Bridge Jumping and Exploring Spanish Wells

With winds out of the north, the anchorage for Spanish Wells is south of Russell Island and is nicely protected.  We decided to dinghy about a mile from the anchorage to the narrow harbor of Spanish Wells which is an island to the north of Russell Island. The two are separated by a narrow canal of water. As we rounded the entrance to Spanish Wells, we came across the fishing fleet of the Bahamas. There were about 20 commercial vessels in port. The area is known for lobster but the lobster season closed on April 1, which explains why so many were in port.

A fishing boat with its fleet of runabouts that gather lobster or conch

We walked from 1st street at the eastern end of the island to about 13th street, admiring the colorfully painted cottages along the way and stopping briefly at a beach to watch some kite surfers. The island felt a lot like Provincetown, MA with its mix of fishermen and quaint well-kept cottages, though without the LBGT flavor.  

One of many quaint cottages on Spanish Wells

Now we know how to get to Abaco

One of the things we wanted to do was to jump from the one bridge that connects Spanish Wells to Russell Island. We weren’t alone as another four people were jumping from the 12 foot high bridge.  The biggest challenge was getting onto the bridge exterior to make the jump as the bridge was quite narrow and we had to climb through the lattice work of the bridge before plunging to the water below.

Bridge connecting Russell Island to Spanish Wells 

Thrill seekers

We picked up a fuel filter for the diesel gerry cans that have organisms growing in them before heading back to Juno and sailing down to Royal Harbor to stage-out for our early departure tomorrow for Abaco.