M/V Perfect Fit: Spanish Wells and waiting on weather.

The weather window predicted to allow us to cross over to the Abacos has become iffy. The three weather services I follow, pathfinder, windfinder and Sirius all have different predictions, and none are great. If we don’t cross tomorrow, it will be Thursday before another window opens. It will be about an eight hour run, and we really became spoiled to flat crossings like from the Exumas to Eleuthera. So, we will take a look in the morning, and make a command decision-go or no go. If we stay, Spanish Wells is not a bad place to stay. For one, it is cheap compared to other Bahamian marinas, protected, and a nice town full of friendly people. The town was formed by Britons seeking religious freedom in the 1700s, and is a working town, and prosperous for Bahamian standards. There is very little poverty here, and much civic pride among its people. The lobster industry is the mainstay, and many of the lobster boats were built in Louisiana, and there is a kinship between the boatbuilding and fishing industries back home and here. There are beaches, a few restaurants and shops here, but the nightlife is on the adjacent island, Harbor Island home of Dunmore Town. To get there by boat (there are no bridges to it), one has to traverse the infamous Devil’s Backbone reef. All the guide books suggest that boaters hire a local pilot to go from Spanish Wells to Harbor Island rather than attempt to navigate the unmarked narrow channel. I looked at the marinas on Harbor Island, and they are about triple the price here, so we booked passage on a ferry that runs the passage daily. Harbor Island is a study in contrasts. It has resorts, great marinas, nightlife, restaurants equal to New York in price and quality and plenty of tourists who come to enjoy the famous pink beaches. It also has poverty, and some resentment among the residents to the rich tourists that flock there. It must be spring break, because when we were there, we saw lots of American kids, some acting like typical ugly Americans. Bon Bon would have said they suffered from afluenza.

But we acted the tourist while there, and had a $100 lunch (very good) and hit the souvenir shops. There are some really neat hotels on the Island (Rock House being one). When we got back to Spanish Wells, a local gave us a ride to our marina, and regaled us with local history, and loved Louisiana. If anybody gave you a ride on Harbor Island, it was for a price. A study in contrasts between a working town and a tourist town. Both have their strong suits.

We have made friends with the people on the sailboat October, docked next to us. They are waiting on a generator part, and are stuck here. Sound familiar? Lastly, yours truly has been mentioned in another boater’s blog. My gas can went on a walkabout. Check it out: http://www.sailmakai.org/category/adventures/

Once we get to the Abacos, we will start our journey to the USA. My visa expires on April 10, so that is our target date to be back in Palm Beach.