Spanish Wells

By Kathy

We stayed in Spanish Wells for about 4 days while we waiting for some windy weather to blow through. We were able to secure the one and only mooring ball for our size boat. Yeah!

While we were on the island we did a little provisioning and found out something you don’t see in the states. In their large grocery store that was very well stocked they had a whole shelf for locals  to sell their goods. Each baker had a section of a shelf labeled with their name.

A shelf in the big grocery store for home baked goods. It is hard to imagine something like this in Publix. 

We also went to a couple of the local spots to eat. One of our favorites was Buddas. The kitchen for Buddas was located in an old school bus. They had good burgers and the most reasonable prices we have seen since our arrival. Budda also had a pet bird named Spooky that the kids were able to feed. After our second visit Sam was wondering what Budda actually looked like and if he looked like the statues around the restaurant of a Budda. He decided to ask the server if there actually is a Budda and she said yes but he was sleeping upstairs (there was a house above the restaurant). As we were leaving we see this man in walking out asking if we knew the little boy that  was asking to meet Budda. Low and behold….. it was Budda himself. Sam was surprise he looked like a normal guy in a fish shirt. He was a very nice guy and talked to us for a few minutes before we left.

The entrance into Buddas. The white school bus is actually the kitchen. 

Inside Buddas. It was a pretty cool restaurant. 

Remember the cruisers that we saw in Lynyard before we left the Abacos. We have been following the same path since early January in Green Turtle. We saw them again in Spanish Wells and they told Dan that a trip to the museum was definitely worth it but you had to call ahead and make an appointment. The next morning we decided to try to make an appointment and this is when we really feel like we are in a different land. The phone number associated with the museum didn’t work but the day before we realized the lady in the smaller grocery store knew a lot about what was going on around the island so Dan decided to call the grocery store. She gave us a number for a clothing store on the other side of the island so he called that store and from there they gave him the number for Jean. Jean ended up being the person who met us at the museum for our tour. Can you imagine trying to make an appointment for the Dali Museum but had to call Publix and then Old Navy and then another person to eventually get a time to go to the museum? Jean was full of information and we learned all about the early settlers, the lobster trade and daily life around the island. We did notice that some houses seem to be very old and historic and some had more of a 1990’s architecture.  We learned that Hurricane Andrew in the early 90’s did substantial damage to the island and that is why we see so many of the 90’s stucco houses.

The museum was in one of the historic houses on the island. 

We got our very own tour of the museum and a history lesson from Jean.

Here are some more pictures from around the island:

The Lazy Pot Coffee Shop. No Starbucks here! There were a few little boxes like this along the docks. Sometimes we would see some guys hanging out in them. 

A close up view of The Lazy Pot Coffee Shop.

This was a very cool house on the island. 

The quiet streets of Spanish Wells. 

The local school for all of the kids through high school.

The beach at the west end of island at low tide.

Our almost teenager! 

Jack is a serious dinghy captain.

Lobster.... Get your Lobster!

By Kathy

We are posting back to back since we are heading back out to questionable internet for a bit.

When we entered the channel to Spanish Wells our first impression was that it was a lot different from what we had seen in the Abacos. It was definitely a working island. They had huge boats up and down the channel that looked like shrimping boats but we could tell that they were not rigged with nets so we knew they had a different function. Come to find out they are lobster boats. Spanish Wells is the capital of lobster! Remember the commercial for Red Lobster where the guy looks like he is catching lobster in the frigid north east? Well, that was not quite accurate….all of the lobster for Red Lobster comes from Spanish Wells! They catch close to a million lobsters every year. That had seems like so much and had us wondering how long they could catch that many lobsters and still have some in the ocean.

Here is a view of the Spanish Wells channel and some of the boats. 

How does it work?

The lobster boats are funny to watch when they go out. It looks like a mama duck with baby ducklings. You have the large boat and then you have about 5 little center console boats that follow in a line right behind them. The big boat is basically home to all of the crew for the 3-6 weeks they are out. Everyday there will be a driver and a diver on the boats and they go out looking for the lobster. Each lobster is caught by hand from the little boats. They have lobster hotels throughout the area. The lobster hotels are different from traps since the lobsters can go in an out as they please. At night everyone eats and sleeps on the big boat.

This is a mama duck boat with the baby duck boat. The big boat drops the tall poles in the water when they are anchored to hold it steady. 

Who owns the lobster industry?

This was one of the most fascinating things we learned while we were here. When you have a big industry like this there usually is one big company that owns the whole thing. We noticed right away that the island seemed economically even. We met with somebody at the museum that told us how this whole thing works.

Each of the big boats are owned by a group of people. They pick who they want to do business with and buy the boat. They are equally responsible for maintaining and working on the boat. If they get to the point that they do not want to dive anymore they will hire a local boy around the age of 16 to dive for them. The salary for that boy will come out of that person’s share and not the from the whole boat. A kid right out of high school has the chance to make a good living on the island.  Eventually, the share owner may want to sell their portion of the boat and the other owners will vote who to bring in as the new owner. This ownership model helps even out the money that is brought in from the lobster industry. It also provides jobs to the younger people on the island so they do not have to leave to find work. In a lot of settlements you will see age gaps in the population from locals having to leave to make a living. A  lot of locals in Spanish Wells never leave. They seem to have a fair amount of construction jobs around too.

Did we eat any lobster?

Absolutely. We found out there was a local guy named Bernie who went out every day and then sold his catch from his dock when he returned. We headed down there one day and bought some of his catch.

This is Bernie's Dock. We never would have known to stop there without asking around. 

This was our yummy lobster dinner after we visited Bernie. 

On to a New Land

By Kathy

Hi Everyone! Sorry we haven’t posted in a while. We have been moving around quite a bit and we have had some questionable internet. Right now we are in the northern part of the Exumas but I need to fill you in on our travels since Valentine’s Day in the Abacos…..

After Valentine’s Day we started preparing to make our crossing to Eleuthera. We headed south back to Lynyard Cay. On our last trip here we had our dinghy dilemma that Emma wrote about in her blog. We were hoping it would be a less eventful visit this time. Luckily, we had a very nice stop in Lynyard. We were able to explore the uninhabited  island and the kids loved the ocean side because they could find so many little pieces of beach glass. We also ran into a cruising couple we had met way back in Green Turtle who were also preparing to go to Eleuthera.

The Beach at Lynyard Cay

Emma looking very tall. Where did our little girl go??

The kids found sea glass everywhere! 

We were very excited to start a new chapter exploring a different part of the Bahamas but also sad to leave the Abacos. It was the perfect spot to begin our adventure. The crossing over to Eleuthera would be a 65NM open ocean crossing. We picked the perfect weather window and the crossing was beautiful. We even figured out what we would have for dinner!

We were so excited for a yummy dinner on our first night in Eleuthera! 

We arrived in northern Eleuthera near Spainish Wells and anchored for the night at Meeks Patch. We were very excited! This was the beginning of a new chapter. Before sunset we did a quick trip over to Meeks Patch and found some pigs. We had heard there were a few pigs  and there was  tour boat sign on the beach but we did not see any. This was not like Pigville in the Abacos. These little guys didn’t make their appearance until we were on the island for a good 15-20 minutes. The pigs looked more like your cute pink farm pigs. Unfortunately, in our hurry to leave before sunset I forgot my camera. On the way back we saw a boat that was also anchored with the hailing port of St. Pete so we had to stop and meet them. Turns out they were a young couple that lives on their boat in the marina in St. Pete and they were right by our boat when we were there in September! I recognized the woman and she immediately recognized the kids. After we got back we had a yummy fish dinner and the kids played around on the boat.

Playing some games when we arrived! 

Pedicures at night on the boat can be a little challenging. 

The things they do for fun on a boat. Poor chipmunk. 

The next morning we got a call from Bandit in Spanish Wells telling us he had a mooring ball available. We were hoping to get one with some winds coming in later on that day and throughout the next week. In the next post we will tell you a little bit more about Spanish Wells.