Cruising with the Buckleys: Week 6-engine repairs,

Spanish Wells
   Sunday morning April 6th dawned sunny, warm and breezy. We tacked the couple of miles to drop anchor off the channel into Spanish Wells and after a dinghy ride in to check on the dock we had reserved we motored in and got tied up. Finding this dock was a lifesaver as the local marina would have charged us almost $100/day while we payed $18/day inc electric for this spot. Later in the afternoon we stopped in at Dun Rovin cottage to visit our friends Tom and Jean and ended up staying for happy hour. This couple has been boating in this area from the Chesapeake for the past 30 years and have owned a cottage in the village since the 90's. Their living room is set up as a book exchange library and they welcome boaters to visit.
    We were able to rent a golf cart as we expected to be here a while as we await the arrival of our parts. Days were spent wandering the miles of sandy beaches, a few lunches out and running errands. Tom, Jean and Toms brother joined us for happy hour on Monday and I served my specialty- conch fritters. Jean volunteers at the local museum and we joined another cruising family for a tour while Jean gave an interesting talk on the islands rich history.
    Thursday morning my parts arrived on the ferry from Nassau and I was able to take the exhaust manifold to a local mechanic where I watched in horror waiting for something to shatter as he used torches and a 3 ft wrench with a 2 ft extension to work the parts free. I had already crushed the bad elbow while removing it and was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the adjoining parts separated. With the repaired assembly in hand I had it reinstalled and ready to roll by mid day.

   Spanish Wells is a unique village compared to the rest of the Bahamas. A walk about this quaint town shows the pride the residents take in their surroundings. Settled in the mid 1600's by puritans from Bermuda who were shipwrecked off it's shores the four family names of these original settlers are still the prominent names seen around town. This all white community is very close knit with businesses such as the supermarket and electric company owned as a co-op. The main business here is lobstering and the dozen or so boats such as the one pictured below that make this harbor home are owned by groups of fishermen each sharing the profits. These boats go out for a month or more at a stretch to scour the distant waters diving for lobster which are then frozen in the hold. Each boat will tow as many as 6 runabouts manned by 2 owners each and equipped with hooka diving rigs.