2+ Weeks in Little Harbour Long Island!

We arrived at Little Harbour on Long Island and surfed into the anchorage!  There was a catamaran at the north end but we normally tuck in the south anyway.  We did a brief “drive by” in the north but it was very rolly!  We quickly found that cell service was spotty and we were unable to get any internet! 

Let me explain about Little Harbour.  If you are on Long Island there is one main road and like most main roads in the Bahamas is is named The Queens Highway.  This “highway” is 2 lanes with very few streetlights (true on any Bahamian Island) so most cruisers do not travel after dark in a rental car.  We have rented a car in Salt Pond on previous years and when you head south you will pass the community of Roses.  Should you take a left at an unmarked dirt road in Roses and follow that for about 5 miles then take a path to the left for a few hundred feet you come to Little Harbour!  There is absolutely  nothing there in the way of houses, stores or civilization!  There are a few Bahamian fishing skiffs including an actual fishing boat that was wrecked in a hurricane many years before our first visit here in 2005. There was at one time the wreck of a sailboat on the eastside but now that has totally disappeared.

Waves breaking at the entrance after we surfed in!

Chris Parker – our weather guru had said that there would once again be front after front after front but little did we know!   We ended up being in Little Harbour from 2/14 till 2/25!  Our last grocery shop had been back in George Town on 2/10!  Vegetables are not know to be of the highest quality here but we still had snow peas, green beans and baby potatoes that we did not finish until 2/23!  Needless to say were were out of fresh meats but luckily we had purchased well for items that also made great leftovers!  Leftover spaghetti sauce became the base for pizza and Curried Mutton (goat here in the Bahamas) is always better the next day.  We had no luck fishing in the harbor except 1 little yellow tail Rob through back. 

We went for lots of dink rides and one morning we decided to head to the beach for a walk and a swim and there were 3 young Bahamian guys trying to get their outboard started.  We went back to the big boat and got some starting fluid.  One shot  the engine fired right up.  As they would be switching the engine off while fishing Rob suggested they keep the starting fluid onboard till they came back & they could drop it by Hampshire Rose.  It turns out they had some lobster pots outside and although the tails were spoken for they did give us 3 huge heads!  Now, do not scoff at this… If you have never boiled up a Bahamian lobster head you do not know how good it is!  There is a great deal of meat inside as well as making a great stock to use in rice.  From the 3 heads we had a wonderful linguine with white lobster sauce as well as a lobster pizza!

During the walk we found lots of beach treasures too.  Should we ever go back to land on a permanent basis we will have one great tiki bar!

Ocean side at Little Harbour

During our time there we also met the family on the catamaran – Marty, Dawn and  5 of their 6 kids in age from 8 to 16!  We also met Eric & Cathy on Erica who are 10 years into their circumnavigation starting from their home in New Zealand.  They were all great folks!  Finally on 2/23 the other boats left.  We decided to stay for the night and leave 2/24.  We noticed a rater large fish under the boat and decided he was probably why we were not catching.  It may be hard to see in the photos but he is a 4-5 foot barracuda!

No swimming with him around!

By morning the waves were considerably smaller so out the inlet we went.  As usual we dropped our lines in the water as soon as we hit 50+ ft. depth and within 20 minutes they were both singing!  Not 1 but 2 dolphin (mahi) were on!  Rob set his hook & came to help me get mine lassoed.  As we do not have a gaff we will put a line around the fishes tale should he be too big for our bucket.  We do not want a fish that is too big as we have no freezer.  After a great deal of time & patience I got him to the boat and Rob got him tied.  Next came the other fish…. while he was smaller than the first he had a great deal of spunk and was quite the jumper.  Then he got calm.  As he got closer to the boat we noticed yet another dolphin by the boat.  For those who do not fish let me explain that for some reason if a dolphin is hooked you should not get him out of the water for awhile as other dolphin will come!  It must be true as the free fish was right there at the back of the boat!  We were wondering if we could get the second fish off the hook as we really did not need him for food.  Better to let him swim another day for another meal! 

If ya can’t gaff ‘em, drown ‘em!  REALLY too big for the bucket but a great “dinner fish”.

By 9am we had him in the boat and lines up! 

So now we are on the way to Crooked and Acklins and perhaps we will see some flamingos too! 

Arrived at Landrail Point on Long Cay – not to be confused with Long Island!   Great little grocery store.  After the dolphin was cleaned there was enough for 6 meals for the 2 of us!  It is good to have some fresh veg again.

I do not know why but once again we have a barracuda under the boat!

Later!

 

 

 

Adult Day Care- Georgetown 2015

We left Salt Pond on 2/2/15 headed for Georgetown, the home of Adult Day Care in the Bahamas!  Otherwise known as the George Town Cruisers Regatta.  We went because we were in need of fresh water & Exuma Market there provides it for free to cruisers.  It was a wonderful sail over.  I mean we actually sailed!  We dropped the hook in Kidd Cove late in the afternoon and were going to go in for water then as it is never crowded at that time.  We had just gotten the hook down & completed the log when we were hailed on the VHF.  Who in the world even knew we were there??  It was some friends that saw us arrive and while I was on the radio with them another friend stopped by in his dink.  We should have realized then that it was to be a very busy visit to G. Town.  Needless to say water was forgotten till in the morning. 

We did have a great time.  We saw lots of friends both old & new.  One day 5 of us hiked to the top of the Monument at where else????…. Monument beach!

From the top of the monument.

As you can see the view is great!  Unfortunately, the multicolored building you see was a restaurant that is now closed.  Big D’s Conch Shack was one of our favorites.  We were told that he has now purchased some land (the former location shown was actually owned by The Peace N Plenty) and he will build & reopen soon.

Afternoons in G’Town are usually spent at The Chat N Chill on Volleyball Beach.  I guess you can figure out why it is so named.   They take their volleyball, bocce ball and dominoes very seriously.  In Bahama-speak that would be cirrus!  Now maybe in my younger years I could have played v-ball.  Even the “fun” volley ball is very serious, too serious for me!  My friend Cathy from Five & Dime invited me to play Mexican Train Dominoes with a bunch or boaters one day and man, that was FUN!  I was hooked & played almost every afternoon.  Kalik & Dominos – what a great combo!

As has been the case most of this winter there was cold front after cold front after cold front. It has been very uncomfortable for us & I imagine even worse for all of you state side!  During one of the strong fronts we decided to move from Volleyball Beach back to Kidd Cove, that is from one side of Elizabeth Harbour to the other.  Hardly anyone was out & about in their dinks as the winds & waves were quite strong.  As it was not raining at that time Rob & I were reading in the cockpit and we heard what sounded like a lawnmower engine.

Crazy Guy

This guy has got to be nuts!  One cruiser got on the VHF and said he almost hit her spreaders!  As I said, adult day care in G’Town!

We had only planned to be in George Town for 3-4 days and before we knew it a week had slipped past and it was time to go!  In reality we stayed as the weather was really not good for a return to Salt Pond but we knew we wanted to head farther south so off we went.

Wednesday, Feb 11, 2015 saw us underway at 0715 out of Elizabeth Harbour back towards Thompson Bay & Salt Pond.  It was very rough as we left the harbor.  rollers on the beam at 7-9 feet with an occasional 10-12.  The autopilot could not hold it and to say we were uncomfortable would be a drastic understatement.  After we made the necessary turns and were farther down Great Exuma Island it settled down and once again we had a wonderful sail.  The 2 hours of being uncomfortable were more than offset by the fantastic sail.  We made it to Salt Pond about 2:30pm using only 1.1 engine hours!  We knew we were getting underway in the morning so we did not contact anyone we knew.  The reason we went to G’Town was to water & provision before off to out islands so that was the plan to stick to!

On the 12th we were underway from Salt Pond to Dollar Harbour.  Now this is an anchorage of sorts, not a town at all.  It is an anchorage set between some cays is all.  We were unsure of the depth as a friend had said that he could no longer enter so we decided to drop the hook outside and south and maybe out of the surge.  It really was not a bad night and we decided in the morning to take the dink and go on an explore.  What an explore it turned into.  We had a lovely time in very shallow waterway inside Dollar Harbour.  We were told many years ago that you could get to the mainland at high tide this way.  The tide was NOT high! 

The flats inside Dollar Harbour

We decided to turn back and investigate a salt pond we had seen coming in and as we made it to the deeper water in Dollar Harbour the outboard quit!  Damn ethanol gasoline!  Ok, Rob said he would row.  The tide had changed and was now against us and pushing the dink up into the shallows.  I moved to the bow of the dink and Rob had not rowed more that 5-6 strokes and the oar broke!  Now we were in a pickle! We can actually say that we have been up the creek without a paddle!!!   He used the good oar in the back & I the broken one from the bow and we knew it was going to be a long slog back to Rosie!  Earlier we had seen a bone fish guide with customers but he had gone out of the harbour just before the engine stopped.  As we were rowing we saw 2 more boats heading in our general direction.  As the first one came closer we waved to him & thankfully he headed in our direction.  He towed us back to Hampshire Rose while his charter took photos of both us & the big boat too!  I had thought to bring my wallet so I pulled out $20 to give him for the fuel.  He did NOT want to take it!  Finally I said to him, “Please, give it to the church!”  He smiled, took the money and said “Thank you!”  The Bahamian people are wonderful!

Being towed.    Broken oar.     Fixing the outboard – again!

With that we decided to head down to the old Diamond Salt location.  They harvested the salt by hand for many years until easier (cheaper) methods were developed.  The sail was nice but the winds were flukey and we were afraid it would be a lousy sleep but no, it was fine.  We went into the abandoned salt flat at nearly low tide.  It was too low to get the dink in so we may try another day/time when in the area.

 

Entrance to salt flat                        Inside                                     Rosie outside

 

We have decided to move to Little Harbour on Long Island for the next few days for yet another cold front before moving down to Crooked & Acklins Islands.  As usual we threw out a couple of lines to try and catch dinner.  Today we have had no luck.  We have caught 3 and 1/2 fish, all barracudas!  How do you catch a half of a fish?  Something bigger grabs it on the way to the boat!

Well, that’s all for now. 

Holly