Love in Long Island

Today is Thursday February 24th and our second full day in Thompson Bay, Long Island. We had a splendid sail up from Hog Cay to Water Cay in the Jumentos. We covered over 50 miles in nine hours averaging high sixes to seven knots all the way. Celebrian was enjoying her new sails and kicking up her heels. The next day we motorsailed the remaining 35 miles from Water Cay to Long Island. We were welcomed to Long Island by a dolphin who enjoyed playing in our bow wave. Dolphins have even been known to ride the wave made by large whales...that must be something to see.


Yesterday we motored into the Long Island Breezes Resort to do laundry and other chores. We were able to get all of our laundry in the big resort machine so we didn't have to book the three smaller machines which were in large demand. There are close to 40 boats in the harbour and many of them in dire need of laundry services. While doing laundry I was able to use the restaurant internet to send my blog entries. We joined Peter and Lynn and many other cruisers for lunch and then it was off to the grocery store. The mail boat arrived yesterday and so it was timely to pounce on the fresh vegetables and fruit. In fact we waited patiently for a half an hour or more while they found and unpacked the celery.

We returned to Celebrian with our clean laundry and fresh food along with our two jerry jugs of diesel. Filling Mr. Yan's tank with diesel from the jugs is never one of our favourite jobs but a necessary one. Three trips to the fuel dock will fill the tank and leave the five gallon jugs full for emergency. Considering how long it has been since we bought fuel Mr. Yan had only used 24 gallons. The tank holds 45 so we were a long way from empty.

To finish off the full day we joined Lynn and Peter at a local restaurant for a Bahamian buffet. There were only a dozen of us for dinner but it was a nice group and the food was delicious. Truffina does all her own cooking and the buffet is only available once a week. So in keeping with the cruiser's mantra of seize the moment last night was the night.

Dr. Bob on Savage Son is hoping to take out my stitches on Saturday. The timing will work well because we may leave Long Island for Conception early next week and Savage Son is off to Georgetown soon after. Hopefully Lynn and I can stay out of trouble!?!

Today we are going into town for more diesel and a cruiser's pizza party at the Long Island Breeze. Nothing like filling up your fridge with fresh food and then going out to dinner but that is what happens when we get to civilization.

Last Days of the Jumentos

It has been a week since Maxine's party and finally the wind direction has given us an opportunity to make our way back up the Jumento's chain. We have enjoyed our stay at Hog Cay.

The Lady Jane, a fishing boat from Nassau joined the cruisers for a beach party and provided some fish the other night. Each cruising boat brought something to BBQ and a dish to share. There is always plenty of food at these gatherings. One of the cruisers brought a little stereo and a few of us did some dancing in the sand under the moonlight. It was a fun evening and a good opportunity to meet other boaters. Before the night was through we had several of the crew of the Lady Jane dancing with us. The Bahamians are so friendly and welcoming.


Just as Lynn is healing I caught my leg on a sharp stick and took a tumble. Gratefully I didn't land on razor rock but I took quite a chunk out of my leg. After trying to doctor my wound ourselves we thought we should see if Dr. Bob could take a look at it and it was a good thing that he did as I ended up with five stitches. This is when you are glad that you have a good medical kit and carry antibiotics on board. My foot was quite sore and swollen for a day but it is feeling better today.

The Captain C Done Reach Duncan Town

As is often the case the mailboat, The Captain C done reach Duncan Town a day late this past week. In the Bahamas one has to be patient and never in a hurry. Since we were already in Southside Bay and ready to go we decided to hike into town and take the computer to do some internet. I was able to do a couple of postings; however the signal wasn't strong enough to use Skype to call my mom (calls using the computer). Batelco can often be experiencing problems and using the internet here is another way to test one's patience. To upload each of the pictures on the blog might take upwards to 10 minutes so you can see how one can spend several hours doing computer work. The school lets the cruisers use their signal in return for donations. The local teacher insisted on driving us back to the bay at the end of the afternoon after several frustrating, but reasonably successful computer hours. We were happy for the lift as it was late pm and we were carrying some oranges and grapefruit for First Edition and ourselves.

The following day I spent some time paddling and shelling. I was delighted to find this huge, empty west indian chank shell on my travels. One can shell for days and not find anything and then happen upon a great find. Rob went ashore with his two large green garbage bags and cleaned the beach. This he finds satisfying even though the bags are filled almost immediately. The dump is on the way into town so this is his added incentive....save the world!? In the afternoon we hiked into town with Peter to pick up our few groceries. The picture shows how Peter and Rob cope with grocery day?! Lynn was running a fever and fighting an infection from a cut on her leg after her fall so she is still recuperating. Her face has four stitches and she is very bruised and swollen; however she remains positive and hopeful that she will not have any scarring.

we bought some lobster tails and fish from Percy who is somewhat of a local icon in Duncan Town. He was born here; however he lived in the US for many years as an engineer working in the oil business. Now he seems to do a little of everything....salt production, fishing, construction, and jewellery making. He delivered our snapper just in time for dinner. Rob had given Percy twenty dollars and said give us a mixture of lobster and fish. We got in return 9 small lobster tails, 3 yellowtail snapper and 1 market fish. we were pleased and our freezer has never looked so good.

Lynn and Peter went around by dinghy delivering cake that she had baked the other day before her fall for Jay on Farniente's birthday. Only Lynn would try to hide behind a plastic plate. As of yesterday Dr. Bob took out her four stitches and she is very happy with the way things look. We are often scrambling around on razor rock in These islands so Lynn's fall is a reminder to all of us to be very careful when hiking.

Happy Valentine's Day ....Ragged Island Style

The must do festivity of the cruising community of the Jumentos is Maxine's Valentine's Party on the beach at Hog Cay. Maxine runs the tiny grocery store in Duncan Town and she likes to thank the cruising boats for their business by putting on a luncheon beach party. She doesn't expect payment; however the cruisers all chip in twenty dollars a couple to give to Maxine. Maxine makes it possible for boats to stay here longer by ordering food from Nassau. Without her we would all be living on our staples and not enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables. There were 35 cruising boats at the party this year and lots of local folk from Duncan Town came by small boat. One of the pictures show the school children arriving with their teacher.

The luncheon included beer so the party was in full swing by 1:00 pm before everyone was fed. The cruisers brought desserts and appetizers to help out so no one went hungry. Maxine had turkey, ham, peas and rice, and several salads and she must of fed well over 100 people. Lynn and I didn't even have a drink but were soon part of the Junkanoo dance group!? The guys from town had brought their drums and shakers as well as some one size fits all Junkanoo party outfits. Junkanoo is a celebration that is held at the beginning of a new year and is something akin to Mardi Gras. It was a fun afternoon and particularly enjoyable because of the involvement of the local people. We returned to Celebrian tired and very full of good food by the time the sun set.

The trade winds have filled in and it looks like we will be stuck at Hog Cay for over a week. The trades blow primarily from the east and the northeast and that is the direction we need to go to Long Island. These winds are above normal in strength (plus 15-20 knots) so it is not like we can motor into them. The ocean seas are 9-11 feet according to Chris Parker, our weather forecaster. The good thing is that we are safe and comfortable here; however the bad thing is that we were hoping to get to Long Island this week to do laundry. In desperation we are about to wash our sheets in ammonia, a cruising tip to save water. Of course now it is so windy that we can't hang the sheets out so the admiral keeps washing the pillow cases etc. by hand and keeps her nose on the pillow while sleeping. Such is life on a sailboat with only two sets of sheets?!? Some of the larger cruising boats like First Edition have 6 pairs of sheets and don't have to worry; however they will have a lot more laundry to do than us. This could prove tricky as many of these boats are planning on heading north around the time we are and we may have some laundry wars over the two washers and two dryers available in Thompson Bay, Long Island.

We try to get to shore for a walk or get off the boat if we can each day; however today the wind has really ramped up and we may not get to shore. I baked some muffins, did some hand laundry and down loaded some pictures on the computer and soon the morning will be gone. Rob is reading in the cockpit and well entrenched in his book. I plan on joining him this afternoon with another book from First Edition's library called Empire Falls. We just finished a book called Little Bee by Chris Cleaves and would highly recommend it. We had trouble putting it down once we started to read it.

Shark Encounters of the Third Kind

The pictures are from the Guide to Corals and Fishes book that we have on board. The top picture shows the bull, followed by the lemon shark, nurse, blacktip and sand tiger. We routinely see nurse sharks but they are harmless.


Since my encounter with the bull shark I have been a little more anxious swimming in these waters. Unfortunately everyone hunts here and the waters are always being chummed with fish guts and lobster parts. Nonetheless I like to swim before my shower and besides what are my chances of seeing another shark? I jump into the water with my snorkel and fins on and head out to check the anchor and just past the anchor I see another guy in a gray suit. The water was a bit murky so I began to wonder whether I was seeing things but I decided not to go back in the water. The following day both Rob and I decided to have a dip before dinner and as luck would have it I spotted the shark before Rob even got into the water. This time I had decided to stay close to the swim ladder and this time Mac the Mako shark decided to swim close to the boat. I was glad that Rob got to see the shark as I was beginning to think I was seeing things. I talked to Percy and asked him if there were any local sharks and sure enough he said that there were two Mako sharks, each over 6 feet that cruise the bay. Evidently they even follow Percy's boat when they hear the motor. We don't have any information about Mako sharks on board; however they are ocean pelagic sharks. Intellectually I know that they are unlikely interested in me as a food source; however I must say seeing a top ocean predator less than twenty feet away is very frightening. Rob on the other hand is wishing he could see the shark and get a picture?!