We are now in the tropics!

We left George Town on Monday and sailed to Thompson Bay in the town of Salt Pond on Long Island. Half the island is in the Tropic Of Cancer so we now are officially in the tropics. Wednesday was a provision day for anything fresh. We will stay here around a week because of another cold front coming through, starting today (Friday) and lasting about three days. Mostly just high winds of 30 to 35 knots. We stop for a beer on the side of the road after shopping.

Laurie, Frank and Mary Grace

 On Wednesday we rented a car with our friends Mary Grace and Frank to see the island. We started by driving south to the other side of the island to Clarence Town. This is where we might come later to head more south and there's not much here.

These two churches were built in the 1700's by Father Jerome.

On our way down we passed a vacant lot where a local was building a race boat. Bahamian people love there boat racing and these are the boats they race and all the boats are hand built. As soon as we stopped to look a couple came over and were very glad to talk to us about anything but boat building. As he talked and we looked at the boat I just shook my head and agreed with anything he said because he was very hard to understand. But they were very friendly like all the people on the islands.



After visiting Clarence Town we went to Deans Blue Hole in of course in the town of Deans. For more information on the Blue hole refer to Laurie's S.H.I.T. at the end of this Blog. But here's a few pictures.

 

Next stop was the Hamilton Caves. The two women like this trip the best. As Lenard our guide took us through the cave he was showing us different species of bats hiding in the ceilings. As we all looked up together one flew down and scared the women. Mary Grace screaming and jumped and Laurie screamed and jumped away and pushed me down into the BAT SHIT on the ground! I fell onto my camera but luckily there was no damage. Lenard had lots of fun on this tour. He said he had never seen that happen before.

 

 

The next day we only had a few hours with the car so one more attraction to see. Christopher Columbus monument. This is when he landed in Oct of 1492.

 

It says

THIS

 MONUMENT

 IS DEDICATED TO

THE GENTLE PEACFUL HAPPY

ABOURIGINAL PEOPLE

OF LONG ISLAND

THE LUCAYANS

AND TO THE ARRIVAL OF

 CHRISTOPHOR COLUMBUS

ON

17TH OCTOBER 1492



 

We will sit here for a few days and let the weather settle down and move on again to Conception Island for the second time.

 



 

So now it's tome again for:

So Here's Interesting Tidbits SHIT for short

 

A Little Bit About Long Island

 

Long Island is 76 miles long and 4 miles wide. It has 40 communities with a total population of 4000

people. The people have a lot of different ethnic backgrounds. The people here have lived here for many centuries. Some have come from pirates and slaves and Greek Sponge fishermen. Much of the island is generational land. Meaning the land is titled and owned by various families through generations. Everyone on the island is related. Long Island is known for being calm, peaceful and tranquil. The island has contrasting coastlines. On the Atlantic side there are rocky cliffs with scattered crescent shaped beaches. The western side is low with shallow, clear waters with creeks and mangroves. These creeks are famous for bone fishing. It has many fishing competitions here. These crafty fish swim in schools and muddies the water which are hard to capture. This makes for a great fishing sport.

 

 

Cape Santa Maria 

 

Cape Santa Maria was named after Christopher Columbus. He sailed his ship here on Oct. 17th 1492. He arrived here on his first voyage to the new world. He sailed his ship here and ran aground on the northern tip of the island. His ship was called "Santa Maria" Thus, that is how the cape got its name.

 

The Columbus monument was constructed by the Long Islanders Ass. as a tribute to his arrival. A beautiful view to the ocean. We climbed the hill to his memorial site. Here is a picture.

 

 



 





  Deans Blue Hole

 

We were fortunate enough to snorkel this stunning calm waters of the Blue Hole. This Blue Hole is the second largest Blue Hole in the World next to China. It is also the 8th largest underwater cavern in the World. A couple of years ago a freestyle diving record was set here. "Gorgeous Place"...





 

 

The hole is circular in shape, over 300 m (984 ft) across and 108 m (354 ft) deep. It was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in the Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000; 66,000; 60,000; and 15,000 years ago