Long Island

 February 24^th – March 2^nd

The passage from Cat Island to Long Island would be approximately 40 to 45 miles – initially 10 miles due west out of the anchorage and then another 30 miles due south to clear Cape Santa Maria, the northern most point on Long Island, and then another few miles south, south east, into our planned anchorage in Calabash Bay.

We started our engine shortly before 7 am and had the anchor up and headed out the channel by 7:15 am.  Since we were still travelling with our other two buddy boats and they were both still faster than us, we wanted to make sure we got an early start so we might have a chance at not being the last boat in the anchorage this time around.

As it turned out we got underway about an hour before everyone else and since there wasn’t much wind throughout the day, everyone pretty much ended motorsailing throughout the day. Consequently, we were able to maintain our slight lead and were actually the first boat in our group to reach the anchorage.  In full disclosure and to be fair to the other boats, shortly after reaching Cape Santa Maria the other boats decided rather than passing Eos and leading the way into the anchorage, they slowed down a little so that we could lead the way in. 

Entering a new anchorage, it’s always nice to follow someone else in so that they if they encounter any shallow water or other hazards that aren’t marked on the charts they can pass the information on to the other boats in the group. So, it was our turn to lead the group in.  Fortunately, even though there weren’t any navigation aides (bouys or day markers) the approach was fairly well marked on our charts and we were able to follow the recommended course in without any issues and were anchored just after 4 pm in beautiful Calabash Bay and headed ashore to check out the beach. 

Long Island is an appropriate name for this island. It’s almost 80 miles from north to south and never gets much over 4 miles wide, so it seems to stretch on forever.  The majority of the settlements and anchorages are on the western shore with the exception of Clarence Town which is about two-thirds of the way down the island on the east coast. 

Long Island was originally settled by the Lucayans who named the island ‘Yuma.’ With the coming of Christopher Columbus’ landfall in 1492, he renamed the island Fernandia after the King of Spain who had financed his voyage. The island’s name was changed a third time to Long Island by an unnamed seafarer who said while sailing the island took a very ‘long’ time to pass – hence the name.

We ended up anchoring right in front of The Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort & Villas (Capesantamaria.com) and were able to not only frequent the restaurant a few times during our stay but also able to get assistance from them in renting a car and information on any ‘must see’ local attractions. 

The resort and beach face directly west, and with nothing to obscure the horizon at sunset we were able to see our first ‘green flash’ at sunset. The green flash is an optical phenomenon that you can see shortly after sunset. It happens when the sun is almost entirely below the horizon, with the barest edge of the sun – upper edge – still visible. For a second or two, that rim of sun will appear green in color.

For our first full day on the Long Island we rented a car to explore many of the sights the staff at the hotel recommended we visit.  (Rather than reinvent the wheel, many of the following descriptions of the attractions we visited that day come directly from the literature they provided us)

Our first stop of the day was Columbus Harbor and the “Bridge to nowhere” at the far northern most end of the island. The road ends and there is a rather nice, newly constructed footbridge the crosses the cut. Once you cross the footbridge, there is literally nowhere else to go. There is a path that leads to the tip of the island, but again, there’s not much there to see.

After visiting nowhere, we turned the car around and travelled just a few miles south to the Columbus Monument. The monument was constructed by the Long Islanders Association as a tribute to the arrival of Christopher Columbus on October 17^th 1492. Long Island was the second land that Columbus discovered in the North Americas. The monument reads: “The monument is dedicated to the gentle and peaceful and happy Aboriginal people of Long Island, The Lucayans, and to the arrival of Christopher Columbus on October 17^th 1492.”

The monument itself was very nice and sitting up on that hill and looking out to sea and the rocky coastline it’s hard to be impressed with the skill and seamanship it took to cross the ocean and avoid wrecking his ships on the rocks that surround the island.

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Our next stop was St. Mary’s Church and a fresh water shrimp hole. The church is said to have been built in the 17^th Century and is the oldest church on the island. Located just a short walk behind the church is a series of fresh water ponds and caves that are filled with thousand of small red shrimp. The lighting wasn’t best for viewing the shrimp so it wasn’t the most impressive attraction we visited that day.  However, the church alter did have a little sign on it that said “Give Thanks”. That was a wonderful little reminder in the middle of nowhere.

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On a side note, as we travelled south it seems that every few miles we would run into a small church and unlike those on Cat Island, these appeared to still be active churches. Throughout the day we must have seen close to hundred small churches and with a population of just over 5,000 people one would have to concluded that the people of Long Island must be pretty faithful!

After leaving St. Mary’s and the shrimp hole, we continued south to Hamilton’s Caves.  To access the caves you first have to call ahead and then meet at a small house right off the highway. Once there, the tour guide, typically Mr. Leonard Cartwright the property’s owner, will have you follow him back up the highway and to an unmarked road and entrance. From there, he gives you a private tour and supposedly tells lots of stories about the cave’s origins, the history of the Lucayans that occupied them, and how he and his brothers used to play in those caves as kids. Unfortunately, the elder Mr. Cartwright was off the island that day and our guide for the tour was his wife. She did a nice job walking us through the caves, and showing us the highlights, but our tour was also filled with lots of ‘my husband usually takes people back in that section, but I can’t get back there’ or ‘my husband can tell you more about …’

The structures within the caves themselves were fascinating, and although we didn’t get to hear all the stories or explore some of the areas, we did really enjoy our tour.

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After a lunch stop, we headed to the world famous Dean’s Blue Hole just north of Clarence Town. Dean’s Blue Hole is the world’s deepest blue hole, plunging 663 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The Blue Hole is oval at it’s surface with a diameter ranging from 80 to 120 feet. Descending 60 feet the hole widens considerably into a cavern with a diameter of up to 330 feet. Today it’s the site of Free Diving World Championships and other free diving competitions. If you feel like diving down past 274 feet, unassisted, on a single breath, you can stake your claim as the new world record holder! (Given that I have a hard time getting and staying down below 15 feet for very long, I can’t imagine the breath control and skill it takes to descend several hundred feet!)

We did take time to swim in the Blue Hole and were quite impressed with the water clarity and all the marine life we saw along the walls of the hole.

After drying off in the sun, we all got back in the car and headed over to Clarence Town to check out the harbor/marina just in case we ever found ourselves traveling down the east coast of the Island and needed a place to stop.

While in Clarence town we also visited the beautiful twin churches that Father Jerome (remember him from our blog about Cat Island?). He first designed and built St. Paul’s Anglican Church and then after converting to Catholicism, he designed and built Saint Peters Catholic Church.

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By this time, it was starting to get late in the day we wanted to make a stop by the grocery store on the way back to Cape Santa Maria while we still had the rental car.  So, we turned around and began our trek north. The Hillside Grocery store in Tompson Bay was one of the best stocked stores we’ve come across in the Bahamas. We grabbed some fresh fruit, scored a pack of Thomas English muffins (should have bought two), and bought a pack of Klondike Ice Cream bars to share with everyone once we got outside and before continuing our drive north.

We refilled the car with gas and returned to the resort somewhere between 5 and 6 pm.  It was a very full, but enjoyable day touring the island. We didn’t get all the way down to the southern end, but we don’t feel like we could have packed much more into a single day island exploration.

On Friday the 26^th, one of our buddy boats departed and headed back to George Town as he had guests flying in on Monday that were staying with him for a week. One of the things we’ve enjoyed about this trip has been the opportunity to meet new people and make friends. While we were sad to see him leave and ‘break up the band’ we’d enjoyed traveling around together for a few weeks, and know our paths would cross again sometime in the future.

Our plan was to spend the next few days just hanging out and enjoying the beach and anchorage and then probably head back to George Town on Monday and begin making preparations for our slow trek north through Exumas.

Early Saturday morning while doing some light cleaning on the boat, I managed to ‘tweak’ my back again.  It’s something that has happened to me periodically over the past 5 or 10 years, so we both pretty much know the routine. Spend the first day laying flat, apply some ice, take lots of Avil, and then over the next few days start walking and stretching as much as possible and avoid bending or lifting.  That routine has worked well for me at home, but was a little more difficult to implement while living on a boat (which pretty much mandates an active lifestyle throughout the day).

So, we ended up spending all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday simply resting onboard and doing as little work as possible. It was again very windy so staying onboard wasn’t so hard. This seemed to do the trick, and by Monday I was starting to feel much better.

After checking in with us to make sure we wouldn’t require any assistance to make our crossing our buddy boat got underway and headed back to George Town on Monday.  We were able to spend time ashore and floating around in the dinghy exploring Hoosie Harbor the rest of the day.

Monday evening we took our time making sure everything was stored properly and that we’d be ready to head out after breakfast in the morning.