Spanish Wells

Lat: 25° 32 Minutes North Long: 76° 44 Minutes West

Early Monday morning, Xcelsior and Callisto departed for an eleven hour crossing, from Cherokee Sound to Royal Island. Averaging 5.5 knots with rolling six to eight foot swells on our beam. A good sail over-all, our auto-helm struggled, as there was a lot of torque on the helm. Often, Ted and I had to take the rudder by hand. By 6 p.m. we were anchored, in Royal Island, with approximately a dozen other boats. Four had departed by morning and six waiting for their window (Thursday) to cross the Atlantic to Abaco’s (the opposite direction in which we had just arrived). One of these boats was CS27 “Forbidden Planet”, website Sailorgirl.

Tuesday afternoon, at slack tide we moored in Spanish Wells. A quaint little village of well maintained cement block homes. We toured the island by golf cart with Bob and Bobby from Callisto. There was a young lad, peddling his little heart out. He had his little sister (who couldn’t have been 5 years old) sitting on the back of his three wheel tricycle. At one time we couldn’t keep up to him. In another community, we were chased by four youngster’s remote control cars. “Pinder” seems to be the family name here, where Abacos was Albury and Roberts.
Due to the wind direction and strength, we won’t be able to tour Eleuthera. Instead maybe Thursday, do an early morning and full days run, through the Current Cut and south to Allan's Cay the start of the Exuma’s