Calabash Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 It was a fabulous day for a sail.  Just perfect conditions - winds 18-20 knots from the beam and near flat seas.  

 

A random pretty boat sailing past in the opposite direciton.

 

Meshugga sailing into the anchorage at Calabash.

We'd heard our friends on Miss Adventure from Oriental on the VHF.   Were excited to be in the same anchorage with them for the first time in the Bahamas.  Sue waving at us on the dinghy.

 

Went for a short visit and catch-up.  Fun to see them!

 

We wanted to tour the creek behind the resort and possibly follow it all the way (about 3 miles) to Joes Sound. 

 

Tight squeeze for the dinghy thru this narrow opening.

 

Even at mid-tide rising, the creek ended up too shallow for us to pass.  We reluctantly turned around and came back the way we entered.

We had been told that the Cape Santa Maria resort welcomed cruisers to their happy hour.  It was true- nice folks. 

 

Not an in-expensive place, even at happy hour.  Beers were $5 each and drinks were $7.50.  But beautiful environment.  And they did bring a round of free conch fritters over. 

 

Back to the boat for a short visit with Meshugga.  Plans were hatched for a trip to Great Inagua.  We'd earlier ditched those plans, but the winds look more favorable now so we're going for it.  We'll depart tomorrow.

Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 Woke to a cloudy sunrise.

 

 The Meshugga taxi service picked me up in the morning to go over to the Saturday farmer's market.

 

 

Not a huge affair, but we did get a few nice fresh island-grown veggies.

 

Later in the afternoon I called the service station to make sure we could move the boat over to the fuel dock and fill up with diesel.  We'd not gotten any fuel since before Christmas and thought we should top off our tank.  The attendant apologized profusely but said she was short staffed and had no one to send down to the dock to pump fuel.   We were welcome to bring jerry cans to the station though.   Since we really didn't need that much fuel, we decided to do just that.

 

We ended up toting 40 gallons back to the boat - we're all topped off now and all our spare jugs are full.  We had used 30 gallons since Christmas - mostly making water and powering that yucky trip north a few days ago from the Raggeds.

Nice flat water for the transport.

 

At the station, there is always some homemade deserts for sale on the counter.  This time I got a "Benny Cake".  I asked what it was and the reply was that it was "just benny's and burnt sugar". 

 

Back at the boat I googled it - it is truly just seasame seeds and sugar!  Apparently the islanders call seasame seeds "Benny's".  The recipe is very simple - a couple of cups of seeds, toast them in a pot until they are very toasty and browned, stirring constantly to avoid burning.  Then stir in the sugar.  As it turns a nice brown color, stir in a bit of water.  Constantly stirring is the key.  After about 10 minutes it will be very thick and sticky.  Spoon out onto a surface that's slightly damp to prevent sticking.  That's it!  

It's almost like peanut brittle.  I've had a similar snack at Asian restaurants.  Really yummy!

 

And the sunset looks much like the sunrise!  We'll be sailing to the north end of the island tomorrow.

Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 Let me back up and show you a couple of photos from Dee and Jenny - thanks for the photos!

This is a beautiful photo of Sojourn under sail on the way from Water Cay to Long Island a few days ago.

 And me trying to find the "hidden path" to the castle ruins.

 

Duane and I near the shrimp hole.

 Back to the current day - off in the morning to see the north side of the island. First stop was at the machine shop to pick up Nicholas's part for his roller furler.  He was pleased with the result and we were soon driving north.

 

All the way to the northern tip of the island (about 30 miles) is the Columbus monument.  A very nice park has been installed there in the past couple of years.

 

Stunning views from the top of the hill.

The actual monument.

Jenny resting on the nice new structure.

We had flown over this area about 10 years ago on one of our flying trips and this structure was not built yet.  Here is what it looked like before with no walkway or stairs.

 Hope it stays this nice.

 More beautiful views.

 

Back to the car, Jenny suggested we continue down a road with a sign that said "ICE COLD BEER".  We did and ended up at another park area.  Beautiful bridge over a mangrove inlet.

A structured pathway lead to this pretty beach.

Back down the pathway towards the bridge.

 

 

 

We walked over to the area of tiki huts that had ICE COLD BEER signs.  These adorable little puppies came out to greet us from under a building. 

 

It looked lovely but unfortunately, no one was around to sell us any of that frosty beverage.

 

Back in the car to see the Cape Santa Maria resort.

 

Just a lovely resort on a beautiful protected beach.

 

We found some shade for a little relaxing.

 

Nicholas and Dee.

 

Jenny walking back to the parking.

 

Next up, close to lunchtime, we drove over bumpy roads into the Stella Maris resort.  Hoping to get lunch at the beach bar there.  We did get menus and decided that about $30 total for a hamburger and fries was a bit too much....told the waiter we were leaving (and why).  We did walk down to the "Nature's Pool" - a dredged out pool.  It's neat but anything but "natural".

Stopped for a couple of photos - brother and sister.

 

And Nicholas and Dee

 

 

 

Back in the car - in search of food now!   We stopped at one place (The Green Leaf? maybe the right name)  We sat down and were promptly ignored.   We asked several times if they were serving lu
nch.....off we went.

Stopped at another roadside place.  A lady was sitting there eating chicken out of a take out box.  We asked her if they were serving lunch.  She replied - "what you want to eat?  I can do some rice".....off we went again!  

We ended up driving back to Max's Conch Shack since we enjoyed it - just about 20 minutes.

We were not disappointed. Excellent service there.

 

My plate - cracked conch, baked mac n'cheese with jalapenos and fried plantains.  Excellent!  (Can't eat like this every day though!!)

 

Tony and Kathy were out touring and we texted them to join us.  Good fun.

 

And finally - Dee won a $200 bet with Nicholas about whether  mañana is a word in Zulu. (Dee was raised with a Zulu maid and heard it often.) Always something cute going on around these folks!

Back to the boats after telling the Skoolz Out crew good-bye as they are heading to Turks and Caicos.   Early night and NOTHING further to eat as I was stuffed still from lunch.