Stats for Friday, April 5, 2019

Origin: Hatchet Bay

Destination: Spanish Wells

Distance: 31.5 miles

Speed: 7.8 mph

Time on the Move: 4 hours and 3 minutes

The weather the next morning didn’t seem much calmer than it did the afternoon before, but we REALLY didn’t want to sit on the boat for another day at Hatchet Bay, so Mike made the decision that we were leaving, no matter what. Sure enough, the wind and waves settled down, and we had a very pleasant trip, even considering we had to schedule this all around a very tricky cut through the rocks (another one!!) that we needed to traverse at slack tide. Sometimes, it just all comes together!!

Tobin created this amazing “invention” that he used to read minds. He even got lots of you to play along on Facebook so he could read your minds. By the time we got around to asking him to read your minds, though, we were at our destination and he was having too much fun to read minds anymore…ah well.

We made it through Current Cut right at slack tide (either high or low, when the water is essentially standing still and there is no current), easy peasy lemon squeezy, despite the intense reviews that it can have very turbulent water. We were lucky that we timed it just right!!

We heard about a family who rents out the dock behind their house for $20 a night, including power, so we called them up. Who knew that they would essentially have a playground right in their backyard, too? That was an awesome bonus!! They were happy to have the kids play in their backyard anytime and they even had kid playmates and baby kittens to keep our kids extra entertained. We were stoked to come across this perfect set up!! This day was already 100 times better than our stay in Hatchet Bay!!

As if the deal wasn’t good enough, Mike, the owner of the house, was a lobster diver for 40 years, so we got to hear a bit about his life as a diver. He even brought us a bunch of spider and stone crab out of his freezer for free. The generosity was amazing.

After the kids played with the toys for a while and ate lunch, we took off to explore the area. We had the name of an ice cream place and a restaurant, but other than that, we didn’t really know what to expect.

We headed for the beach first and were thrilled to see the teal, clear waters we had gotten used to, as well as a LOOOONG sandbar heading out into the sea. The kids, however, weren’t as excited as us to see the beach because they were desperate for the ice cream place.

To appease the kiddos we headed for Papa Scoops, the highly recommended ice cream stop, only to find out they are only open from 7-10 pm and not in the middle of the day when it is actually hot out. The kids were disappointed, but we promised we’d be back. So, back to the beach we went. See how much walking we do?!

Walking out on the sand bar was magical. I have missed these sand bars!! Colin instantly wanted to dig a river across the sand bar, so he got to work while the rest of us explored.

After all of this fun, we were heading back to the boat when we stumbled across a restaurant that served ice cream out of their lobby. How could we say no?! We haven’t had scooped ice cream in so long, and it was amazing!!

After dinner, the great mind reader made some videos for his fans in front of an amazing sunset.

The next day we rented a golf cart so we could get around the island easier. We started the day with a tour of the island which was originally settled by the Eleutherian Adventurers. In 1647 this group wanted to escape religious persecution in Bermuda and ended up crashing into the infamous reef on the north side of Spanish Wells called the “Devil’s Backbone.” They lived in a cave along the water’s edge until they could set up a more permanent settlement. The family history here runs deep. Apparently 8 surnames dominate the local population, and they can all trace their names back to the original Adventurers. It is interesting to note that most of the locals here are of British decent and still spoke with a British accent.

Fishing also runs deep here. Spanish Wells fishermen supply 80% of the spiny lobster for the world. There are offshore fishing boats docked throughout the harbour. Apparently the fishermen work in groups with shared ownership, where groups of men own and run each boat, equally sharing the profits and expenses. When one of them wants to retire, they sell their share of the business to a younger man from the island chosen by the other shareholders. In that way, young men have a chance at a successful career on their home island and not many of them move away.

The kids wanted to go down this steep hill again and again and again. You can tell we switched seats at every stop.

These rail tracks in the water went right under this removable section of road and right up to the boatyard. It is how they pull boats out of the water without a big lift.

We spent some time at the Spanish Wells Museum where we had to call a volunteer and set up a special time to visit. The museum apparently doesn’t keep regular hours, but instead someone just meets guests at the museum when they show interest. Taking “island time” to a whole new level!!

We learned so much about the original Eleutherian Adventurers, the natives that were here before them, and the progression of life and development on the island to current times. It was especially interesting to hear about the development of the fishing industry and the impact of hurricanes on the island.

The kids showed great patience during the museum visit, but I think it helped that they were pretty interested in what she was talking about and they already knew the answers to so many of her questions. We called that boat school for the day, and we were ready to get playing.

Our friends on SummerCamp were in town and ready to play as well, so we took off on golf carts for more ice cream and then a tour of nearby Russell Island. On Russell we found some sheep and goats. This sheep in particular was free from it’s pen and provided great entertainment when it turned to walk away from us and Mike said he was showing us his “baaaaat.” Potty jokes never get old for the kids (or Mike).

A bridge separates Russell Island from Spanish Wells and apparently it is a spot where locals and visitors like to jump into the water and swim. Of course an adventure like that got worked into our plans. Colin and Hayley were very brave and jumped several times (Mike did too!). Tobin did lots of swimming but showed no interest in jumping, and I didn’t even go in past my ankles.

Lots of times we tell the kids we don’t have good enough health insurance for the shenanigans they come up with, but not this time. They loved it.

From our swimming adventure we headed to happy hour at Budda’s. Budda’s is well known in the area for a great happy hour, funny signs hanging all around the restaurant, and setting up their kitchen in an old bus. Can’t miss a place like that!!

It was a great end to a fun day exploring. We even ran into the nice lady who volunteers at the museum and some other cruisers we met many weeks ago in the Exumas all at Budda’s. It’s apparently the place to go.

The next day we wanted to get a little more exploring in with the golf cart before we had to return it. Right away the kids found this sheep and wanted to check it out. Of course Hayley isn’t in the picture because all creatures scare her right into a screaming fit.

Tobin started showing a lot of interest in his “math book” so he has been working in it regularly. I’m amazed at how good he is at calculating, but we need to do some writing practice for sure. He asks to work in his math book just about every day now. Colin and Hayley also work in their math books many days, but they don’t really ask to do the work the way Tobin does.

Another “boat school” chore for Tobin is to work on puzzles. It was nice for Colin to help him, but I also had to help Colin learn how to coach and not just do it all. Why don’t they do puzzles more?? They love them!

We loaded up the wagon and headed to the beach. On Sunday there is very little open, not even ice cream, so the beach with friends was a perfect plan.

President Dave, from SummerCamp, loved watching Colin on his skim board. He went to get his kite surfing gear and came back with his trainer kite to show Colin how to fly. The goal was for the trainer to pull Colin around on the skim board, and while that didn’t happen, it was still fun to see Colin fly the kite for so long.

The next day was not near as much fun. Mike started off doing some maintenance by changing the fuel filter on generator. Somehow air got in the line and then he had to bleed the lines. In the process of bleeding the lines, the bleed bolt broke about 15 minutes before all the shops closed for the day. Mike raced off the boat and went to 4 places before they closed. It was a long, frustrating process for Mike, but he stuck it out like a champ. Finally, the bolt was replaced. We called it good enough for the day and headed out to get ice cream with SummerCamp one last time before we left town the next day.

When work needs to be done on the engines or generator, our salon floor comes up. That means no one can go back and forth through the boat very easily, or without totally ticking Mike off. Luckily, I was able to pacify the kids with a lazy afternoon of tv in our bed with the air conditioning on.

We went out for ice cream at Papa Scoops one last time with our buddies on SummerCamp before we left town the next day. Both of us are looking at what the next steps in our travels might be, but the weather plays such a big part. Mike and I are starting to feel pressure to get back to Florida and continue north. SummerCamp only has to get back to Rhode Island, and since they aren’t going quite as far, they have more time. The kids gave big hugs and Hayley actually tried to sneak back to their boat so she could stay with Zaia longer. Goodbyes are hard, once again, but who knows when we will meet up again? We always joke that it could actually be tomorrow?!

The next day we had to get moving early because someone else was set to come in to our dock. The weather didn’t look great to cross anywhere, and there was really no where else to go. We felt like we exhausted Spanish Wells, and we were at the northern end of Eleuthera, so the only place to go next was west to the Berries or north to the Abacos. With a south wind kicking up, neither of those larger crossings were possibilities, so we headed to Meeks Patch instead, a small little island about 4 miles from Spanish Wells.

We were not thrilled about heading to Meeks Patch. Instead, we felt trapped. We were ready to move on, but there was no where to go and the weather wasn’t cooperating. Instead, Mike and I hibernated on the boat and the kids did a little island exploring, but mostly hibernated with us.

Mike ended up back in the engine room with a diesel leak that he couldn’t quite get to stop. He ended up dinghying back to Spanish Wells to replace the copper washers. After a big mess and another few hours sweating it out in the engine room, the leak had slowed to an acceptable trickle. It wasn’t perfect, but it was as good as we could do given the circumstances. How frustrating!! People always say boating is actually working on boats in exotic locations and that sounds about right to us at this point!!

That night we had family game night of Qwixx.

I did lots of research about our options to get from Spanish Wells to Abaco. Following the blue line below is the shortest path, though it takes you right through a narrow break in the reef and some shallow coral heads. Many boaters go an hour or two out of their way to avoid this narrow cut, but Mike felt confident there was enough room for us to get through. This area of reef at the north end of Eleuthera is called the “Devil’s Backbone” and many people pay a pilot several hundred dollars to drive their boat through narrow breaks in the reef.

Finally on our 2nd day at Meeks Patch Mike and I got off the boat to check out the kids’ fort. They were so excited about it and we were going stir crazy after 30 hours of icky weather stuck on the boat.

We went exploring around the island and sure enough, we found the piggies that live on the other side of it. They were much nicer than the pigs we saw in Staniel Cay. They seemed to understand that we didn’t have food and leave us alone.

Not only were there pigs, but there were ducks, roosters, and this turkey there, too!! That turkey had his eye on Hayley the whole time. We think he was in love with her colorful shirt. He followed her around and would not leave her alone. That didn’t sit very well with her, as you can imagine.

I was so excited that there were more piglets, but these guys were super skiddish. Their mama didn’t seem to mind me, but I couldn’t trick these little guys into getting close enough to get my hands on one.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset that night, and you know what they say about red sky at night!? We had a great weather forecast to head north the next morning, so we were looking forward to moving on.

Thanks for following our adventures!! Start your own adventure!!