Thompson Bay, Long Island

Thursday, Feb. 9th, we moved the boat to Kidd’s Cove, right outside George Town. After taking the dinghy across Elizabeth Harbour, 1 mile, the day before, we figured it’d be easier to move the boat to get the fuel, water, and some groceries. We saw Tom and Cathy (s/v Interlude) at Exuma Market Wednesday. It was nice to see people we knew! And we went out to dinner at St. Francis Resort on Stocking Island and got caught up on email, etc. Thursday we saw Chris and Tom (s/v Polar Pacer) while doing errands. This cruising life involves a very small number of boats.

After listening to Cruisers’ Net at 8AM, VHF 72, we headed out for Long Island. It was another beautiful sunny day in the Bahamas, but not a good sailing day w/the 10K east wind. We noted landmarks as we cruised down Great Exuma Island: Tropic of Cancer, Santinas, Williams Town. Remember?, Katja and Geoff?

We came into Thompson Bay amid 20 other boats, which quickly swelled to 40 boats the next day with the front. We bounced around all day Saturday. It was so bouncy I spent most of the day in the cockpit because I was nauseous. A group of people were at the beach, which we thought was odd, wondering how they maneuvered their dinghies in the turmoil of waves. Later we found out they were trapped on the beach. A group had gone together sightseeing and couldn’t get back to their boats because their dinghies kept filling up w/water every time they’d try to get in them.

Long Island Breeze Resort right at Salt Pond caters to the cruisers. Jackie and Mike, the proprietors, have a floating dinghy dock for the cruisers and manage the Cruisers’ Net every morning on VHF 18. A call came out from Jackie for help moving the dinghy dock before the strong west wind would pummel it and some cruisers responded. We didn’t get in to check out the resort until Tuesday when we moved the boat closer to Salt Pond to get fuel, water, and some groceries.

Sunday was another day on the boat. The wind would not let up! The boat next to us put their dinghy in, moving it from the foredeck, like we do, and carefully lowering the motor using their halyard. They did well w/the help of their grandson and extra lines on the dinghy. What the heck! We’d try it, and the wind caught our dinghy and nearly blew it away! Ken grabbed it and I let go the halyard before it sailed off again. After that, and w/the winds not abating, we nixed going ashore for another day.

Monday we finally got off the boat and dinked to the beach, walked thru the brush on a sandy path and up to Salt Pond via Queens Highway (every island has a Queens Highway). We were impressed w/Hillside Supply, a well stocked grocery and hardware store; ate at Sou’ Side (cheeseburger, cheeseburger), and listened to the chatter on the TV about Whitney Houston’s death. Sad.

That night about 50 people congregated on the beach for a pre-Valentine party. It was fun talking to Kathy and Darius (s/v Breeze Hunter), Tom and Cathy (s/v Perseverance II), Gayle and Bruce (s/v Aquarelle), and meeting Dorothy and Glenn (s/v Dotsway) and others. A group was going to the Jumentos and we considered joining them, but decided to go the other way to Conception.

Valentine’s Day Long Island Breeze Resort was having a dinner and dance and a lot of the cruisers were going, but we decided to stay on the boat. After moving the boat closer to Salt Pond and getting fuel and water, which we carried to the beach because the dock at Long Island Petroleum was destroyed in the hurricane, we went into the resort and hooked up to internet and saw Pete and Diane (s/v Pearl). They’d spent 3 weeks at Cat Island and warned us it’s very quiet. We said we like quiet. We sat down next to Pam and Glenn (m/v Cacique), cruising veterans. We all recognized our boats from the ICW and it was nice to finally meet them. We were sorry to say goodbye to such a great group, but cruising calls.