Black Point was our next stop. Great beachcombing; and the best cracked conch so far. The Laundromat was so crowded that we had to fill the machines with a water hose - another new experience.
Headed down to Galliot Cut, our last stop before heading out into Exuma Sound en route to George Town. A fisherman stopped and sold us some fresh conch. We’re getting pretty good at making conch salad! Abby had her first mishap crabbing. She dug up a big guy and he managed to catch her lip, no serious injury except to her pride and Ray rescued her pretty quickly.
Galliot Cut was a nail biter but we managed to make our way into Exuma Sound and had a nice sail to George Town. George Town is like a giant floating RV park. There were 120 boats when we arrived and close to 300 when we left (only 1 week). We enjoyed our stay, all the social activities and the interesting anchorages but a little too crowded for us.
After a week, we headed out to Long Island. Another time we could easily spend our whole winter in Thompson’s Bay. Long Island is beautiful, the people friendly, the harbor has lots of protection and isn’t crowded. We toured the island from Clarencetown at the south end to the Columbus Monument at the north end. We saw our first “blue hole” here, the deepest one in the world, 660 feet. You can stand at the edge in knee deep water and look way down. Spent a beautiful night anchored off Calabash Bay en route to Conception Island, sailed the whole way. Conception is probably one of the prettiest anchorages, the water is so clear it’s hard to believe.
We left Conception and headed to Cat Island . Ray caught a huge mahi mahi as we crossed the Tartar Bank, it’s our favourite fish and our freezer is coming in very handy. Explored most of Cat Island; climbed all the way to the top of the hill to visit the Hermitage; walked miles to the ocean side for some excellent beachcombing. Ray found a beautiful Portuguese glass fishing float - his greatest prize so far. We visited Arthurstown where Sidney Portier was born; Bennetts Harbour and Orange Creek.
After Cat Island we crossed to Little San Salvador, now owned by Holland Cruise Lines. Luckily there were no cruise ships when we arrived so we had the whole island to ourselves, more clear water; white sand beaches and great swimming. A huge cruise ship arrived next morning so we hauled anchor and headed north to Eluethera.