Sail Brunelle: Spanish Wells Mania!!

We came into the harbor at Spanish Wells Saturday noonish and took our slipo at Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. The Yacht Haven has been here for years, but has been purchased recently and is undergoing a complete overhaul. The docks are new and the grounds are rapidly becoming a fancy resort. There will be several cottages for rent along with a new swimming pool and newly renovated facilities including a new restaurant. We are amazing how much progress has been made daily since we came in.

Sunday we took possession of our golf cart and were told we could "load in" to the rental house whenever as the last family had already left, so we made several trips and got the food and sundries settled and waited for the arrival of THE FAMILY... just before 3 pm they made it.

We drove to the end of the island and awaited the arrival of the ferry from North Eleuthera. Pineapple
Air had brought them from Nassau to N. Eleuthera, taxi to the dock, ferry across to Spanish Wells
and golf carts and pick-up truck to the house! Daria(aupair from Poland) and Alice, Clare and
Grace were happy to finally be HERE.

We weren't at the house more than half an hour before the girls were in suits and out in front of

the house in the crystal clear shallow water!\

...and it wasn't long after that that they were stunting for the camera!!

Unfortunately Monday was cold, cloudy and WINDY, so no swimming, stunting etc. We adventured

around on golf carts and relaxed at the house.

Tuesday had been chosen to be a day out on a charter fishing boat... the morning didn't look any better than Monday, but the charter captain convinced us he could take us the a sand bar north of Royal Island that was famous for sand dollars and he had a spot where the snorkeling was good and we could either fish or visit the ruins on Royal Island. We truly enjoyed the shelling on the expansive sandbar and collected several sand dollars and saw all sorts of other sealife. The snorkeling was so-so, but the girls got a kick out of it and the fishing was not even so-so (in my mind). We anchored for about half an hour in rough waters while Dan, Michael, Michael's dad Tony, and the captain, Ryan bottom fished. Dan and Ryan each caught 9-10" porgies and the girls groaned and froze!! The ride back was fast and furious!

Today was a little warmer and only slightly less windy, but we decided to venture out on Brunelle. So the crew of 10 boarded her around 11 am and sailed to the lee(western) side of Meeks Patch (we had only been to the eastern side before.) We found a nice cove with sandy beach and anchored for lunch and then ventured ashore so sun and swim. Alice and I donned masks and swam half way out toward the boat and dicscovered a starfish that was actually moving across the bottom, granted only at a snail's pace, but I'd never seen one on the move before.

You have to imagine that the starfish moved from the right to the center and to the left ...

We also spied a GIGANTIC ray buried in the sand. I couldn't get a picture of him from tip to tail and much of him was buried ihe sand, but he was impressive and he had Alice ready to head ashore quickly!

You can see his eyes and the beginning of his tail, also the disturbed sand in front of his eyes was (we think) a warning that he
knew we were bothering him.

Once we were back aboard Alice wanted to jump of our hard top bimini. She did several jumps, but I missed getting a shot of the actual jump.

Alice

Clare tried it too, but I was no more successful

Just imagine ...one, two, three, four.. come on Clare GO!!

We powered back home dead to windward, but at least on this trip those that were cold could go below... Once back at the cottage just about everyone decided they hadn't had enough swimming and headed out on the flats and played Marco Polo! We went out to supper at the Shipyard Restaurant on the Eastern tip of the island (as if we hadn't had enough wind for the day, we sat in the eastern most outdoor table at the joint! We had dressed warmly and enjoyed it thoroughly. The full moon topped off a beautiful day.