Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas

 Long day touring the island!  South side of the island today.  North side tomorrow.

Tied up at the dinghy dock, Nicholas & Dee had arranged for a SUV rental car.  They delivered it to the dock and we were off.  

 

First stop was to see the red shrimp....you pull over at an abandoned church.

 

And follow a trail about 1/4 mile to the shrimp hole!  Beautiful startlingly clear ocean water.

The bright sun glare against the dark cavern made it difficult to take a proper photo.

And plenty of the little red shrimp that give flamingos their color.

 

After that relaxing visit, there were several different healthy cactus plants on the trail.

Back to the SUV for further travels south.

Next up was Dean's Blue Hole - the world famous deep ocean hole that they use for free-diving competitions.

 

 According to google, the ocean hole is 663 feet deep.  Someone broke a world record here in 2010 by diving 302 feet on one breath.  Nuts!

We climbed the cliff for a better view but did NOT jump off as many youngsters do.

 

Back on shore the girls went for a small walk. 

 

The boys relaxed by a little pavillion.  Dee and I insisted that it was painted pink.  But on closer inspection - the pink you see is just the red reflected on white paint.

Next up we drove to Clarence Town to meet up with Tony and Kathy on Skoolz Out.  They needed to borrow a bosun's chair to retrieve a jib halyard that had gotten free and was near the top of the mast.

 

Jenny had volunteered to go up because she'd never done it before.

 

Up she went!

 

Good fun.

 

Tony also wanted to be lifted as he'd never done it before either.  A must have skill for cruisers.

 

Kathy at the winch - Tony's life literally in her hands.

 

 Well done!  We all took a break.

 

Tony and Kathy treated us to a yummy lunch at the marina restaurant.  Beautiful view of the Flying Fish Marina.

 

After lunch we piled in both rental cars and headed to a spot on the map showing "Dunmore's Plantation Ruins".   The directions were to drive to the end of the road and a "hidden path" will take you to the ruins at the top of the hill.  We plodded into the bush for a while but found no path.  No one was in the mood to bushwack....so out we came.  Interesting plant on the way that was later identified as a type of guava.

 

Driving on southbound, Nicholas had talked to an islander yesterday that said we could find flamingos at the southern tip.  We saw several salt ponds that had possibilities, but no flamingos.  We were surprised, though, to find this little gem literally at the end of the road at the Gordon's settlement.

 

Beautiful beach and fun bar.

And very yummy rum punches.  We asked the barkeep about where to view the flamingos. He gave us some directions - turn right at the cell tower, go up the road passing some houses - don't worry, it's a public road. 

 

So after relaxing and finishing our punches, back in the cars in search of flamingos.  I won't bother to discuss turning around and backtracking to find some lost shoes.....

 

 

But the flamingos are elusive!  None were sighted.  And Tony & Kathy's little rental car got a bit stuck....

But never fear, help is at hand.

 

And we were back on the road in no time.

Getting late in the day for cruisers!  We stopped by Max's Conch Shack for a fun Bahamian snack - conch fritters, conch salad and a few burgers.

Fun but long day!