Spanish Wells 3/25/22

When I was a child I would visit the Pink Sands Club on Harbor Island, Eleuthera, every couple of years with my grandfather. I would hear stories of Spanish Wells, a town on an island to the north of Harbor Island. It was, like Harbor Island, a town that had been colonized by loyalists of England during the Revolutionary War era. The difference was, according to Harbor Island folks, the people on Spanish Wells were now all inbred, and the island a very strange place. I had visions of deformed white people of sub-par intelligence.

Years later, Nico and I were looking for a place for school vacation week and we rented on Spanish Wells. I was surprised to find a thriving, economically stable community of intelligent, friendly, and decent people. So much for the tall tales based on inter-island rivalry.

As we have been cruising I have been intrigued by the similarities and differences of the towns and islands we have visited. There have been simple, small settlements on the isolated islands such as Long or Cat and there have been wealthier communities that benefit from a strong rental or resort market. A few towns are almost all White, some are mostly Black, and many are diverse. All settlements have a few things in common - mainly the ubiquitous Batelco (BTC) tower for communications (3G), a government dock, small convenience stores, a gas station, and chickens.

Any settlement with more than ten people will have a small store selling just about everything in a tiny space. There is a freezer for meat such as cryovac steaks from the States ($30), local pork or mutton, and chicken. Turkey wings sawed into one-inch chunks are quite popular, as are big bags of huge frozen turkey necks. There are usually fresh onions, cabbages, plantains, tomatoes, green peppers, and eggs. I broke down and bought a Chobani yogurt for $12 at our last stop. The rest is usual convenience store fare. We have found several small home farm stands and farmer’s markets.

Houses are built out of concrete or pressure-treated wood. Many are small, unpainted, and without plantings. There may be a dog, or pack of dogs lying about and chickens running about, usually with little ones trying to keep up. Mornings are a chorus of cocks crowing - we often joke, when we awake at dawn, that we know we are the Bahamas by the roosters crowing.

The homes are very small by our standards. If they get run down they are abandoned and quickly get covered up by vines. As we head north we have encountered older communities such as Governor’s Harbor and the houses have become progressively bigger with landscaping.

Rental properties are everywhere. We were told that VRBO has had a large and beneficial economic impact on these islands, with rental money flowing to agents, food stores, landscapers, maintenance people etc.

Just about every island has a small airport but the lifeline for these communities are the small inter-island freighters that only draw a few feet, and unload off a beach ramp or ramped pier

The ships must stay in a narrow channel and have to come very close to cruisers in order to get near the dock. In Elizabeth Harbor, last trip, we anchored a bit in the channel and were awoken at midnight with a ship's horn blasting and its searchlight lighting us up! (We started the engine and ran up on the anchor chain, to clear the channel.)

Rock Sound, south Eleuthera. The government dock where the freighters unload.

Some of the older colonial buildings. They either get fixed up by people from away or they go back to the land.

A restored home in Governor's Harbor

They are usually rentals now.

The laundry and liquor store in Staniel Cay. We took advantage of both. In Black Point Settlement Nico had a haircut last trip by a woman who also ran a hardware store and laundromat. Many of the small businesses are woman-owned, and many women run several little enterprises.

A little restaurant on Cat Cay where we had a cracked conch burger and a grilled grouper burger - and the Bahamian beer, Kalik. The owner's husband was the fisherman.

The view while we ate.

There are always parks of some type. Often there is a park by the harbor to view the sailing regattas, in which traditional sloops madly compete. In Rock Sound there was a town park around a giant blue hole, right in town. People would swim with the colorful fish who somehow came in from the sea.

The reviewing stand for the Rock Sound regatta.

Most settlements have a fish cleaning station in the harbor.

I saw evidence of elementary schools in the settlements but hardly any middle or high schools. I think many go away to boarding schools. These two girls were on their way home at the end of the day.

The primary school in Rock Sound.

There is usually one long road running north to south in each of the islands. Every motorist in the southern islands would wave or honk as they passed us.

The layout of a typical town.

Every community, no matter how small, seemed to have an Anglican church and many communities had a variety of denominations.

The Methodist church in Cupids Cay, and a resident dog resting in the shade of the sign.

Graves were above ground and usually colorfully decorated with flowers and trinkets.

The children's section of the Governor's Harbor library.

A lovely place to read, with breezes flowing through and the sound of waves. The upstairs, just as nice, had many computer workstations.

They are very careful about COVID. In the southern islands, everyone wore a mask, but not so much in the white communities.

Many communities have fish frys every week.

A front yard vegetable stand.

A side yard with chickens.

A typical street in Rock Sound.

Cotton growing in an abandoned lot - a remnant from an earlier era.

Some landscaping on Spanish Wells.