Dawn on Good Friday, April 18, 2025
This morning, we loaded into the dinghy at 0750 and headed to town. At the mouth of the channel, we watched for turtles, and we saw some. We even briefly caught one on video. Those turtles dive deep fast!
We arrived at the dinghy dock at about 0820. We loaded into the golf cart and arrived at the only restaurant that appeared to be open for breakfast, Eagle’s Landing, just as it was opening at 0830. It was in a commercial building next to the grocery store.
Continued... We crossed the bridge to Russell Island. Like Spanish Wells, Russell Island was also narrow and the main road ran through the center of the island. The road was at the top of the hill, and we caught glimpses of the stunning water on both sides as we drove along.
We drove to the end of the road. Later, we found out that there was a trail we could have taken down to a beach on the tip of the island. From what we saw, Russell Island appeared to be mostly residential, and the homes on Russell generally looked newer and bigger than most of the homes on St. George’s Cay. There was a lot of construction in progress. St. George’s Cay also had several homes under construction, too, but those looked to be renovations, whereas on Russell Island, they looked more like new builds.
Continue readingThe moon was again shining brightly as dawn broke on Thursday, April 17, 2025
Sunrise
After doing a little research, we discovered that the island that we’d thought was called Spanish Wells was actually named St. George’s Cay. Originally “discovered” by Christopher Columbus, the trio of islands was given the name Spanish Wells because the Spanish sailing ships would stop there to resupply their water tanks on their way to Central/South America. While the Spaniards had claimed the Bahamian islands as their colony, they didn’t really utilize the land. However, the Spaniards enslaved the indigenous people and shipped them off to their other colonies, leaving the Bahamas uninhabited.
St. George’s Cay was only about 3.5 kilometers long and 800 meters wide, Russell Island was a little over 3 miles long, and together they had a population of about 1,600. As you may have noticed in yesterday’s photos, golf carts were more common than cars.
After we finished our morning school and chores, we dinghied back into town to rent a golf cart. This time, we went east in the channel. The east side was a lot more industrial/commercial than the west side. On the west side, it was mostly pleasure crafts; on the east side, there were more industrial fishing boats. We later found out that Spanish Wells was the fishing capital of the Bahamas, the largest supplier of lobster in the Caribbean, and the only location in warm water to have a certification for sustainable lobstering practices. The fishing industry was the primary source of revenue for this island.
This week has been fun. On Saturday, we walked to the bakery, then did D&D, then went back to the restaurant on the beach that we liked for dinner with a bunch of my friends.
Cette semaine était amusante. Samedi on a marché jusqu’à une boulangerie, joué à Donjons et Dragons, et mangé au restaurant qu’on aime sur la plage pour dîner avec mes amis.
On Sunday, we moved to a place called Fernandez Bay. It was kind of uncomfortable. Everyone else decided to go snorkeling, but instead mom dad and I cruised around this little estuary. On the ride back I was tired, so I fell asleep with my head on the side of the dinghy. But when I woke up, I had the grippy print on my face. After we got back we played D&D aboard a different boat than usual. After dinner we went to Hasteaway and just hung out until 11:45. By the time we got back, dad decided to get the dinghy up, which wasn’t fun in the dark.
Continue readingContinued from yesterday… We reached a sign that said “Cathedral Caves and the Boiling Hole.” It was a short walk down a paved path to the Boiling Hole.
The sign said that it was one of many blue holes on Eleuthera Island. This hole was connected to another blue hole, located offshore about 1/4 mile west. They were connected via a network of underground caves. As the name implied, the water in the hole bubbled and churned as the tides changed. When we walked by, it looked calm.
