Long Island Revisited – February 17 to 28, 2012

Joe’s Sound on Long Island has become one of our favorite stops and was our destination after a short stay in Georgetown. About six hours after leaving Georgetown we had crossed Exuma Sound via the Middle Rocks and North Channel Rocks waypoints and were anchored in the narrow channel that is Joe’s Sound.

 Not long after the anchor was down the strong current swung us towards the shore and our starboard rudder was on the bottom.

We put out a stern anchor and used it to hold us in the deeper water. After reviewing the predicted weather pattern for the next few days Tom decided that it would be better to turn around in order to have the bows pointed north where the stronger winds were expected from. It was a tricky manoeuver to get the two anchors back up and down again with the current pulling us along the channel and the wind off our beam pushing us into the shallow water. Let it be said that we should have been using the marriage-saver headsets for that exercise.

After working on the ever present job list for a while we took the dinghy out to explore the channels that are defined at low tide.

We ran out of enough water for the dinghy twice and had to turn around without reaching the other side of the sound.

The water was clean and warm and I walked/swam back to the boat. By the time I did the short swim across the deep channel the current from the incoming tide was quite strong. I had to swim at an angle away from the boat and the current pushed me upstream to the stern. Knowing my limitations as a swimmer, Tom stood by with the dinghy in case I needed rescuing.

A sunset wiener roast on the beach was organized for dinner. The fire was built with a perfect view of the sunset over Galliot Cay. We landed the dinghies on the small rocky beach next to the ruins of the Galliot Cay Yacht Club. Our bannock encrusted hot dogs (in lieu of hot dog buns) were a hit, even with the kids who claimed not to like hot dogs.

The Cape Santa Maria Resort is a dinghy ride away from the anchorage at Joe’s Sound but is open to Exuma Sound and unless you have a much bigger dinghy than ours you will probably get wet.

A stop at the Stella Maris Marina and Resort were also on our Long Island itinerary. We needed to do laundry, use the internet and clean the salt off the decks. Polar Pacer had not had a fresh water bath since marsh Harbour about seven weeks earlier.

We needed slack tide before we could tackle bringing up the anchors in the narrow channel. With headsets in place Tom pulled in the slack on the stern anchor as I let out more rode on the bow. We used a bit of engine to keep us off the shoals. Once the stern anchor was off the bottom and up on the back deck, Tom pulled up the bow anchor while I took the engine controls and followed his directions. Twenty minutes later we were freed and making our way out of Joe’s Sound. No yelling. No miss-communication.

We had a patch of coral to cross on the way to the marina. With the sun directly in front of us and scattered clouds above it was difficult to spot the dark patches in the water and then make the differentiation between a cloud shadow and a dangerous hard bit.

The channel marking system in to Stella Maris Marina was still intact after being subjected to the forces of Hurricane Irene in 2011.

 Polar Pacer in Stella Maris Marina.

A young manatee made a rare appearance in the marina, attracting a lot of attention. Manatees are not common anywhere in the Bahamas and there was considerable speculation as to how this one came to be there.

It is doubtful that it would have been strong enough to have come across the Gulf Stream from Florida but possible that it could have travelled north from Cuba or the Caribbean.

The Speed Queen Laundry near the marina was still functional after being flooded by Irene with a foot of salt water. The proprietor’s attached home was flooded as well and there was damage to the building’s roof. The only government support that was available to help Cynthia recover from the damage was some cleaning supplies. She was on her own for the rest. I was glad that Cynthia’s postage stamp collection was intact and I was able to make some contributions to it.

With the laundry done and a few boat jobs taken care of we were free to go and play at the resort for an afternoon. The resort shuttle picked us up as well as a snorkeling group that had been dropped off a few miles down island earlier in the day.

The other pick up location was the site of the former Millarton All Ages School that was abandoned with the introduction of a school bus that transports students to a larger, newer school where each grade has its own teacher and classroom.

My archeological observations revealed that the facility was last used for instruction in straw weaving.

Someone’s hard work, left behind.

The view from the Moonshine Beach Bar at the Stella Maris Resort..

Thompson Bay was our last Long Island stop and the last place we could provision before heading for Cuba. We spoke to boats who had just returned from Cuba and heard about their trips as well as others who were potential travelling companions for our upcoming passage.

A fishing fleet returning to Thompson Bay.