Sharks and (Sand)Bars
After the WORST 30 hours passage through the strait between Haiti and Cuba where we went straight into the wind and waves, we made it to the calm blue harbour of Man of War Bay, on Great Inagua, Bahamas. There was nothing we could do for those 30 hours except endure. And we did. Poor Paulina no doubt wondered what she had signed up for as we all laid quietly in our own corners of the boat, praying for it to end.
Just as we hoped upon arriving in the Bahamas, we immediately made friends with the boats in the harbor. After a beach bonfire, some walks, plans formed to visit one of the bars on the sparsely inhabited island. We got a ride with the one guy with the pickup truck and loaded it full. I think we were close to 17 people in total and it was a 40 minute drive. With a warm fire playing on the TV in the bar and a dj spinning tunes in the dance hall, it was a night to remember. We ate fried chicken wings and danced to 80s songs and rode back to our bay at dusk in the pickup. The driver made a fortune off of us.
Next stop, Clarence Town, near the southern end of Long Island. A beautiful bay protected on one side by a private island, where we walked, found some coconuts and played, rested, or in the case of Paulina and Rosie, danced on the beach. We also rented a car and drove to Dean’s Blue Hole, which lays claim to being the 3rd deepest blue hole in the world at 202 meters deep. A platform floating over the middle of the hole drops a line down that one can use to measure their depth. Jordan free dove to about 10 meters while Paulina and Rosie danced above.
The blue hole is pretty cool and a bit creepy. Underwater, the edge of the hole is an aquarium of colorful fish. And then the water gets dark and the sand drops off. I refused to swim across the hole. It literally looks like it’s going to suck you in. No thank you! After that we drove an hour north (west?) on the island to a great lunch spot. We were the only guests and there was one person in the kitchen. Two hours later we had a delicious meal. Welcome to Bahamas time. We will be lucky to eat another meal within an hour of ordering it for the next three months. But we did learn the food ferry had arrived so we stopped at the only grocery on the way back to the boat and spent a fortune on fresh produce.
The dinghy dock at Clarence Town is on a beautiful, calm shark-infested bay. Lemon sharks (we later learned they are named for the color of their skin) come to eat the chum the locals throw in from their fish-cleaning. Sharks circle all day, fins in the air, just waiting for fresh morsels to fall in the water. Watching these massive creatures at the dock we asked some local ladies what kind of sharks they were. In answer, they warned us not to swim in the bay and that “them are hungry sharks!” Then one of the women pulled out her phone to show me a photo of her son’s shark-bitten arm. We will not be swimming, thank you very much.
After waiting out some rough weather we headed north (west?) around the island and spent a night at the other side. On the way we snagged a tuna! Always exciting to eat poke or sushi when it’s so fresh, and this time, Paulina gutted that fish like the pro she is. We stayed one evening before crossing to George Town, in the Exumas.
We watched several Starlink satellite launches, met up with dear friends Farah and Greg who we last said goodbye to in Colombia, and enjoyed the first of many walks on the rocky dunes and massive sandbars that make up the Exumas. After several rough sails to get north and east again, we have finally found paradise.
