.

In talking to other sailors familiar with the islands, we heard the pros and cons of places to visit. We knew we wanted to avoid the larger islands with large populations, such as New Providence and Grand Bahama. We weren’t cruising the Bahamas to look for shopping, casinos or fancy restaurants. The more populated islands had few scenic destinations that weren’t choked with tourists, expensive marinas and reported issues with crime. Some of the less developed and remote islands were not a crowded and more scenic, but they offered limited access to essential needs like fresh water, fuel and provisions. Some remote destinations had reputations for swarms of biting pests and dangerous fish. Once we arrived in the Abacos, we took a closer look at the guidebooks we brought with us and talked extensively to other visitors on boats.

Despite some warnings about biting flies and long distances between idyllic tropical destinations, two islands to the south caught our attention: Eleuthera and Great Exuma.  Our first destination after exploring the Abacos was the long string-bean island of Eleuthera.

Departing the Abacos

We were up at 0500 to make the 56 nautical mile ocean crossing from Lynyard Cay (pronounced lihn’ yard kee) off Great Abaco Island to Eleuthera. We did our systems checks, loaded the route into our Raymarine Axiom chart plotter and weighed anchor. By 0630 both Gaviidae and our buddy boat, s/v Shadow, another Gozzard G41, were steaming out of Gilly’s Beach Cove.

We had met Shadow‘s owners Mike and Andrea, a few days earlier in the Hopetown harbor and discovered we had similar itineraries. We rendezvoused at Lynyard Cay the previous evening and passed a calm night at anchor near each other. At first light we headed south by southwest toward the cut between Lynyard and the shoals off Little Harbour on Great Abaco. There were a few other boats anchored nearby and we anticipated additional company for the trek south. Sure enough a sailing catamaran followed us out, but we had no communication with the crew.

Rainbow!

Fair weather with clear skies and favorable winds out of the east were forecast by our weather service, Chris Parker’s Marine Weather Center. While the windcast was accurate, the sunrise was muted by low grey clouds that blanketed 80% of the sky. Optimistically we wasted little time before we deployed our mainsail in an easterly breeze pushing 8 knots. Rain had not been part of the weather report, but we encountered a brief shower as we headed out of Gilly’s Beach Cove. It was just enough rain to produce a beautiful rainbow over the Great Abaco shore. A good omen!

Bowing to their previous experience in cruising the Bahamas—including this particular passage—we followed Shadow through the cut between the southern tip of Lynyard Cay and the shoals off Little Harbour. By 0800 we were on the Atlantic Ocean motor sailing south toward Eleuthera.

Amazing Sail

As the morning wore on the water deepened and by 1100 the clear blue-green Bahama water gave way to lapis blue seas verging on violet. The winds had increased to 12 knots, so we unfurled our big genoa to complement the main sail. The genny was still crisp and white; we’d had very few opportunities to use it after we ordered and installed it in Nova Scotia the previous spring. The difference that new sail made was thrilling! We could feel the additional power as Gaviidae surged through the surf, so we cut the engine.

The leaden cumulus cloud coverage gave way to lighter stratocumulus clouds by early afternoon. We had all the ingredients of every sailor’s dream: blue sky punctuated by scattered puffs of white clouds over following lapis blue waves sloshing along the hull–sails lowing in a tropical seabreeze. Occasional schools of silvery flying fish flashed in the sunlight as they arced over the water to escape larger predator fish. And it was all unimpeded by the sound and exhaust of our diesel engine. Glorious!

Steady 13-to-15-knot winds on our beam allowed us to sail at 7-7.5 knots per hour all afternoon. We fired up the engine a mile or so from our destination for the day: Royal Island off North Eleuthera Island.

Royal Island

At 1500 we entered the narrow opening to the harbor on the south side of Royal Island just west of North Eleuthera. Low, brush-lined cliffs enclosed the entirety of the harbor except at that opening. The harbor was oblong–shaped somewhat like a mushroom. The entrance was midway between either end. An ideal hurricane hole for boats.

Most of the island is part of the exclusive Royal Island Resort, but other than a couple of small shuttle craft moored in the west end of the harbor, there was scant evidence of any development around the harbor. A couple of local fishing boats were tied to a nearby dock with small ramshackle building standing at the foot of the dock. A couple of small trucks were parked in the adjacent dirt parking lot. Power poles and overhead lines ran along the dirt road atop the low, brush-covered cliffs that bordered the harbor.

Safe Harbor

Amazingly, this mushroom-shaped cove is not filled with mooring balls and is a popular stopping point for sailors transiting to and from the Abacos Islands. We had selected this spot as our destination because heavy weather was predicted for the next night. Numerous other boats were already anchored in the western half of the cove. Everyone had the same idea, to get well into the shallower ends of the mushroom cap away from the entrance for the best shelter and secure holding. Shadow dropped anchor near the southwest shore; we parked farther into the west end.

We had decent cellphone coverage in the harbor, so we reached out to a marina in nearby Spanish Wells to see if they had room for us on a dock. Nobody answered our call and we had little confidence that we would be lucky enough to find a slip available, but we left a message on the marina’s voicemail anyway. With weather on its way, boaters would be vying for safe berths, but we figured nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Anchoring Dilemma

Numerous other boats arrived after we anchored, vying for good holding away from the entrance. Late in the afternoon, a sailing catamaran from a Bahamian charter fleet arrived and dropped anchor in front us. A common habit among sailors in any anchorage is to watch new arrivals, assess their anchoring acumen and, if need be, offer advice about where to anchor. Julie and I watched the catamaran come in and let the crew know where our anchor and rode lay. They parked well ahead of us, but we didn’t think they backed down on their anchor sufficiently to ensure a good set. Since we weren’t expecting any big winds overnight, we thought we were probably ok for the time being.

The cat was probably a bareboat charter, i.e., no local captain or crew aboard, so we surmised the crew would not be well-acquainted with the boat and its systems. In addition, they were a young crew and may not have had much sailing experience to begin with. When they came into the harbor we thought they anchored a little too close to us and a little too quickly. They had selected a spot in front of us that we had rejected for depth and questionable holding, according to information we had about the cove.

Observations

The next morning the charter cat was considerably closer to us than the night before. The boat had dragged anchor overnight. They were close enough that we caught snatches of conversations among the crew indicating they were considering re-anchoring. With strong winds and squalls expected for the coming evening, Julie and I discussed repositioning away from the encroaching boat. Before we could do so, we got a call from Yacht Haven in Spanish Wells, the marina we called the previous day. They had room for one more boat. A dock slip was ours, if we wanted it to ride out the approaching storm!

We alerted Shadow about our planned departure, weighed anchor and headed out of the cove. As we were leaving, we noticed the charter cat also weighed anchor and then dropped it in the spot we had just left.

 Early History of Spanish Wells and Eleuthera

Spanish Wells is a small, secluded settlement with a checkered history. It is located on St. George’s Cay, just north of the main island. St. George’s Cay is thought to be the first place in the Bahamas inhabited by humans since the original inhabitants, Lucayan Indians, were enslaved by Spanish explorers and carted off to South America to work in mines. Thus, Spanish Wells has a nominal claim as birthplace of the Bahamas.

In the 1640s, an English Puritan religious sect called the Company of Eleutheran Adventurers settled there to escape persecution in Bermuda. The “adventurers,” who adapted their name from the Greek word eleftheria (translated as “freedom”), settled on the then-uninhabited St. George’s Cay after one of their ships foundered on dangerous shoals now known as the Devil’s Backbone. Others in the group continued on to the larger, equally empty larger island to the south called Cigatoo—later named Eleuthera.

Isolated and adhering to strict religious rules, the settlement failed at agricultural efforts and despite largely subsisting on on fishing and food brought in from other settlements in Eleuthera. Increasingly xenophobic, the settlement struggled while the Eleutherans who moved on were sporadically more successful with endeavors on the main island and were influential in the development of Nassau and other places in the archipelago.

According to a couple sources, wells were dug on the sparsely populated St. George’s Cay by Spanish ships’ captains in the 1700s to supply fresh water to treasure-laden ships on their way to Spain. That’s how the predominantly English settlement on St. George’s Cay became known as Spanish Wells.

The Loyalists

By the early 1800s the population swelled with the arrival of British loyalists escaping from the American Revolution. The village continued as a small, quiet outpost but developed a successful fishing industry. Things began changing at the close of the 20th century when tourists began discovering its fishing riches and stretches of white, sandy beaches. However, religious bans on alcohol sales were kept in place until 2012.

Sport fishermen and cruisers—especially from the United States—began visiting St. George’s Cay and the surrounding islands in the 1990s. A few marinas cropped up to accommodate the visitors and a couple of resorts followed. Yacht Haven & Resort is the largest such development on St. George’s Cay and includes 30 slips, a popular bar/restaurant, a villa and a 6-room boutique hotel.

Chores

Besides presumable safety in storms, marinas usually provide added benefits, such as wifi connectivity, access to bathrooms and facilities for doing laundry. We quickly located the laundromat at Yacht Haven and commandeered a couple of washing machines. While waiting on our wash, we hung out in the marina’s very popular Wreckers Bar. It was loud and animated, populated by guests of the marina and its small hotel, locals passing the time with friends and tossing back their favorite beverages, and fishing charter operators discussing their latest adventures taking tourists out for a shot at a big fish.

Fishing – Julie’s Method

Just down the dock from the Wreckers Bar was a fish cleaning station where a fellow was cleaning a large pile of fish. Equally curious and sociable, Julie has no qualms about approaching a stranger and striking up a conversation, so she chatted up the fish cleaner. I discreetly stood by a few feet away. Her questions always start out innocently enough – what kind of fish was being cleaned, where were they caught, etc. He told her he was cleaning mahi-mahi, caught fresh earlier that day. Looking pointedly at the pile of fillets and pile yet to be cleaned, she innocently asked if he might have any extra fish she could buy. As usual, the fish cleaner replied that he’s not allowed to sell any of the catch.

Barter?

Undeterred, Julie offered a trade—perhaps she could bring him some beer or other adult beverage in exchange for a couple of fillets. This gambit doesn’t always work, but in this case the fish cleaner told her that if she could produce a plastic bag, he would give us some fish! She “just happened” to have a large resealable plastic bag on hand and produced it. He ended up giving her enough fish to feed a couple of people for dinner, he said. He dropped a couple of pounds of fillets into the bag, sealed it up and handed the bag to her.

After profusely—and sincerely—thanking the guy, Julie joined me down the wharf. We returned to Gaviidae with enough mahi-mahi for a couple of meals. Fresh mahi-mahi sauteed in butter with crushed garlic and ground black pepper, with a little white wine added for a reduction sauce and spritzed with a freshly squeezed lemon is a glorious thing on a bed of lightly herbed rice and just about any roasted vegetable alongside.

No Frills Dock

The expected storm didn’t amount to much in Spanish Wells and we only had the Yacht Haven slip for two nights. The following day we found a private dock rental available for the next few days. Our new location was a quarter mile down the channel from Yacht Haven. It offered no facilities or services beyond shore power and water, but it was considerably less expensive than the marina. Even the price of water was cheaper than the marina.

We spent the next few days exploring Spanish Wells and restocking provisions and beverages. Our friends, Mike and Andrea on Shadow secured a spot at Yacht Haven. They rented a golf cart from the marina and we had lunch with them at the bar/café/liquor store called Budda’s.

Exploring

We also got together with Mike and Andrea at the highly rated restaurant, The Shipyard. Good food and drinks to complement the stunning view of the Atlantic Ocean and the wide beach in front of our table on the veranda. We were at the east end of North Beach, which runs the entire two-mile length of St. George’s Cay. It was a fun evening discussing our gorgeous crossing from Great Abaco to Eleuthera and planning a rendezvous farther south on Eleuthera.

We proceeded to stop at every possible store that was open looking for grocery options, necessary and not-so-necessary boat supplies, and getting a general feel for the island.

The next day Shadow and its crew moved on while Julie and I stayed put. We rented a golf cart to further explore Spanish Wells and Russell Island. The latter is just across the narrow small-boat channel that defines much of St. George’s Cay’s harbor and south shore. Russell Island is roughly the same size as St. George’s Cay and it has its own settlement—including a well-protected small-boat harbor on its south shore. The settlements are connected by a bridge near the west end of Spanish Wells.

Both villages are quiet and conservative, with nondescript, well-kept white houses and tidy yards. There are a handful of businesses including a fish store, golf cart rental and boat chandlery concentrated at the east end of Spanish Wells. Located mid island, not far from Yacht Haven Marina, is the main grocery store and another Budda’s liquor store. Traffic is comprised mostly of golf carts and bicycles.

Check your Zincs

While we were in Spanish Wells we arranged to have Ivanhoe Sweeting, a local diver come to our private dock to inspect and clean Gaviidae’s hull. We also had him check the sacrificial zincs anodes protecting our main propeller, our bow thruster props and other metal parts of the hull. We hadn’t had them checked since they had been replaced during haul out on the Chesapeake back in October. Sure enough, the smaller zincs were all but depleted, especially the pair on the bow thruster.

Fresh vs Salt

While we never had to replace zincs in fresh water, salt water and its high electrical conductivity are notoriously hard on zincs which slowly dissolve due to galvanic corrosion. Stray electrical currents from poorly wired boats and docks in marinas are the primary culprits. They can corrode important metallic objects on the hull and in the engine. We had spent enough time in marinas on our way to Spanish Wells to have used up a couple of pencil zincs in our diesel engine. It was time to check on the outside zincs.

The specialized zincs on the bow thruster are particularly difficult to find. We had the foresight to purchase extra zincs for this trip and were able to supply the diver with replacements. We also had to provide him with another zinc when he dropped one in the seagrass under the boat and was unable to retrieve it. That left us with just one for the remainder of our voyage.

Fortunately, our hull was fairly clean. The ablative hull paint had been doing its job keeping  barnacles, algae and other underwater growths from attaching to the hull. Such growths can hamper the boat’s speed and performance underway. The total cost was $125 US, which we considered an exceptionally fair price!

After 5 days in Spanish Wells, we were reprovisioned, tanked up with fresh water and essential boat maintenance completed. We were ready to move south along west shore of the string-bean island of Eleuthera.

February 23, 2025 – March 1, 2025   25°32.454’N  076°45.380’W     2916.2 Nautical Miles