Spanish Wells

Spanish Wells is one of the districts of the Bahamas.

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It is a settlement on the small island of St. Georges Cay (which is about half a mile wide by 2 miles long, and is located approximately 1 mile off the northern tip of Eleuthera Island), in the Bahamas. It has a population of approx 1,527 residents. It is, in fact, so small that many residents get around the island using golfcarts instead of full-sized cars. Historically, the island was used as a last stop for Spanish ships returning to Europe, where these ships refilled their water supply from wells created for this purpose - thus the English name of the settlement: Spanish Wells.

The first colonists were the Eleutheran Adventurers from Bermuda (intending to be some of the first settlers of Eleuthera), who suffered shipwreck on a reef, known as the "Devils Backbone" off Eleuthera in 1647. After living in a cave known as "Preacher's Cave" on Eluthera, They ended up at Spanish Wells. Among other, later, groups of settlers were Crown loyalists, who left the United States after the American Revolutionary War.

Many of the people in (and around) Spanish Wells share the surname Pinder. The demographics of the island are opposite that of the Bahamas as a whole - the vast majority of the population is white.

Currently, (2006) Spanish Wells is a center for lobster fishing in the Bahamas. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Spanish Wells served as a transshipment point for illicit recreational pharmaceutical products, being shipped from South America to North America.

The area suffered extensive property damage during a direct hit from hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Floyd in 1999.

Lately on the island of Spanish Wells, there is concern over a particular type of fish that is not native to the area round St. Georges Cay known as the Lion fish. These are killing some of the fish that are part of the main source of income for the island, their fishing industry. As the Lion Fish do not have any predators in the area, they are unstoppable. They have actually become the cause of some tension among Spanish Wells and other Bahamian islands and resorts, such as the Atlantis resort, which was considered possibly responsible for the release of Lion fish eggs into the ocean, which then were carried on current towards Spanish Wells and other areas around Eleuthera. No one has officially been named responsible for the appearance of the killer fish, however.

References: Eleuthera the island called Freedom by Everild Young, Regency Press, London 1969

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