Long Island
11 February 2018
Joyce
Here, There, Everywhere
Where have we been? Here, There, Everywhere trying to hide from the winds. While sailboats like wind, high winds and waves are no fun for anchoring. This time of year is known for watching out for northern cold fronts bringing stronger winds but we've been fairly lucky that it has not been too bad. There has been a lot more rain but that has seem to have died down and we are now getting eastern winds, at times gusting to 25-30 knots. We look for Cays (islands) to hide behind the winds. Average temperatures are in the high 70's and the further south we go, the warmer it gets. YAY!
We spent approximately 8 days at a marina in Emerald Bay during a northern front with rains and high winds and then headed to Georgetown and Long Island. While a Emerald Bay, we ran into friends, John & Stacey who have since joined us and Reflections. We've enjoyed getting to know them better.
During the Emerald Bay stay, we rented a car with Reflections and toured the south end of the island, making a stop at the Tropic of Cancer. This latitude is where the sun is directly overhead during our summer. Prior years, we have stopped there and taken photos, which are in our photo gallery. I didn't take any this trip.
We have been in Long Island for approximately a week and there are about 20 boats anchored out, which is on the lighter side. Georgetown will be having a regatta soon and I'm sure boats will move on down to this island after the races. We've enjoyed the more quite activity here.
John, Stacey, Steve, Jane, Mike and I rented a car and toured Long Island. This is the first year of sailing for the 4 new friends, so Mike and I were able to play tour director, sort of. We did drive all the way south to the very tip to Gordons Beach. We had not been there and it was magnificent. Reminded us alot of the Jumentos. We ran into 1 other couple on the beach. Was very nice to enjoy the beauty.
We stopped in Clarence Town and had lunch at the Flying Fish, where we enjoyed fish tacos. We stopped a Deans Blue Hole for our friends to see but no one wanted to jump. Mike did jump into the Blue Hole a couple of years ago and have a video and photos in prior photos. It was sad to see the beach had lots of trash from the hurricanes, as a lot of the beaches have trash. Lots of plastic!
We then headed north to Stella Maris and viewed the resort and the sound side of the Atlantic ocean. While we were walking the resort, we ran into a lady walking 2 lab puppies on leash and a baby goat following. She said she rescued the goat from the ocean. She saw it out there drowning and she jumped in and saved it. Since then (approximately 4 months) this has became her pet, wearing a pink collar. (see photo gallery) We watched her take the dogs to the beach and the dogs happily got in the water and the goat stood back and watched. It was like the goat was saying, no thank you, been there, down that. And talk about a small world, in talking with her, she lived in Kemah, TX which was the town next to us when we lived in Houston area.
We walked down Erna's Natural Pool, which is on the Atlantic. (see photo gallery) The ocean comes into the natural break wall to make a pool, perfect for dipping our toes into.
We drove over to Cape Santa Maria (named by Christopher Columbus) and viewed the beautiful beaches and then headed for our homes (boats). We had been out since 8:30 am and it was getting dark and Steve was kind enough to drive us all over the 80 mile island.
On Saturday, we volunteered with other cruisers to clean up Dean's Blue Hole beach. The local school kids were also doing community work and total there were about 50 volunteers. Lots of trash to pick up but the beach looked beautiful when we were finished. Dean's Blue Hole is the world's deepest known salt water blue hole with entrance below sea level. It is 663 feet. They hold competitions there, where divers come from all around. In May there is a vertical blue free diving competition where 56 athletes representing 21 countries will compete over 9 days.
On our way back from volunteering, we made a stop at Kenny's Seaside Conch Shack. (we were given a ride to and from the volunteer site by a local expat who also volunteered and she had a car, Beth) Beth said this was the best conch salad on the island. While none of us ate any, Mike would have if he could have gotten someone other than me to share. I can't get past raw fish or conch but it does look good. There was someone that did order it and it smelled good. Similar to ceviche.
Today (Sunday) the winds are stronger and we've elected to stay on the boat and not go to shore. Getting our car (dingy) out in these waves, I usually get splashed a lot. It is a day spent cleaning, baked banana bread, listen to podcast of our church, reading, Mike made water and I washed a few items by hand. It also gives me time to update our blog.
Our intention is to head for the Jumentos as soon as winds are lower. This is our favorite chain of islands, where we spearfish and snorkel every day. While Mike has speared a few lobster and fish, Jumentos typically bring us better opportunities. We continue to feel amazingly lucky to experience this beautiful ocean and islands.