January 30 to February 4, 2017

The morning of January 30^th was very windy.  Around 3:30 a.m. a squall came through with winds gusting over 25 knots.  The anchorage is quite crowded by Monument beach so everyone was on deck and checking anchors.  Only one boat had a problem with dragging and they were able to quickly raise anchor and move to a new spot.   At 9:00 the weather had settled to an overcast day with 15-20 knot winds out of the North.  We had a fast sail to Thompson Bay on Long Island. A pair of dolphins greeted us as we approached the island.

Tuesday Bill and I went for a very long walk. We left the boat at 11:15 and did not get back until 3:30. Except for the ½ hour having lunch at Sou Side we were walking the entire time.  In the evening we met a group of other cruisers at the beach for a potluck.

Wednesday Lana, Julie, and I went to yoga at the Regatta Park. This was my first time doing yoga.  The open air pavilion overlooking the bay was a great way to try out this new activity. We relaxed during the afternoon, then went to Tiny’s Hurricane Hole restaurant for dinner.  The crew from ANGELZARKE had rented a car and busily ferried people to the restaurant. Bill, Robert, and I walked the two miles.  The restaurant is down a long dirt road and is located on the beach.  The proprietors are very friendly, the drinks were great, and the food was delicious.  Julie  (OUR JULES) had made a cake as Allan (DAGNY) and Lana (OUR DIAMOND) were celebrating birthdays.  After dinner and cake a dozen of us sat around the outdoor fire and played games.  The owner gave us a ride back to the dinghy dock in her SUV which saved us a long walk!

Thursday we shared a car rental with Robert and Lana and drove around the island. We went south to Clarence town and admired the dramatic churches on the hills and then visited the Flying Fish marina. We then went to Dean’s Blue Hole. This is one of the main attractions on the island, but is surprisingly hard to find. There is a small sign on the main road next to a private sign. A long dirt road with a sort of paved hilly section in the middle leads to a fork in the road. The unmarked right hand fork down a deserted looking dirt road leads to another fork in the road with a mostly illegible sign that used to say “Blue Hole” leads to an even bumpier dirt road ending at the blue hole.  The cliffs around the blue hole are beautiful and the blue hole is very dramatic looking. We went for a swim to the float in the middle of the blue hole.

After visiting the blue hole we stopped for lunch at Max Conch Shack. The food was very good. We then stopped to look at a A class Bahamian sloop that was being built and to talk to some men building grouper traps (they are sort of like lobster traps). An older couple, Susan and Loren, came out to talk to us and tell us about the boat and the area.  Susan was very excited to learn that we shared a name and that my father’s name was Loren.

The afternoon was spent driving to the north end of the island to the Columbus Monument. Again, the involved driving down a very long, very bumpy, deserted looking dirt road. It is a good thing we did not meet another car because someone would have had to have backed up a long way!  The monument was worth the trip. The view was incredible.

Friday, February 3^rd, we left Thompson Bay and had a leisurely sail to Calabash Bay. OUR DIAMOND left at the same time so we sailed together.  They used their spinnaker and we had our genoa poled out and we were both about the same speed – 3 knots.  When the speed dropped to 2 knots we were hoping they would give up sailing so we could and they were thinking the same thing about us.  Finally they called to say they were taking down the spinnaker and starting the motor.  Thank God! We were getting bored sailing with enough speed for steerage.  

After anchoring in Calabash Bay Robert and Lana picked us up in their fast dinghy and we snorkeled for about half an hour over some beautiful coral heads until Robert saw a shark. In the evening they came to CORRET for appetizers and we all saw our first green flash.

Saturday morning  it was flat calm. We could see coral and fish in 20 feet of water. A small squall came through and the boat had a nice rinse in a rainshower then we were treated to a rainbow.   We then had about 10 knots of wind which was great for an easy relaxing sail to Georgetown. On the way we were excited to catch a fish, but it was a barracuda so we very carefully removed the hook and set if free.