It was hard to drag ourselves away from Rum Cay. We had both begun to feel the sirens’ call to stay, but hard as it was, we could not ignore the first favorable sailing weather in 9 days that was conducive to sailing to Long Island. That weather was another kind of sirens’ call!!
Our first trip ashore on Long Island, to check out Long Island Breeze resort and find the food market! We are anchored in Thompson Bay.
On our second day on Long Island we rented a car for the day with friends Laureen and Miles (aboard Ariel). We explored some places they had visited in previous years, and we hit a few places we’d both been told were not to be missed!
First on the list of “must sees” was Deans Blue Hole, the deepest blue hole in the world! It was a very windy day there, so the water was ruffled up with chop and not as clear as on a calm day.
There were a number of SCUBA divers there that day, but only one free diver. We enjoyed watching him make his preparations for the dive, which includes meditating and slowing one’s breathing down for long trip down….over 600 feet down. I read that someone once said that once you reach the bottom the trick is to find some powerful reason to come back to the surface, because it’s a powerful temptation to stay down there. Yikes!
Just around the point from Dean’s Blue Hole we could really see the strength of the winds!
Another wonderful sight in Clarencetown is the Catholic Church, built in the early 20th century. This church would look just as good on an island in the Aegean as it does in Exumas Sound!
Bob and I climbed up a narrow winding stair case in the left side tower of this church, hoping to get the view from the tower. At the top of those stairs, we were not at the tower, and there was a series of old wooden ladders to climb to get the rest of the way to the tower. That’s when I chickened out! Bob kept going, climbing up four wooden ladders to get this view! Brave man!
Meanwhile, I checked out the sanctuary and found this little lizard watching me from the board that holds the hymns for the day. I found a hymnal to see if I’d know any of them. I did know the first one, # 56. It was “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” Now that hymn is on endless loop in my head…
The view of Clarencetown (a large settlement at the south end of Long Island) from the steps of the church.
We got a number of important chores down while we had the car yesterday. We got our cell phone up and running with a new SIM card, and we extended our visa at the local government office in Simms settlement. Pink seems to be the color for government offices.
We finished the day with a lovely dinner at Chez Pierre, a lovely spot that is reminiscent of 1930s casual elegance. (I could envision Ernest Hemingway at the next table.)There was an honor system bar, and in spite of the name, everything on the menu was Italian! It was a beautiful way to end the day…
Today while doing laundry at Long Island Breeze I met Nancy from Trumpeter who gave me a very thorough lesson in starting a coiled, Silver palm basket. I’m hooked!…and off to look for Silver palms!
