Road Trip to Harbour Island & Sailing to Spanish Wells

Continuing our road trip:

Back on the road after leaving the breathtaking views from the Glass Window/Bridge, we drove through the small villages of Upper and Lower Bogue, past the N. Eleuthera Airport to the Three islands Dock where we parked. A fabled Bahamian hideaway, Harbour Island was once only accessible by private boat. Today, visitors and locals come and go by air, ferry, and water taxi. Our ten minute water taxi ride ended at the government docks of Dunmore Town, the only community on the island. After renting a golf cart, we were soon driving around the scenic, busy little town. Doing a great job of driving on the left, Doug parked our cart so we could walk on the famous beach.

Made of tiny grains of coral and shell, the three-mile pink beach is one of the cleanest and most beautiful beaches we’ve seen. We left the beach to do more exploring in our golf cart. Locals, many of whom are descendents of the Eleutheran Adventurers, run an assortment of shops, galleries, and restaurants. This small, hillside village is full of color from the flowers and the cottages. Many of the charming cottages were built in the late 1700s and early 1800s, during the days of prosperous shipbuilding.

Dunmore Town is home to luxury resorts and house rentals. Two visiting mega yachts had entered from the Atlantic side, the only route into the harbor. We were surprised to see several beautiful and stately banyan trees. After a snack and a Kalik at Harbour Island Marina, we returned our golf cart, quickly caught a water taxi, and drove back to our homes in Rock Sound. For more pictures of Harbour Island’s pink beaches: www.harbourislandlanding.com

With a forecast for a south wind, we chose a day with 15-18 knots from the E/SE to sail twenty miles north to Governor’s Harbor, with an anchorage that offers protection from all but W/NW. We will be sailing to Spanish Wells and getting further north will give us a better starting location. But just as important is being in a safe harbor from the coming S/SW wind. With strong, spring winds, finding the anchorage that offers protection from the current wind direction is important for safety and comfort. Governor’s Harbor is another appealing village. The steep hill around the harbor has many colorful colonial houses and businesses. Bougainvillea grows abundantly and cascades over garden walls.

The next day, we again sailed north, this time anchoring in Hatchet Bay; it would offer us protection from the wind clocking to the north plus we again lessened the distance to Spanish Wells. Hatchet Bay’s narrow opening is carved through a high rocky cliff. A lake already existed, and adding the opening resulted in an all-around protection harbour. The government has added free moorings; two were available when we arrived. After gaining info from a boater in the harbour, Solar Eclipse secured one of the two moorings, leaving the mooring in deeper water for us. Doug lowered his dingy to motor the area around his mooring, determining that if the wind clocked (as was forecast) and if it was at low tide, Solar Eclipse would ground, plus as the boat swung around, it would likely hit a large rock. Solar Eclipse left their mooring and rafted with us, which was lovely. Rafting eliminates getting in the dingy to have cocktails with another boat; all that is required is stepping from one boat to the other.

We stayed at Hatchet Bay two nights, waiting for a weather window to go to Spanish Wells. Due to fronts moving from the U.S. to the Bahamas, we’ve had qually and windy weather for the last week. At least the few rains have washed a little salt off of our boat! The wind clocked around and with a forecast for an east wind, which is the wind we wanted, we left the protected harbor.
Sixteen miles northeast of Hatchet Bay, we crossed the swift, deep Current Cut. Our Explorer’s Charts state that this cut is one of the strongest and fastest cuts in the Bahamas and to plan carefully for the safest crossing. We planned to cross at low tide with the current ebbing off of the Bank and the wind behind us. We listen to Christ Parker’s weather on SSB and often call in for more specific information regarding our exact location and destination. As usual, his forecast was right on. Just before entering the cut, we started our engine for more power to go with our sails. The sails, plus the wind and running current behind us, propelled us quickly through the impressive cut.

We were not in a hurry to reach Spanish Wells, now only ten miles away. Low tide at Current Cut is thirty minutes prior to low tide at Spanish Wells, so while our plan to cross the cut was perfect, we were not anxious to go into shallow Spanish Wells at low tide. To gain time to allow the tide water to rise at least at little, we sailed the eight miles to Meek’s Patch with only one sail up. As we passed the waypoint to go the two shallow miles to the entrance into Spanish Cay, we started our engine so that we would have power if we grounded. Solar Eclipse was ahead of us, and no call from them on the VHF was good news. We draw six feed to their five and a half and we touched the sandy bottom a few times, but no grounding.

We entered Spanish Wells Harbour, which is actually just one long cut running between Spanish Wells on the north and two small islands on the south. We followed the channel to our reserved moorings. This mooring field somehow works, but the moorings are very close together, the sandbars are too close both in front and behind the boats, and the mooring ball is a challenge to pick up in the strong current.

With a forecast of windy and qually weather (again) for the next five days, we would be in Spanish Wells for a bit.