Boom Times Sailing!: Spanish Fly

At the northern tip of Eluthera is Spanish Wells settlement and Harbour Island. As we progress north the Bahama islands become more and more developed. Here there are starting to appear more cars, hotels and buildings. Unfortunately less and less virgin beaches and spear fishing opportunities. Interestingly the Spanish Wells area produces 80% of all the lobster and fish from the Bahamas.

We toured both Spanish Wells and Harbour Town by golf cart. Golf cart is the choice mode of transportation here used by both locals and visitors. The locals have their carts all personalized and souped up. Some pretty sweet rides!

As this will likely be one of our last opportunities for snorkeling and spear fishing we took advantage. In a deep hole under a rock I spotted what I thought was a large grouper. After stalking it for a few minutes and a few dives I finally had a clear shot and took it. To my shock and surprise when I speared it it instantly blew up to the size of a basketball. Blowfish!! If I had known it was a blowfish I would not have speared it and I know I should solemnly thank the creatures spirit for giving it self up but to be honest it was just the funniest thing! Just the look of it had me laughing really hard under water. It hardly fit in the 10quart bucket we carry in the dinghy. When I pulled my spear out I heard the hiss of deflation. Half an hour later it was completely deflated. While edible and even considered a delicacy some parts of the blowfish are extremely poisonous and require a highly skilled chef to prepare it properly. We erred on the side of caution and didn't attempt to eat it.

We met an nice young couple, Jordan & Erica on Nami from New Jersey anchored next to us. They had a visitor Lauren and we invited them all over for drinks and a very enjoyable evening.

Next stop, 150nm and 32 hours to Freeport Grand Bahama.