Spanish Wells and Eleuthera by car

Spanish Wells.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade ... that's what we have been doing while waiting out blow after blow in Spanish Wells.
Since visiting Harbour Island last Wednesday, we have rented a golf cart and toured Russell Island, including lunch with Christopher and Robin of Cerulean at Sandbar Restaurant. 

Sandbar

Driving a golf cart in Spanish Wells is very entertaining.  First, of course is remembering to drive on the left side of the road, including left turns against the curb and right turns across a lane of traffic (look right first!)  Best, though, is that everyone gives a couple of fingers up wave as they pass.  Such friendly folks!
We've been to happy hours at Wreckers, the restaurant at the marina and Buddha's a popular bar/restaurant. We even watched the Grammy's at Wreckers, nearly resulting in a brawl when the channel was changed from the Pro Bowl!
Saturday we had another adventure day, renting cars on Eleuthera and driving down to Governor's Harbour and back.  Along the way we visited the Glass Window, once a rock arch connecting north and south Eleuthera as well as the Atlantic to Exuma Sound. It was destroyed in a hurricane and has been replaced by a single lane bridge.  The huge waves coming in off the Atlantic funnel into the cut and then foam out into the sound. 

Atlantic side of the Glass Window

Next we stopped at the Queen's Bath where we saw some spectacular spray as the waves crashed against the shoreline. 

Queen's Bath

Apparently you can sit in the Queen's Bath on calmer days, but Saturday I think you would have been washed away!  Farther down the coast we stopped at the Front Porch Restaurant which our cruising guide says maintains moorings in Hatchet Bay, the only fully protected harbour on the west coast of Eleuthera.  I spoke to the manager and he said that he wouldn't feel safe tying a matchbox to any of the moorings because they are not maintained! The restaurant looked nice though, and he said that one could anchor in mud over a "flat bottom".  Next was a failed attempt to find James Cistern beach which is supposed to be good for shelling and then lunch at Tippy's. 

Hugh, Bob & Sheila at Tippy's

Following lunch we went to the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve which is maintained by the Bahamas National Trust.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to tour the entire park, I expect it would take a couple of hours to do it justice. After a drive around Governor's Harbour and scoping out anchorages we headed back up the island.  On the way we picked up some vegetables at a roadside stand and finished the day with a visit to Preachers Cave, the cave where the Eleutherans, seeking religious freedom from Bermuda, washed ashore after their ship wrecked on the Devils Backbone reef.  A lectern shaped rock graces the entrance.

Today we visited the Spanish Wells Museum and were given a very informative history of Spanish Wells by Jean and Tom Goldson, boaters who now live in Spanish Wells.
When we aren't moving every day, it's a good opportunity to get chores done, one of which, for me, has been sealing the teak in the cockpit.  I've now got it all done except for the forward seats.  I'm using a product called Semco teak sealer that a marina neighbour in Leamington told me about.  It only needs to be cleaned and a fresh coat applied once per year and in my humble opinion looks great! 

Semco sealed teak

 Karen has done laundry and shopping and continues to turn out gourmet meals in spite of the slightly restricted choice of produce and fruits.
We hope as Chris Parker the weather guru said this morning that "we have paid our wind god dues" and that these winds will begin settling down soon. Many folks are planning on leaving for points south Wednesday, and we will likely join them.  Hopefully then the easterly winds will settle in then so that we can find some calm anchorages along the west coast of Eleuthera.