No, not New York!
Long Island, Bahamas is 45 miles mostly northeast from Water Cay in the Jumentos. We crossed some shallow areas over the Banks; our depth gauge beeped when we had less than 2' of water under our keel. We anchored in the southern part of Thompson's Bay near a settlement area called Salt Pond. Right now we are the only cruising boat in this area of the bay, but in the fisherman's area we can see several of the native vessels that we saw over in the Jumentos. One of which is actually sinking in the bow area, and they have 3 gas powered pumps on the upper deck actively pumping water out of the bilge to try to keep it afloat. Houses and business buildings are visible along the waterfront and in the hilltops, cars are noisily rushing by on the nearby road, and a couple of pieces of heavy equipment are grinding away at construction sites. It isn't thrilling to be back in civilization.
We learn that Long Island is 76 miles long and 4 miles wide. It was the third Bahamian island Christopher Columbus stopped at in 1492. There are 40 communities along the length of the island made up of people from varying ethnic backgrounds, descendants of slaves, pirates, French missionaries, and Greek sponge fishermen. The people we saw on our walk were pleasant and helpful answering the questions we asked. You have to look and listen to when most of them speak as their “accents” can be difficult to understand.
Tropical Blossoms
The local residents are preparing for their annual big event, the Long Island Regatta being held in a couple of weeks. Several of the Bahamian islands host a similar event. It is an opportunity for the residents to showcase their boat building and handling skills by competing in sailing competitions. The graceful little sloops have beautiful lines and magnificent paint jobs. It is a real honor to win an event in the regatta. I hope we will be able to time one of our trips to catch a regatta.
We are able to walk around the entire settlement in one morning. We see that the dentist works here a day or two a week, visiting other communities on the other days. Walking over to the windward side of the island we find that there is no community beach clean up effort – plastic garbage litters what would be a very picturesque beach, and oh, the usual number of washed up shoes.
Peaking out
It's a real Versace!
We buy a few items at the tiny, but well-stocked local market. Overall, prices are double or triple for most items compared to what we would pay in the states. These stores make us realize how much we take for granted for the prices, selection, and convenience of every day shopping at home.
We also bought a phone card, .50/minute to call the USA, went to the ONE phone booth, and after 4 attempts managed to get a call through to my Mom and Wayne's Mom. Between having poor dialing instructions, busy Bahamian lines, and bad buttons on the keypad we were happy to get the call through at all. No problem, mon. Be happy.
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