The goal is Spanish Wells for help with the generator, but getting around the islands is never a straight line thing. Due to the distance, our run to Spanish Wells is a two-leg trip. The first leg was long – 76 nautical miles (nm), leaving Cat Island, swinging around the “whale tail” of Eleuthera – and successful (fishing streak broken big time!). The long day ended in a smooth, clear anchorage in Alabaster Bay. It would have been nice to explore the shoreline this time through, but we are on a mission (well, that and the fact that we can’t splash the dinghy without a working generator). The tacos were great though! 🙂
On the chart, you can see us moving along the next leg (37nm) which goes back through Current Cut!
Two months ago, when we passed this way heading south, we’d planned to anchor at Glass Window (rectangle in the center of the photo) on our way north. Alas, not to be. Gotta keep moving! Put it on the list for the next trip.
With the weather this nice, it becomes impossible to describe the colors. Maybe a really, really good camera could capture it, but heck, we don’t even own a house. With the wind almost calm, the water smooths out, and the clarity is striking. The blue and turquoise hues are breathtaking, and the variety of shades is astonishing. Throw in the brightness and shadows caused by a partly cloudy (big puffy ones) sky, and one really experiences the grandeur of the “Big Man’s” creation. Just Wow.
What is neat about these pictures are the “dark” water is 15-40 feet deep, the “lighter” water is not… After drinking in the joy of the water (pun intended), it’s time to traverse Current Cut again. We’ve been through this one before when we headed south. Timing is everything. The idea is be moving with the current (tide coming or going?), BUT! not too much. We think we did better this time. We were pushed through with enough current to make 11.5 knots. Last time, it was closer to 13!
(This is fun: there’s actually another boat AND a plane in the photo. Can you spot them?)
After Current Cut, the cruising is easy again for another hour or so, until our approach to the channel that leads into Russell Island/Spanish Wells. Timing Current Cut put us coming into this next channel at low tide. Unfortunately, these guys were all anchored in the route labeled “Deeper Draft Route” on the charts, so, it’s super slow, serpentine time.
Very little throttle, as we s-l-o-w-l-y wind our way through 
Cats to the left, Cats to the right, Stand up, Sit down…..!
After the “dodge the boats” run, we hung a hard left, between two poles marking the channel, and then another hard left into the longish, but very narrow (especially at LOW tide) “harbor” of Spanish Wells. Who knows if we lightly scraped the bottom as we eased into our (thank the Lord!) face dock for an easy tie-up.
Our Travels 