Clarence Town (the capital of Long Island) is one of the larger settlements on Long Island, which is 80 miles long. Unfortunately, like a lot of the other settlements around, some of the businesses.. like the small grocery, have fallen on hard times and are no longer open. However it does have three restaurants, a marina, a gas station, a rental car company and two nice churches built by Father Jerome.

First order of business was to find an anchor spot we were comfortable with. First attempt ended up with our anchor in a small crater of sand about the size of round kitchen table surrounded by marl (rock). So I went for a swim to search out some other possible spots. It is a very mixed bottom with lots of marl, grass and some very soft sand. The second attempt we dropped the hook in a big patch of soft sand but it drug right though it and stopped in a another small patch, not good. Went swimming again and found a bigger patch of sand and sure enough our trusty CQR would not grab when we backed down with the engine. So we got out our fortress anchor that looks just like a dansforth. Last time we used this anchor was 10 years ago and guess where we were, Clarence Town. Well once we got that bad boy down we didn't move and it held great.

Since we arrived on a Tuesday and the next day was Ash Wednesday, the next order of business was to find out when mass was scheduled. Sure enough Felicity at the Flying Fish Marina had our answer...it was at noon. They have a priest who just came over from Rhode Island and he was excellent. We had a chance to get to know him after mass and we saw him several times while we were in town. After mass the following Monday (no mass on Sunday in Clarence Town that weekend) he gave us a tour of the rectory which was just in the process of being redone after hurricane Irene. It looked great, not your typical Bahamian project.

On one of the nicer, low wind days, we took the dingy about a mile away to a pond that was very protected. It was beautiful walking around in the soft sand flats that almost dry at low tide. We had the place all to ourselves. We did a little snorkeling but didn't really find much in terms of reefs so when we go back to the boat we decided to do a few laps around the boat just to get some exercise. Wouldn't you know it, Debbie spotted a conch. After we looked a little closer, we found 4 really nice sized ones. Fred did a good job cleaning them on the beach and later that night, we enjoyed freshly made conch salad for dinner and had a couple in the freezer for later.

Our good friends Dave and Mary on Mon Amie came all the way around from the other side of Long Island to hopefully head south with us. They went to mass with us on Monday and then out to breakfast at Rowdy Boys Restaurant. We ate there three times while we were in town and came away very happy each time. The owner was also the regatta chairman for the Bahamian Sailing Regattas. He had an A Class and B Class boat right near the restaurant. He and his three boys owned a construction company as well as the restaurant and villa which were all in very nice condition.

On another day here, we took a couple mile walk to the bakery with Dave & Mary..Oasis Bakery. Mary had called ahead of time, so we knew to get there in the afternoon for the freshly baked goodies. A local cruiser picked us up and gave us a ride on the way there, so we only had to walk back. Probably should have walked both ways to work off what we ate later that day, but oh well. For lunch we tried LePon's restaurant. Heard she made the best mac-n-cheese in all the islands so we felt like we had to try it. It was in fact one of the best we've had. Even saw the priest in there, so obviously a favorite stop by many.

On the last day there we rented a car so we could see more of the island get some provisions. The mail boat (boat that brings supplies to the island) was scheduled to come in at Thompson Bay in the afternoon so most of the fresh fruits and veggies wouldn't be on the shelves until the following morning. So the plan was to do the tourist stuff the first afternoon and groceries in the morning before we returned the car.

We headed north. You really don't need a map. It was one two lane road right down the middle of the island. The first stop was to the FedEx “office”. A small building in front of the agents house. He was a nice enough guys that had delivered my documents for the house closing the day before to the marina in Clarence Town. They don't normally deliver. So when I gave him all the documents I had signed to send back the states, I felt pretty good it would get there. He explained the process and it should take 3 working days for my package to arrive in Elk Lake, Michigan. Well it took 5 but it only took four for the package to get to me so that was the blessing.

Next stop was to Deans Blue Hole. A famous hole especially amongst free divers. It was one of those spectacular sights that are hard to describe. The colors were vibrant...deep blue changing to turquoise. Breathtaking. There was a diver practicing. Fred timed him a couple times and a minute forty seemed to be his longest time down. If I remember right, the hole goes down to around 600 ft. So obviously a lot of depth for the free divers to practice in.

After walking around at the Blue Hole, the next stop was lunch in Deadman's Cay. Stopped at Max's. Unfortunately they were out of mahi mahi when we arrived, but we all found something delicious to try. Had some conch fritters for an appetizer...boy were they outstanding.

Continued north after lunch. Long Island is a total of 80 miles...quite big in terms of a lot of the other islands around. We drove as far north as we could. Had an off-road adventure in our rented PT Cruiser where we took a dirt road about 3 miles out to see the Columbus Monument which was marking the spot where Columbus apparently came ashore. After seeing the reefs and depths around, not exactly sure how he did it...but must have been in calm conditions! The monument sat on top of a high hill, so the view from there was great. Definitely worth the off road experience to get there. Dave did a great job driving and dodging all the big rocks so we didn't hurt the car.

It was getting late, so started heading back to Clarence Town. But the day wouldn't have been complete without some ice cream. So we stopped in Thompson Bay to look around and grabbed some. Yum!