Landrail Point/Pittstown Point, Crooked Island enroute to Ragged Islands

 The weather gods are not being kind to us!  When we decided to sail over to Crooked Island, it looked like we had 8-9 days of light winds that would be perfect for exploring....but the light winds have now vanished out of the forecast and we are left with a predicament. The forecast is now for 10 days of medium strong east winds.  There isn't really very many protected anchorages for east/southeast winds - mainly because the open ocean swell tends to wrap all the way around the island.  We could have gone back up into the Bight of Acklins - but we've been there before and it's just really not all that interesting with no coral to speak of.  

So, we've decided to throw in the towel for comfort's sake and sail back to the Raggeds.

We pulled up the anchor at Albert Town and had a brisk 13 mile sail up to the Landrail Point/Pittstown Point area.  Fishing but no catching!  

 

Set the anchor and took the dinghy in to the very protected small boat basin.  It's got an L shaped opening that was dredged out to prevent the ever present ocean swell from entering.

 

Great protection inside.

 

It's  about a 1 mile walk to the small grocery store.  Love seeing the nice and tidy houses.  Fun to be back in a bit of civilization.

The grocery store is small but jam packed with stuff!

 

 

I stocked back up on lots of fresh items and a few items I am running out of supply.  They had a good assortment.

 

Back to the boat to put the groceries away....then Duane loaded up all our jerry cans in the dinghy - off to the Crooked Island Marina just a mile away for a little petrol.

Good view of the Bird Rock lighthouse.... had hoped to go visit it but the waves will be horrible there for the next week or so....

 

Into the channel protecting the marina. 

 

 

 Duane getting ready to fill our jugs.

 

Nice young man, Ishmael from Acklins Island helped us the the fuel hoses.

 

A good bit of construction has happened since we were here 3 years ago.  New little cottages.

 

More construction.

The marina will be full at the end of the month and by April according to Ishmael - all sport fishing boats.

 Heading back to the boat - looks like a Cessna Caravan (or similar plane) getting ready to depart.

 

Off to the Ragged Islands!!!

Long Cay, Crooked Islands, Bahamas

The winds had shifted overnight and it was time to leave the wide open anchorage as there was no protection from swells there.  So back around we went to the other side of Long Cay.  Put the fishing rods out for a couple hours of deep water fishing.....but no fishy, fishy.....

Settled back amongst the coral at anchor, we went for a snorkel.  Target - grouper!  It's finally grouper season today in the Bahamas!

We went to several large coral heads....the water wasn't quite as clear as before.

 

Still fun to get in the water for a couple of hours.

Duane did manage a small grouper and a snapper (I'm a big snapper fan, Duane prefers the grouper).  

 

It's been ages since I deep-fried anything....but we splurged!  Hushpuppies, french fries, slaw and grouper bites.   Yummy but don't want to do that often!!!

Watched another episode of Vera before an early, slightly rolly night.

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!!