Off to Long Island

With calmer seas and winds from the north we sailed from George Town to Long Island.  Friends snapped this photo as we sailed off Little Exumas Cay.

It never gets old to collect shells along the beach.  Norma cleaned our collection and is working on the conch shells to make into horns to sound at sunset.  We were told the smaller one will make a treble sound and the larger one will make a lower sound.  We may need some lessons from more experienced conch blowers.

We anchored in Thomson Bay Long Island on Thursday afternoon.  Friday we dinghied ashore and walked across Long Island to the oceanside for beach walks.  We met Josh and Katie and their two dogs rolling a 6’ section of a piling up the beach toward their car.  They live on the island and often find “treasures” that wash up on the beach to turn into things for their home.  Jay helped Josh get the pole into their jeep.  It was interesting to chat with them and learn of their adventures that brought them to live on Long Island.

Guess what lives in this hole?

We think this sand crab travels in a sideways crawl out of its hole and hides in the Sargasso sea weed that washes up on the beach to find things to eat.  This is a bigger crab about three inches wide across its shell.

Jay is finding some real nature photos.  He caught this snake eating his lunch of a lizard on the sand dunes along the ocean beach.

Sat. we rented a car with Fred & Patty on-board Casa Maré and traveled south on Queens Highway passing wild goats, sheep and a boar along the road.  We stopped at Deans Blue Hole in Turtle Cove where four young divers from England were taking turns doing practice free dives. We climbed to the top of the cliff as Norma peeks over at the Blue Hole below.  You can see one diver’s head by the white platform.  A line is suspended down from the platform to the bottom of the hole to guide divers as they practice.  There are tags attached at various depths during competitions for a diver to grasp and bring back to the water’s surface to prove how deep they dove.

A very clear and permanent sign at Deans Hole gives fair warning.  We’d like to return with snorkel gear and take a swim but probably won’t be grabbing any depth tags.

Quite a view of Turtle Cove from the top of cliff above Deans Hole!  

In Clarencetown  Jay ran up the steps of St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church. Several churches are being renovated as donations allow after recent hurricane damage, but this one was open for us to visit.

We climbed to the top of the church towers for a great view over the town and harbor. 

Climbing up the church tower was a tight fit.

Friends snapped our photo at the top of the church tower. 

We traveled on to walk Gordon Beach at the southern tip of Long Island and saw the many salt ponds along the way that once produced sea salt for export. 

Our newest boat improvement - Jay attached the black hydrofoil to our outboard and it performs almost like a new longer length dinghy.  It quickly jumps up on a plane to ride over top of the waves and gives us a much smoother ride.  Wow - what a difference it makes to dinghy travel!

We finally met up with Sara and Monty Lewis who publish the Explorer Chartbooks at Long Island Breeze Restaurant on Sunday.  Norma was studying the Explorer Chartbook back in August before we left home and discovered Sara was Norma and Jay’s high school English teacher at Georgetown High School.  It was fun to meet again and learn we have much in common.

Part II of rental car road trip on Long Island took us to beautiful Newton Cay on the northern tip on Monday.  We did not do a car rental on Sunday since the island businesses become quiet, more focused on family and church rather than doing business which is a good thing.  The roads end as you go north and you may continue to walk to explore Newton Cay.  In the photo you look from the trail out through the shallow harbors.

A view from the front windshield as we travel in our rental car showing the narrow single track path with lots of overgrowth.  Once you turn off Queens Highway most roads are a single track narrow dirt road.  The rental car takes a bruising although we are gentle as possible.

We can appreciate the efforts to build this monument knowing the primitive roads and steep trails to get up to it. It is dedicated to the “peaceful, loving and happy Aboriginal people, The Lucayans, and to the arrival of Columbus on Oct. 17, 1492”.

Another road ends and you may walk on trails to visit the Adderly Plantation ruins which was a cotton and livestock farm that could not withstand the stark farming conditions. Patty, Fred and Jay walk back to the car along the low tide beach on the northwest side of the island.  This used to be deep enough for a plantation dock to export goods but a 1929 hurricane filled it in with sand.

Cape Santa Maria Resort and Stella Maris are two resorts available for those who fly in for a vacation.  Usually the resorts are gated but these allowed us to just explore for fun.  We had lunch at Stella Maris out on their waterfront lunch spot.  Another cruising couple, Martha & David from Minnesota aboard Antigone, were also exploring and joined Fred, Patty and us for lunch. 

Stella Maris has several swimming pools for guests and this tidal pool carved in the rock on the waterfront.  Water flows in the higher trough in front of Norma on her left and exits through the cut behind her. It must be lots of fun and a great way for young ones to experience the ocean without the waves breaking.  It was fun to visit for a few hours.

Blogging is fun but takes a bit of time.  So when we can get internet access, we post an entry which is why some are longer than others.