3/31/2010
22 38.331'N: 74 15.791'W

Crooked Acklins Group
When deciding whether to go to the Crooked Acklins or not, we ask many folks that had been there before us. The questions were answered with either wonderful, to don't bother!! But everyone said "there is nothing to do". So S/V Kokopelli and us decided we should find out for ourselves.
Our first stop was the leeside anchorage of Long Cay. Once a bustling sea port now the entire island has less than 20 people living there. There is what is left of a huge church to explore which dates back to the late eighteen hundreds. Then just a bit on down the same road we found a wonderful elderly man that ask if we had time to listen to him play a couple of songs on his guitar. What a great treat it was to spend a bit of time sitting under the shade of a large tree and listening to his songs of his life, with a few stories between songs. It was a wonderful afternoon spent with the gentleman and two of his neighbors. After that we ventured to the grocery store which was closed but Liz and Diane found the owner, who also works at the Batelco station,(phone relay office), who called the local bar to arrange for him to open so we could get a couple of beers and cokes. How gracious is it when they open the bar just for us.
The next stop for us was on the east side of Acklins Island. It was a Sunday so nothing was happening at "Delectable Bay". Then the next day we moved up to "Snug Corner". On shore we found a very nice grocery store with much better prices than at Georgetown or Long Island, and well stocked. Up the road was a roadside food stand, which naturally we had to stop at. It is run by a wonderful man named Conrad Hanna (sp?), who had been a chef in Nassau, and Grand Bahama. He went to culinary school in Texas, of all places. His daily menus were extremely good, generous portions, and $9.00 for lunch and a cold coke. And again an extremely nice man, who sat with us and told us tales of growing up here and the local history.
So far the only problem for us has been the constant waving and saying hello to all the people who pass us on the road, as we stroll around. It is kind of neat when we talk to anyone one and they all ask us if we are the folks from those TWO boats in the harbor.
The wind was favorable for us to travel down to the south end of Acklins, to Sugar Bay. It was a nice sand bottom with good holding and numerous patch reefs. Allan and I immediately jumped in and started to hunt the edge for food sources. There were some small lobsters and Allan was able to get a nice Nassau grouper, which he donated to us. The next day Allan and I went out to some of the small patch reefs/heads. The hunting was very good. Together we were able to harvest some very nice groupers, bar jacks, red hind, slipper lobster, and lobsters. Needless to say the freezers are now full.
Unfortunately the time was nearing for us to start back north and leaving our DEAR friends, as they are continuing south. It was probably the worst part of the trip here. We will miss them both very much.
So we leave Kokopelli and head back over to Long Cay with a departure for the south end of Long Island the following morning