Long Cay, Crooked Islands, Bahamas

 Busy day!  First we dropped the dinghy to go explore the almost abandoned town of Albert Town.  Columbus first landed on Long Cay - and for many years it was a very busy port town that ships used as a stop for provisions and coal.  Reportedly there were 2000 residents at it's peak.  Currently there are about 20 residents.  Unfortunately the ocean swells breaking on the shore were just too rough for us to land the dinghy so we went back to the boat.  Notice the gazebo in the photo - we'll see it eventually today, just not right now.

 

So we lifted anchor and headed around into the Bight of Acklins - about 10 miles.  No wind at all so we did not raise the sails.  I did put out the fishing poles as I stayed in deep water just off the coast for an hour or so.....no fish though!

 

Once inside the bight, the water was shallow and lovely!

 

Fun watching starfish under the boat from the bow in the clear water.

 

Dropped the anchor and headed out on the dinghy to the area where we saw a flock of flamingos last time we were here.

 

Unfortunately the flamingos did not chose to be there this time!  But there was one lone bird that flew off as we approached.

 

Lovely but weird creatures!

 

The shallow water where we were looking for the birds - Sojourn is a dot in the distance.

Not finding a flock of flamingos, we approached the small boat dock in order to walk the 2 miles into town.  No one around.

 

Long dusty walk.

 

 The view from the top of the hill - there once was a house or building here.

 

Close to town there were several salt ponds.

 

The salt ponds are still being used by some of the locals as we could see some of their equipment.  

Cool to see the salt crystals - looks like ice.

 

Walking into the almost abandoned town.....there is a resident in this house!

 

This is the view of last nights anchorage from that gazebo we saw earlier.

 

Walking the streets/paths we did not see anyone at all.  The beach is lovely.

 

There is a generator running - and a cell phone tower....

More abandoned buildings.

 

The Anglican Church appears abandoned....

 

But one small portion has been saved and appears to be actively used.

 

But the majority of it is in ruins.

 

We had seen/heard some flamingos in the distance along the edges of the salt ponds....we walked as close as we could - but they quickly flew away.  Very skittish birds in the wild!

 

View across a salt pond back to the church.

Back to the boat - the wind was so calm!

 

A starfish right below the boat.

 

Lovely day!!