Spanish Wells is one of the districts of the Bahamas.
Spanish Wells is a settlement on the small island of St. Georges Cay (about half a mile wide by two miles long) located approximately one mile off the northern tip of Eleuthera island. It has a population of approximately 1,500 residents. It is so small that many residents get around the island using golf carts 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 "Devil's Backbone" off Eleuthera in 1647. After living in a cave known as "Preacher's Cave" on Eleuthera, 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 there is much concern over the introduction of non-native species of Lionfish to the waters surrounding St. Georges Cay. These interlopers, who have no natural predators, are killing the fish that are the main source of income for the islands fishing industry. They have become the source of some tension between Spanish Wells and other Bahamian islands and resorts, such as the Atlantis Paradise Island resort, considered possibly responsible for the release of Lionfish eggs into the sea, which then were carried on currents towards Spanish Wells and other areas around Eleuthera. No one has officially been named responsible for the appearance of the killer fish, however.