While at Long Island we rented a car with Jerry and Barb on the sailing vessel Kumbaya and toured the island. First we went to Dean's Blue Hole. This is a deep hole just off the shore. It is the deepest known blue hole in the world. The depth is 663 feet and the world record free diver trains here. I believe the record free dive is 302 feet. I made it down about 20 feet before my head felt like it was going to explode.
We were able to snorkel around the hold and out onto some coral reefs where the ocean comes into the cove. Lots of fish and sand dollars.
Dean's Blue Hole
Dean's Blue Hole
St. Mary's Church in Clarencetown, Long Island.We left Thompson Bay and went back to Conception Island after an overnight stop at Calabash Bay, Long Island. On the way into Calabash Bay we saw two whales breach about 200 yards from the boat. We later found out that they are Brides whales. They are called that because when they blow the water out of their blow holes it looks like a brides veil. It was very cool to see them. We didn't go ashore since we had already done that on our previous stop here.
We left early the next morning for Conception and got in after about a 4 hour trip. The sail over was very nice with wind about 15-18 knots off the beam and seas about 3-4 feet. After anchoring we went ashore and went over to the ocean side of the island to snorkel the reef and a wrecked boat. We saw lots of fish there also. We hung out on the beach and did some swimming in the cool waters.
We left after staying three nights and started our trek back north. Our first stop was back in Georgetown. The annual regatta was going on so there were over 300 boats anchored in the area. We found a spot just off Monument beach for the night.
The next morning we departed for the 25 mile sail up to Lee Stocking Island. There was a cold front approaching and we wanted to get anchored before it reached us. Well it moved faster than was predicted and about 5 miles out of the anchorage the winds built to around 20 and the seas came up to 4-5 feet. We had to go thru Adderley cut to get back to the anchorage and the cuts are famous for being treacherous in bad weather. When we got to the cut the tide was going in on the flood, which I planned our arrival for, so the wind and current were going the same direction. This keeps the seas at the cut from building to dangerous levels. We started into the cut just and it started to rain. We turned around to wait out the rain. We have been in a rain shower before where we couldn't see the bow of the boat. The rain didn't get that heavy this time and after waiting about 10 minutes we made it into the cut and picked up a mooring at the Caribbean Research Center. We stayed five nights there waiting out bad weather. While there we went over to Coconut Beach and snorkeled and climbed Perry's Peak which is the highest spot in the Exuma's at 123 feet.
View from Perry's Peak
Tug and barge rocks.We finally got a good weather window and headed back out Adderley Cut into Exuma Sound (Ocean side) and went north 12 miles to Cave Cay cut. Cave Cay cut was an easy entry to cross from the sound to the banks. Once on the bank side we headed north another 15 miles to Jack's Bay, Great Guana Cay.
We stayed at Jack's Bay for two nights. We were the only boat there and the winds were light and the sky clear. At night we could see thousands of stars with no lights around for miles. Since we were alone we decided to take our showers outside on the transom. We had hot water, warm temperatures and light wind, which all make for a pleasant outdoor shower. Here I am all soaped up, butt naked on the stern with life at its zenith when the water pressure dies. Yep, the fresh water pump decided to give it up. After 10 years I guess it was time. Well, I had to go below and fill a bucket with fresh water using the hand pump in order to rinse off. Just when you think all is well the boat hiccups. Luckily we carry a spare pump and I had it changed in about 30 minutes. I about have to stand on my head to change it and when I was done I needed another shower so it got a good test.
We are now anchored at Black Point where we will do laundry before heading further north. It is hard to believe but we are actually getting homesick from the good old USA. We are pretty sure we will now head back over to Florida. We will still go slow and make stops but it is time to return.
I still have some short videos of our anchorages to upload but just can't get the bandwidth to do it over here. Eventually I will when we get back to the states.
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