This small settlement (consisting of St. George’s Cay & Russell Island) has been called Spanish Wells since the 1500’s when these islands were used as a stop for the Spanish treasure fleet returning to Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish galleons refilled their water supply from wells created for this purpose – thus the English name of the settlement: Spanish Wells.

Spanish Wells is widely recognized as the most industrious settlement in the Bahamas. Up until 2012 the island was dry (no alcohol) – that serious about their work! Their fishing vessels, the harbor, the utilities & most things in the settlement are co-ops, so everyone helps fund improvements & works for the better good. They even have a conventional garbage truck & a working fire truck. Why is that a big deal? Most settlements can’t afford them, so garbage is often picked up in an uncovered pickup truck. And a fire truck – too expensive to buy & maintain = some old ones we’ve seen are piles of rust with no tires.

Their busy waterfront includes over a dozen of the finest fishing boats you’ll see anywhere. Young men hope to buy a share onto a fishing boat, working their way up & earning a larger share as their value as crew increases. Hard work & away for weeks at a time but they can make a very good living. Their prime target is Carribean (“spiny”) lobsters – harvesting nearly 5 million pounds per year. The waterfront usually has several large, refrigerated (frozen) shipping trailers awaiting pickup by ship for transport throughout the world.

The insert in the photo above better shows stacks of “lobster condos” ready to be deployed. No bait is used – these “condos” are simply square structures placed on the ocean bottom in shallow water with a concrete block on top to keep in place. During the day lobsters hide in the condos, thinking they’re safe. The mothership travels south from Spanish Wells over 100 miles towing several “ducklings” (as the small boat above). Once to their territory, the ducklings take off for the day visiting their many lobster condos. Divers go down, flip each condo over revealing dozens (hopefully) of lobsters hiding. The divers stun them before they can scuttle away, then collect them to aboard the duckling. Repeat, repeat, repeat through a tiring day, bringing their catch to the mothership every evening. As the mothership travels, they deploy additional condos to supplement the existing ones in the best areas. The “Bahama Lobster Pirates” was a one-season TV show in which four fishing boats compete to bring back the largest catch. The “pirate” part is that, according to Bahamian law, the placed lobster condos do not belong to anyone – so for the show (& real life) it is a free-for-all to reach any group of condos before another boat. If you happen to follow their path too soon, the condos will be empty. And of course, you’re looking for your own condos, as well as any others (in calm weather you can see their shadow as you cruise around). If you search around on-line, you can find a streaming source which offers the “Bahamas Lobster Pirates” – quite interesting, but with a limited run on an unusual network it didn’t continue.

And the women … they run everything in town. While this may look like a simple grocery check-out clerk, Greta Pinder runs the Pinders Market, the Pinders Taxis, the Pinders Water Ferry & probably half of what goes on in town. If she doesn’t run it, she knows about it.

The waterfront is always buzzing with ship & boat repairs. Here their old-fashioned marine railway can haul their largest vessels. There is a cradle on a railcar which is released down the tracks into the water, a diver places poppits to support the hull, then is winched up to a working space – temporarily shutting down the waterfront roadway as the track crosses the road – quite a show. They also have several, modern boat lift platforms used for smaller boats. All are busy, as quality facilities & such a specialty workforce are hard to find in the Bahamas.

Speaking of closing down the road, freight ships arriving close down the channel (except for small vessels) for a few hours. The freight dock isn’t long enough to come alongside, so they “dock” crosswise & “ro-ro” (roll on/roll off) the trucks via a ramp on their bow quarter.

Even though Spanish Wells is only a mile off mainland Eleuthera, everyone & everything (including cars & trucks) have to take a ferry to travel back & forth.

We have been quite spoiled being at a nice dock for over a month in the Bahamas – our first time ever. We (Lori!) decided we needed a break after 13 years of dealing with winter cold fronts every 4 – 7 days with wind clocking around (making for tough anchoring protection), high winds & occasional squalls – oh, and boats anchoring too close and/or dragging into us in the middle of the night! But not this year – just us paying for a dock this winter has given all 1,000 or so cruisers throughout the Bahamas the best weather in many years! This is the longest stretch anyone can recall of not a single cold front arriving down this far, which means nearly constant easterly winds 5 – 20 knots, great for calm anchoring, travel & even great sailing. I can’t even remember the last time it rained. We’re thinking of setting up a GoFundMe account for next winter so we can stay at a nice dock & the 1,000 cruisers can have nearly perfect weather again 🙂

Not only are we at a nice, private dock, they offer a free washer & dryer to use (we normally have to pay $10 – $12/load). And free fruit & veggies with every load as our dock’s owner has a small farm elsewhere in Eleuthera. And there is a medium-sized grocery store just a 5-minute walk away! Thanks to Erin & Chris on m/v Barefeet for letting us know of this great dock!

Our 5 weeks in Hope Town have gone by much too quickly. As hoped, we were able to enjoy the area more intensely than just our usual few days.

Happy New Year! Little did we know that they have fireworks at midnight on New Years, or that they would be launched from only 200′ away! Quite the show!!

Moonrise over the harbor

We noticed this little guy a few times swimming by in the harbor. Lori looked it up & told me it was likely a Dogfish so I wasn’t too concerned while paddleboarding. One time it passed by, turned around to follow me, then went under … I only got a little nervous … until our neighbor boat mentioned if I’d noticed the 2 LEMON SHARKS which are always patrolling the harbor?! Now I stick with my kayak.

Somehow this petroleum tanker plows thru the narrow, shallow channel every month bringing fuel to Lighthouse Marina in Hope Town.

The nearby Sunshine Freight Dock keeps us entertained with freight boats, ferries, shuttles …

and the Thirsty ‘Cuda also uses the dock to load-up with ice & “beverages” on nice days when it cruises to anchor off a sandbar at nearby Tahiti Beach.

Every morning the dock also becomes the bus stop for island kids going to school. While Hope Town (Elbow Cay) is one island with roads through-out its 3 miles, there is a small portion (by the lighthouse) which is inaccessible due to low, watery mangrove areas, so every school kid, worker, resident & visitor has to “ferry” across. The elementary school is a short walk up the hill past the freight dock.  High Schoolers have to arrive & then take a larger ferry 6 miles across to Marsh Harbour.

Back in 2007 … this is us on our first trip to Hope Town while chartering a Maine Cat sailing catamaran. Ironically, we are now renting our mooring from the same Captain Ron who ran that charter boat company back in 2007. Between the high winds that week & our limited sailing experience, he was very hesitant to even let us leave the harbor, but hopefully we’ve redeemed ourselves with him after surviving the last 18 years.

Have we changed at all?

Hope Town has certainly changed, especially after Hurricane Dorian slammed here 5 years ago. Tragically, a triple disaster as the hurricane’s path (with its 185-mph sustained winds) came directly over Hope Town (& nearby Marsh Harbour), then stalled in place for several hours, then Covid hit just months later as international relief had finally scaled up. It’s been a tough 5 years, but most structures have been rebuilt & the island is actually busy with new construction, particularly vacation homes & rentals.

We will be heading 75 miles south to Spanish Wells (on the northern end of Eleuthera) a week early (with a one-night stop in Little Harbour, aka Pete’s Pub), as there are some nasty, prolonged big winds forecasted to arrive next week. Mid-winter can be challenging down here with cold fronts rolling thru every 3 – 6 days, some severe with winds gusting to 30 – 35 knots, keeping the seas too sloppy for us. So we’re going while the going is good & maybe even catch a Mahi along the way – I hope!