Post #74: “Hole-y” Long Island

 Sunday, March 14  to Monday, March 15, 2021

We took off for Long Island on a particularly beautiful Sunday with clear skies and light winds propelling us for 35 miles to Thompson Bay.  Onward responds so well on days with those conditions, she practically sails herself.

We all went out to dinner at Tiny’s Hurricane Hole, an upscale restaurant run by an ex-pat couple with a creative menu and welcoming hospitality.  We’d read reviews lauding their roasted pork bowl with Brussels sprouts and plantains so were disappointed to learn that the supply ship had “lost” their order and the dish was unavailable.  In fact, their order was so short, they had to close for the rest of the week since they didn’t have enough supplies. I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to run a business with such availability issues.  It’s not like you can run to the nearest Costco and fill the larder yourself.

The next morning we walked up from the dock to rent a car from Seaside Car Rental for $75 cash for the day—all David did was fill out a simple form with our home address and driver’s license number. The owner’s brother, Andrew, told us to just leave the car at the gate when we were done, keys in the well under the radio. As we drove up island to the clinic at Simms, I wondered if there was even insurance on the car.  Perhaps best not to think about it......

At the clinic, Sarah took her rapid Covid test since she’d been in the Bahamas for five days.  She continued to fill out the 14-day online tracing survey for 9 more days.  The Bahamas have maintained a very strict protocol and we have all benefitted. There were only 24 new cases in the whole country on March15, and none in the Exumas for weeks.  Oh, how we dread returning to the opposite situation back in the States.

Our buddy boats were all going to spend time at Dean’s Blue Hole on the other end of Long Island so we drove southward through Bains, Millers, McKanns, Pinders, Pratts, and Gray’s—all small settlements (40-200 people) named after the plantation owners and Loyalists (often referred to in New England as Tories) who fled to the islands in the late 1700’s. Along the way we crossed the imaginary line denoting the Tropic of Cancer:

Dean’s Blue Hole was definitely worth the 25 mile drive! At 663’ deep, it is the second deepest blue hole in the world.  It’s enclosed on three sides by a natural rock amphitheater and the fourth side offers a turquoise lagoon and powdery white beach.  We snorkeled around the perimeter, amazed by the deep drop off in the center that turns the water almost instantaneously from clear aqua to midnight blue.  Some of our group climbed the surrounding cliffs and dove off but the three of us simply enjoyed just visiting with the fish hiding under the limestone edges.  There’s an international freediving competition held here each April—in case you’re game!

On the way back to the boat we made three special stops.  First to check out the new marina in Clarence Town, home to some serious sport fishing boats...and some hungry marine animals looking for lunch, too.

Our second stop was chosen by Sarah based on a mention in TripAdvisor. “Turn here, Dad,” she called out and thus began one of those “thank goodness this is a rental car” rides up and down a cart path, not even close to being a road.  But look what we found at the end—our own private circular bay and infinity pool!

The third stop was for some much needed refreshment—our first ice cream in months!!!

But the biggest adventure was still to come!  About a month ago, we lost our ability to measure the wind speed because the little cups that spin around on the top of the mast had dislodged and disappeared in one of the blows in the Bahamas.  So David ordered a replacement set to be delivered to Sarah and she brought the cups with her.  The only tricky part—installing them at the top of the 63’ mast.  She eagerly volunteered to ride up the mast in the bosun’s chair and complete the repair.  Hauled up using the winch, David and Mike got her safely up and down and much clapping and hollering and words of encouragement could be heard from all the boats around.   I figure if she ever leaves her day job, she has a career in mast climbing!