We have made it to Long Island! I was pretty excited about this crossing because we were going to be able to troll in deep water and hopefully finally catch my illusive tuna. Go figure, we didn’t catch anything. Anyways, we arrived in Calabash Bay, Long Island and anchored up in the clearest water yet and sandy bottom. I could see both anchors and chain 60 feet in both directions below the water.
Although we didn’t spear anything, Laurel and I had a nice time in Calabash Bay snorkeling. Our next stop was Stella Maris. The 2 mile long channel into Stella Maris is a super shallow sand bank with 3.6 feet at low tide. We squeaked our way in at high tide and anchored up near a marina. We hitch hiked into town to check out the resort and eat some lunch. Leaving Stella Maris was the same routine: high tide, hold your breath and keep your eyes off the 4.7 foot depth. On the way into Stella Maris we noticed two 20+ ft deep holes in the 7 foot deep sand bar. The holes were 60 or 70 feet wide and had loads of fish, particularly Mutton Snapper. Mmmmmm…. Mutton. On the way in we tried anchoring up over the holes and hand lining up some fish but only caught Barracuda, a small Grouper and a grunt. I even tried snorkeling and spearing one, no luck. We trolled through on the way out trying to entice one but had no luck. Nearly a half mile later the drag was zipping out. Ten minutes later we hauled in a huge Mutton. Mmmmmm…. Mutton.
Now that we had breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days, we were amped and ready for our trip to Salt Pond and the regatta. The regatta is Long Island’s biggest and most anticipated event. It’s where all the islands bring their best guys to race. They have music, drinks and food, like $1 conch fritters. After a couple of days of stuffing our bellies with conch fritters, we reprovisioned in preparation for Steve and Kyla’s arrival in Georgetown on the 10th.
Our crossing back to the Exumas will take us to the south side of Great Exuma. This area and the Brigantines are rarely cruised and should yield some beautiful islands. Then we pick up Steve and Kyla in Barraterre and spend a week making our way to Staniel Cay.
