Spanish Wells was a fun stop for us. We were anchored out front of the harbour which worked well with the north winds we were having while we were there. The row in was about half a nautical mile, which was a solid workout going into town and back.
Our first day in we just went into town and got some quick supplies and treats at Pinders Supermarket. We weren't really sure where to land our dingy when we got into the harbour. At home it's usually very clear where you are and aren't allowed to be, but I think we just need to get a bit more familiar with the island culture, and it seems like you can just tie up wherever you can find space more or less. We hiked around town a bit and managed to not get run over by the golf carts whizzing by everywhere. We read somewhere about how fast moving carts are and it is very much true. Also, they drive on the opposite side of the road (from North America anyways), like they do in Britain. It takes some getting used too! We found Budda's Snack Shack and stopped in for a burger and beers which was super satisfying after being out on anchor for the past week or so. Theone takes good care of us with her excellent cooking, but a big messy burger is still a real treat after you haven't had one in a long time. Theone got the 'Pine Burger' which had a slice of pineapple on it (in honour of the fact that pineapples are grown on Eluthera). She reports that it was quite delicious.
It was New Years Eve when we got there (in the morning) but after the long overnight sail, and the day getting into town and everything, Theone and I didn't have any chance of making it until Midnight. So it was an early to bed evening for us while Aria rang in the New Year on her own.
On New Years Day, we heard there were going to be fireworks that evening and we made plans to get into town and check those out. We woke up pretty tired still and were lazy about getting off the boat so we didn't get ashore until the late afternoon. We were hoping to get some water at the marina maybe, but we rowed over there and they were closed. So we rowed down and tied up along the wall. We made some secondary plans to have dinner with our friends from Atlas, but the restaurant was also closed. So we walked down the island to the far west end where the fireworks were going to be. They had some food trucks there so we were able to get some dinner. Atlas joined us and we waited around for the fireworks which ended up being a bit later than expected (island time), but they did not disappoint. Launched from a barge just off the shore it was a great show and worth the wait. We dodged all the carts on the way home in the dark and rowed on back to the boat for more sleep.
On our third day we decided to rent a golf cart and do some provisioning. Blasting around the island on the cart was tons of fun, and was certainly worth it. We hit the bigger grocery store on the island and did a big provision run to build up the ships' stores. We also got a jug of water from the town water tap. We had heared some reports that this water wasn't very good (from locals, as well as some online reviews), but we got our friends that have a TDS meter to test it and it came out at 450ppm, which isn't great, but isn't too bad, so we decided to just go with that. Aria and Theone went and got ice cream and coffee at a little shop while I rowed the groceries and water back to the boat, and then we met back up at the beach on the north side of the island for a get together with all the kid boats in the area. The beach was very beautiful, it's crazy shallow and so extends out an incredibly long ways at low tide. While we were there we met another new kid boat, named Dawn Treader who we attempted to connect with all the way back in Wrightsville North Carolina but just missed. They were in Spanish Wells to get some boat work done while we happened to be there and they have a daughter who's just a little bit younger than Aria so getting to finally meet them was really nice.
On our fourth day at Spanish Wells we were finally getting grumpy from all the boat traffic wakes (that morning we got waked hard and spilled our coffee which was probably the last straw), so we went into town, filled up with about 15 gallons of water, and topped off our tanks. Then, we weighted anchor and make a very short motor over to Meeks Patch, which is comprised of a couple of little islands just south of Spanish Wells. We dropped anchor in the super clear water there and got a perfect hook (anchor dug right down in). We went ashore with a couple of beers and a pop for Aria and enjoyed the sunset on the beach away from all the traffic. It was a beautiful end to the day.
There was only one other boat in the anchorage which happened to be a family we had meet in Ginn Sur Mer and again in the Berry Islands. We had a chat with them before going back to our boat (they were planning on leaving the next day). We got a great show and tell from their littlest guy (4 years old). It was a nice quite evening after all of the busy time in Spanish Wells.
Our last day was a lazy day at anchor. Aria and I went to explore the island where we heard there were pigs. We landed the dingy on a beautiful sand beach and had a little lunch and then hiked down the beach to see if we could find any pigs. Eventually we made it to a little spot where the island narrows and sure enough there were a whole bunch of pigs, chickens, and ducks. It's kind of a funny thing to find on a beach in the Bahamas, but Aria was very excited to see the pigs. We talked to a guy who works there (named Jesse!) who was super nice, and invited us to come and check out the whole operation there. After a nice chat and lots of pig petting we headed back to the boat, and had a lovely evening with the anchorage to ourselves.
