We had hoped to hire a pilot to guide us through the Devil’s Backbone from Spanish Wells to Harbour Island. We visited Harbour Island by water taxi/car taxi/water taxi a few years ago but thought it would be fun to visit in our own boat and check out some of the nice anchorages in the area. The shortest way to get from here to there is through the narrow, shallow, coral head-strewn Devil’s Backbone. Mariners are warned to hire a pilot to help guide you through the route, which is what we intended to do. However, the Devil’s Backbone is open to the north and is even more treacherous when the waves from the north get kicked up. That happened a few days ago when a large storm developed north of here and it might be several days before the seas calm down enough to make the route safe. We have decided not to wait and save the Devil’s Backbone for another year. We will instead leave tomorrow and make our way south along the coast of Eleuthera. 
Screenshot from AquaMaps showing the chart of the area. We are the pink boat on the left. I indicated the Devil’s Backbone route with a red dotted line. Harbour Island is on the right.
Spanish Wells Food Fair.
We passed more fishing boats on our way to buy fuel at Pinder’s.
Filling up the jerry cans.
I was sitting in the cockpit enjoying the cool breeze when I saw the large fishing boat with its smaller boats pass by. There are divers in the small boats. They will use GPS to locate the spiny lobster “hotels” that they put in place earlier. The hotels are platforms elevated by cinder blocks under which the lobsters hide. The divers will dive down, lift the platform, grab a bunch of lobsters, bring them back to the small boat, then repeat. The lobsters are transferred to the big boat and kept refrigerated. We have been told that most of the lobster tails sold at Red Lobster come from Spanish Wells.
Today we finished up the last of our post-passage chores. We walked 1/2 mile NW to the Spanish Wells Food Fair grocery stores. This store is about the same size as our Food Lion back home, which is HUGE compared the the grocery stores in most of the islands we visit in the Bahamas. We bought eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, then brought them back to Breeze On. Next we took two trips in the dinghy about 1/2 mile in the other direction to buy 5 gallons of gasoline for the dinghy and 30 gallons of diesel.
Screenshot from AquaMaps showing the chart of the area. We are the pink boat on the left. I indicated the Devil’s Backbone route with a red dotted line. Harbour Island is on the right.
Spanish Wells Food Fair.
We passed more fishing boats on our way to buy fuel at Pinder’s.
Filling up the jerry cans.
I was sitting in the cockpit enjoying the cool breeze when I saw the large fishing boat with its smaller boats pass by. There are divers in the small boats. They will use GPS to locate the spiny lobster “hotels” that they put in place earlier. The hotels are platforms elevated by cinder blocks under which the lobsters hide. The divers will dive down, lift the platform, grab a bunch of lobsters, bring them back to the small boat, then repeat. The lobsters are transferred to the big boat and kept refrigerated. We have been told that most of the lobster tails sold at Red Lobster come from Spanish Wells.
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