Spanish Wells, Harbor Town, and finally, the Abacos! Little Harbor

As mentioned in the last post, we spent a couple of days in Spanish Wells, where we took a dock as the moorings were full.

We stayed here for a couple of days, riding out rough weather. It was beginning to blow harder as we got here – glad to be in a protected dock. The town is cute, narrow streets, full of golf carts and a few cars.

On Wednesday 5 boats hired a pilot boat, Bandit, to take us from Spanish Wells to Harbor Town, a whopping 10 miles away.  Bandit got his name from his earlier escapades as a free spirited boater willing to make runs from dry (very dry!) Spanish Wells to the very well stocked Harbor Town for booze. He lined us up like a little wagon trail, gave us all numbers, and lead us carefully through the narrow, shallow waters surrounded by reefs. Latitudes was #3 of 5.  He will lead as many as 25 boats at a time!

The system is for him to take command of the lead boat, pulling his smaller boat (for his return trip) behind.

He pulled us past Able Lincoln.

Through the narrow waters, past the dangerous shallow water.   The route between Spanish Wells and Harbor Town is narrow, shallow, full of reefs, and also through a small cut into the ocean for a brief period.  Pilots are always recommended for this route.

Presto! Into the harbor of Harbor Island, home of many rich and famous, such as Christie Brinkley and Richard Gere. No, of course, we didn’t see them, but we did each get a free (?...) loaf of bread, home baked by Mrs. Bandit at the end of our trip. No movie stars on hand to greet us, but we did see the pink sand beaches.  The pink hue is caused by the crushed coral on the beach.

And the bareback rider on the beach…

Looks exotic, but he was only drumming up business, unfortunately. This is sort of like being back into a mixture of paradise and the commercialized FL Keys.

We did do more sightseeing – the old blue door..

The narrow street with shops (expensive)

Roosters everywhere (alllll night…..cocka doodle dooooooooo)

And this beautiful church with a beautiful organ with the unseen woman lying between the last two pews, crying to herself.

We had sundowners on Latitudes on Tuesday and then diner in town on Wednesday with the 10 friends that “wagon trailed” with us. It’s always wonderful to meet new friends.

Thursday, to the Abacos, about 63 nautical miles across the 15,000 ft abyss of Northeast Providence Channel from Harbor Town to Little Harbor. Wind was 10 to 15 kts, from near our stern, leaving only 7 to 10 kts of relative wind -- motor sailing time -- again. Trolled for fish the whole way, no hits -- again! Close to Little Harbor Cut (inlet) is the small bay of Little Harbor. The entrance channel to this small bay (less than 1/4 mile diameter) is shown on the charts as about 3 feet deep.With our 5' 6" draft, we need most of the 2 1/2 to 3 ft tide range to get in. Well, we happened to hit Little Harbor at high tide, and decided to give the channel a try -- 1/2 ft showing under the keel at the shallowest spot!!  For you landlubbers, that means that our 42 ft, 20,000 pound boat had only 6 inches between us and the sea floor!  Not good for the nerves!

Little Harbor Bay is where a US family settled in the 50’s, establishing an art colony of sorts (lived in a cave until they built their home). Today Pete's Pub and Foundry is still a flourishing art colony with a sculpture foundry that son Pete owns.  The "pub" part is self expanitory...

The small bay has inexpensive moorings for about 10 boats -- pretty crowded and shallow - we've moved to a better mooring this morning.

And there's a very congenial outside bar for the cruisers. That’s a can of the local Bahamian beer that I’m holding (no, not any cheaper than other beer). It’s called “Kalik”, meaning “cowbell”. Pronounced “click”.

Today is rainy and dreary.  When -if - the rain stops we plan to dinghy in and take a tour of the foundry & art shop, plus walk over to the Atlantic side of the bay and do some beach walking.  If the rain continues, we may stay another day so we can explore.  At the current pace and plan, we may be across to the US within a week, weather permitting.
Todays shell lives up to it's name --- a Bleeding Tooth.

They are part of the Nerite family, a group of sea snails named after the ancient Roman sea god Nereus.  Most have white "teeth".   I found this Bleeding Tooth only in one spot, on Rum Island.   The animals are vegetarians (hah!) feeding on algae.  They live just at the tide line and are exposed at low tides.  The big Bleeding Tooth that I have is broken - here is what the back looks like on a whole Nerite.

Internet here is marginal -- I better post this while I can.  Been waiting for over an hour to insert this last picture!