Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 I know, getting pretty boring lately!

We were getting pretty low on fresh veggies from the last mail boat in the Raggeds.  Time to visit one of our favorite grocery stores in the Bahamas - Hillside Grocery.  They pack a lot of groceries in this little store.

 Back to the boat - only $71 for all this.  (The lettuce was $11.99 but worth it!)

 And I made an impulse buy...at the checkout counter they had Chick-O-Stick candy.....I had to be nostalgic and buy a couple - these were my childhood favorites dating back to the early 1970's at Davenport's store! (and they're accidentally vegan as well!)

 

Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 We were in need of a bit of exercise....took the dinghy over to the very damaged dinghy dock.  Most of the planks were missing due to Hurricane Melissa.  I know that hurricane doesn't ring a bell to most folks because it didn't damage the US much.  But it was one of the strongest hurricanes ever in the Atlantic basin, severely damaging Jamaica!

Luckily, the ladder was spared but walking on the remains of the dock was really disorienting for me and my height-phobic brain.  Hard to see in the photo but the dock is 5-6 off the water.

Not far from the dock is a road/path that leads over to the ocean side of the island.

Maybe a half mile, past a rather stinky salt pond...I scanned for flamingos but saw none....

 

Beautiful crescent beaches with slightly pink sand.

 

We walked about a mile north bound.

 

We could see a pathway back to the bay side of the island on Google maps.

 

 Turned out to be someones driveway but no one appeared to be home with windows boarded up.

 

Lovely stand of palm trees.

 And back to the other side overlooking Thompson Bay where Sojourn is anchored.

 

Lovely bougainvillea lining someone's driveway. 

 

Nice 3 mile walk in the blazing sun...back to the boat for a quiet evening.

 

Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 Nothing much to report....spent most of the day catching up on some business paperwork.  

Sunset - looked pretty much like sunrise today...

Sunset

Sunrise - was supposed to be a lunar eclipse - the clouds got in the way...

 

Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 We took the low-wind-day opportunity to do some "trolling" for fish north of Long Island. 

Leaving Calabash in the morning light.

 

  There is a peninsula "underwater" along the norther shoreline....the fish supposedly swim along a shelf that drops off steeply there to thousands of feet of depth.  So we followed that line as best we could using the chartplotter.

 

 

There were two small boats that seemed to be doing the same thing we were doing!

The winds did pick up after several hours so we raised the sails.

 

And we did actually catch one fish - a small blackfin tuna.  We've never caught this species before - it's very nice light meat similar to an albacore tuna (I googled it, of course).  We've caught skipjack and yellow fin before.

The fish went straight into the fridge for later cleaning. 

 

 My dinner....marinated with soy sauce, powdered ginger and honey.  Just touched all sides of the fillets to a very hot pan.  Was delightful! 

 

 We're now at Salt Pond, Long Island where I think we'll be for quite a while since we have some fairly strong east trade winds setting in.  

Calabash Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 We woke to a very grey day....the view as we pulled anchor.

 

But the skies cleared and we had another wonderful sail.  Love to see the shadow of the sail in the pretty water.

Sailed for about 6 hours thru the Comer Channel with no issues.

 

 We saw this rainstorm in the distance.  The wind had died significantly so we had a motor running.  We decided just to drop the sails - good choice as the small squall had 30+ knots of winds briefly.

 

Pretty rainbow as we approached Calabash Bay.  Will go fishing in the deep water tomorrow!

 

Water Cay, Jumentos Cays, Bahamas

 Another fabulous sailing day.  Both sails up with 20+ knots wind on our beam for most of the day.

 

Beautiful little cays as we make our way north.

 Arrived at Water Cay in the late afternoon.....several other boats here but not crowded.

 

 

 

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 Lovely evening.  On to Long Island tomorrow.

Buena Vsta Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 We have to renew our immigration on March 17th...looking at the long term weather, the winds are going to be mostly strong and from the east for an extended period around mid March.  There is a calmer period over the next several days where we could make our way north.  Not ideal because we'll end up having to hang out around Georgetown until closer to the 17th.  (Immigration usually wants you to appear within a few days of your renewal date, entirely up to the customs officer....)  So we decided to head north..

First we went ashore at Hog Cay and burned our trash....beautiful day! 

 

Low tide and the beach was gorgeous!

 

Looking back at Sojourn.

 

Fabulous sail - winds 20-25 knots consistently.  

Sailing with only the main.  (I know, poorly trimmed but this is lazy sailing!)

 

Hog Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 Busy day....

Yesterday while playing cards Donna had invited me to join the "hair cutting party" on shore this morning....my hair was a bit shaggy so time for a trim!

Donna cutting Jerry's hair as we approach shore on the dinghy.

 

My turn!

Easy, peasy!  So sweet of Donna.

 We sat and chatted a while as Donna trimmed Chris's hair as well.  Everyone is looking good now!

 

 Looking back to the anchorage, the same 11 catamarans have been in the cut for a while now.

 

 

Afterwards back at the boat.  Nice and cool to have all the fuzz trimmed away!

 

 The bread machine did a perfect loaf this time....

 

 

 A bit of butter an honey....yum!

 We had been looking at the weather lately and decided it was time to make a change....still not exactly sure of our plans but we lifted anchor and headed north towards Hog Cay.  Stopping by Blackbeard's Point for a quick dinghy ride into town to retrieve our long-lost wine!

 

 We didn't stay long but had a nice visit with Maxine.  Finally got the wine - not fancy but will be plenty for the rest of the trip.  I don't think I told the "story of the wine".  So several weeks ago I ordered 12 bottles of wine from Bristol in Nassau to be delivered on the mailboat.  I got the online confirmation that it had been taken to the mailboat.  But the wine was not on the mailboat when it arrived in Duncan Town.  It was on the manifest, just missing.  They told me that if they couldn't find it that they would replace it....I hate that for them but that is their policy.  Fast forward a couple of weeks, they found the wine!  It had been offloaded for some reason in Staniel Cay.  They told me that the boxes were only marked with my name, not a destination.  So long story short, they picked up the boxes the next time they were at Staniel Cay and they finally made their way to Maxine's store!  Gotta love the islands!

 

 

Last view of Duncan Town for the near future!
 

 

Back to the boat, beautiful day.

 

 Lifted anchor and motored over to Hog Cay....will decide direction in the next day or so.