After Georgetown, Thompson Bay in Long Island is like the deserted island we’ve been searching for. Although far from deserted it is very laid back and less populated by cruisers. We sailed over from Georgetown and anchored in the north end of Thompson Bay.

Thompson Bay is near the settlement of Salt Pond. It is a kind of hub for the central part of the island and the mail boat comes once a week to bring supplies, visitors and of course, mail.

A new low-key resort has been built next to the government dock. Long Island Breeze Resort is a very pleasant and friendly spot for cruisers. Jackie and Mike are the proprietors and owners and were very gracious hosts. Most cruisers would gather here for Internet and an occasional cold one. They have a laundry and very nice showers.

We rented a car and set off for a little exploration. The aging Chevy Cavalier with well over one hundred thousand miles was our ride.

Bahamians choose to drive on the left and if it wasn’t for the big sticker on the windshield, I’m sure I wouldn’t have done so well. Very unnerving for a U.S. driver! We shared the car with Ralph and Karen from Five Islands, a Lagoon 37 from Alberta, Canada and Harv from Camelot.

St. Mary’s Church at The Bight is thought to have been built by Spanish settlers in the 1700’s.It is the oldest church on the island.

Dean’s Blue Hole, with a depth of 663 feet, is said to be the deepest blue hole in the world. The World Freediving Championships were being held while we were there. Sara Campbell (pumping fist in above photo) set the woman’s record at 96 meters while we watched. She was below for over 3 1/2 minutes! Very cool! They held their awards ceremony at Long Island Breeze shortly before Easter. We didn’t attend but Harv did and he swears he met a professional mermaid!

Next stop was Clarence Town, the largest harbor on the east coast of Long Island. St. Paul’s Anglican Church sits on one of the hilltops and after climbing up one of the steeples, on very narrow and almost vertical ladders, the view was spectacular.

Last stop on the way south would be Gordon’s settlement and the beautiful beaches on the east side.

We walked for several miles along the beach picking up shells and digging through the debris that inevitably washes up on beaches. Several shipwrecks lay on the beach.

The top one had been burned to expose the ballast. The ballast was granite, which indicated that it was not local. There is no granite in the Bahamas, only limestone. The other boat was typical of the Haitian boats that occasionally escape to foreign soil.

On the return trip we stopped at a roadside bar, Swamp Thing. No relation to the monster or the movie, it was a real friendly spot with a few locals and some U.S. citizens who owned property in Clarence Town. We had a few drinks and luckily didn’t stay for food as this place is well known for its mutton and mutton by-products!

Check in at the rental place was unlike an American enterprise. They were closed so we left the car unlocked with the keys under the floor mat. When I called the next morning by VHF the car was checked in and our deal was concluded. The down side to the trip was that when we returned to our dinghy it was deflated. It had got caught under some rocks at high tide and had five holes in it. Ralph towed us out to our boat and we were able to patch it up the next day.

Walking on the beach was one of our favorite activities. The Atlantic side is protected by rock fringe reefs and in places it provides some very protected swimming holes.

We explored a very isolated anchorage near the The Bight. There are two blue holes there and we snorkeled and fished both of them. The deepest was 55’ and only 20 or 30 feet across. It looked strange out in the bright blue water to see an almost black circle appear. Mary snorkeled and instructed me as to where I should drop my bait. She would watch the fish check out the bait and then take it. I caught ten snappers. Very tasty.

Easter was celebrated with a cruiser’s dinner on the beach. It is amazing what some of these folks can whip up in those small galley stoves.

In the Bahamas they have Easter Monday, a national holiday to allow a little more time to be spent with family. In Long Island they organized their first Easter Monday Mini-Regatta. Seven Bahamian racing sloops from the island showed up and since they were all owned by various members of one of the local families, the racing and competition was intense. We dinghied out into the midst of the action and got lots of pictures. It was quite a sight.

Long Island has become our favorite stop. It’s laid back style, beautiful water and beaches, and sparse population suit our style. Unfortunately we do have to start thinking about heading back to the States. It is very hard leaving but we reluctantly head back to Georgetown for The Family Island Regatta and then north and west towards home.

My adventure started just after lunch. A took the dinghy over to town and walked to the main (the only) road. I walked for a few blocks to get a little north of town and stuck out my thumb. In the Bahamas it is your left thumb you hitch with since they drive on the wrong side. The first car to come by stopped and picked me up. The nice lady had just picked her daughter up from school and was taking her home early due to a bad headache. Her destination was up island past the airport. The airport is about a mile off the main road but she took me right to Customs. Very nice.

Customs was the opposite experience. Mr. Personality was working. My sounder interface was a warranty item which came with a zero dollar value. No matter, I had to pay duty on it no matter that we didn’t no its actual value. I made a stab at a low value but that wasn’t good enough for him so we inched up from there to a point he was comfortable. I paid $79 in duty or 45% of our agreed value. He made out a receipt and gave it an official stamp on I was on my way.

I began my walk back to town along the airport road. The first car along was a taxi. I figured I wouldn’t stick out my thumb. He stopped anyway and gave me a ride to the main road. Taxis in Georgetown are usually brand new SUV’s. Very nice. A trip to the airport is about $65! I was picked up again right away and given a ride right to Exuma Market where the dinghy was docked. They weren’t going all the way to Georgetown but gave me a ride there anyway. The people here are great!

I installed the new interface and things look like they’re working fine.

We got the chance to see the space shuttle take off from Cape Canaveral which is 300 plus miles from us. It was not very spectacular but you could see the shuttle rise above the horizon and then soon disappear. Later we witnessed a noctilucent cloud form. At the time we didn’t know that the vapor from the shuttle can form these rare clouds.

The lights in the photo are the anchor lights from nearby boats. I thought it looked a lot like Buck Roger’s space ship.

We snorkeled one of the reefs and saw a lot of fish and our first lobster. I tried very hard but could not get a good shot at it. It was very large. Here’s some pics from our day snorkeling.

We left Georgetown last Monday headed for Long Island. We ran the deep water looking for fish but alas foiled again. After a sharp turn to starboard at the northend of Long Island we motored for another three hours to Salt Pond (Thompson Bay). Next post, pictures of Long Island. We plan to rent a car.