Long Island Devastation and a New Anchorage

The first day we got to Long Island we decided to take a walk with Jim and Bess on Destiny to the other side of the island to the beach.  On the walk over we saw a Bahamian Snowman made of of rocks which definitely gave me a good laugh.  Now this kind of snowman I can take or should we call him "Rockman?"

A Bahamian style snowman!

We also saw lots of butterflies enjoying the nectar of some of the flowering weeds.

Those were palm trees.

Furthermore, on our walk we saw  evidence of hurricane Joaquin from the palm trees that had no palms left.  Once at the beach we started looking for treasures of sea glass and sea beans finding some of each.  The beaches as you can see can be beautiful,

The beautiful white sand.

but they also can have lots of trash an especially plastics on them.  Due to the container ship that went down during the hurricane, we have found unopened jars of mayonnaise, hypodermic needles, flea and tick powder for dogs and more.  So the beaches seem dirtier than ever up above the tidal line but give an excellent place for finding sea beans. 

The trash filled sections of beach.

 That evening a dinghy drift happy hour was called and people off of boats but also some of the locals came out to join us.  It was nice to meet some of the homeowners on the island.

Homeowners and cruisers came out for the fun.

Getting to know some of the locals.

We were having so much fun, we stayed until the sun set!

Donations brought by cruisers.

The next day we got to see the remnants of hurricane Joaquin on Long Island first hand because we got a tour of the southern end of the island unexpectedly.  A call out went to cruisers  over the vhf radio for  a work day to help.  They asked cruisers to bring in any supplies they brought to donate, to the dock and they would have a pick-up truck and van to load them in.  One boat, Salty Turtle, brought dinghy load after dinghy load of clothing, toys, household items and bed linens.  Our friends who we sailed over with us , Jim and Bess on Destiny, brought a great supply of tools from his father's house which he had cleaned out before he left. We had brought the kitchen supplies for the home economics department at the high school.
We lined up the dock with all that was donated and filled the van and half of the pick-up with it all.

The van packed full of donations brought by cruisers.

The back wall is totally gone.  No one is living here now.

Then they asked if we wanted to ride along to take it to the distribution center and to meet some of the locals.  All ten of us wanted to go.  We got to see the devastation.  The homes closest to the water were missing there back walls or were totally demolished.


Where there were banana tree groves and gardens, all that was left was salty soil.  Most of the vegetation had died from the salt water, so you could see how much the sea had come up.

It is hard to believe that bananas grew here.

This lady had beautiful gardens and sold plants to homeowners on the island.  This is all she had left.  These were in the house in pots so that is why they survived.  Those who had some money are slowly rebuilding.  It is very difficult to get the supplies and so many still have homes with one section open to the elements.  The October hurricane Joaquin was the first hurricane in 85 years to have the sea rise so high and do so much damage on Long Island. It sat over the southern end for two days which also was a reason for so much being destroyed.  The only positive thing was that it rained for two to three days afterwards which helped dilute the salt, so they hope the soil will be able to produce food again.

After delivering our donations we went to Clarence Town to enjoy a nice lunch at the marina's restaurant,the Outer Edge Grill, which is up and running again.

Couples from the boats, Skeeter, Destiny and Ursa Minor who helped with the donations, enjoying lunch.

We started our day at 9:30am and returned to our boat about 4:30pm.  It isn't called Long Island for nothing!  It is 80 miles long, and the dinghy dock is about in the middle of the island with Clarence Town one of the furthest towns to the south. So it turned into a long but satisfying day!

The next day we headed back to Georgetown via the deep water route so that Al and Jim on Destiny could fish. Once again, nothing! Thank heavens there is a meat market in town!

Love the sky mirrored in the water!

We both decided to go into an area called Red Shanks. It is an enclosed area with very good protection because once again we were going to get winds from the south and west. It was our first time in and rather low tide so we anchored in the first slot of deeper water. We had a beautiful sky that night which I caught in a picture. 

The next day at high tide we moved over the sand bar into the next area good for anchoring. It was not a very pretty pretty day with some rain and wind so projects came out to be done. I totally finished my rug doing the whipping of the edge with yarn. 

It will be put away now until we get home.

My story rug of our vacations.

My next rug hooking project will take probably at least a year. It is about six feet by three feet and is considered a story rug. Again, I took a class in June, and started designing it last January. It is about all the places we have vacationed except the Bahamas. That could be a rug all on its own! I decided to do it by modes of transportation on how we got there. So it is divided by car, plane, chartered boats, cruise liners, bus and riverboats. It will be a wall hanging when it is finished. Don't hold your breath waiting for the finish, it will be a long time!

A close up of our river boat trips and our bus trip to the National Parks.

I finished another sea glass candle holder

Sea glass candle holder.

similar to the ones auctioned at Staniel Cay that got fifty dollars for the benefit.

I also am working on my pine needle basket making some progress adding decorative sliced walnut shells that I got when I ordered my supplies. It is a true learning experience, but it will get done, just slowly.

The base of a pine needle basket.

The next day was breezy but not enough to keep us cruisers from going to shore to get a walk in. We are anchored behind a private island that about six or seven years ago a resort was started to be built but stopped. We got a good walk in but got told by someone in a car on our way back (which we did not expect to see) “Did we know this was a private island?” Robin said yes, but all we wanted was to stretch our legs after being on the boat for a few days and he seemed okay with it. It seems there is work being started again so we won't be able to take walks there anymore.

The following day I got to do some kayaking to get some exercise. It is interesting to see some of the formations along the shore line and saw a few fish beneath the surface. 

You wonder how the soil stays in tack on the top.

The sand is a bit stirred up from all the wind we had

 Later that afternoon we went to a potluck on the beach on a very small uninhabited island nearby. It worked out great with a bonfire and all. We got to meet a lot more cruisers that we did not know. It was a great evening and I don't know if it was the bonfire or the cigars that the guys were smoking, but the bugs were not bad!

The Red Shank Beach Party

Enjoying the bonfire and potluck.

Lisa from Saraid, Bill from Cool Cat and Robin from Cookie Monster having fun!

Hoku learning how to do rug hooking.

The next afternoon I had Hoku, a twelve year old girl from Makana come over to learn how to do rug hooking. She had shown an interest in it the last time we were down when I showed my rugs at the art show during regatta. So I brought my small hooking frame and backing cloth for her and gave her a lesson. She did a fantastic job. I think she was better at keeping the loops even than I am. She hooked her own design of a flip flop and got it done except the background in two and half hours. She was very happy with it and so was I.

Hoku showing her flip flop she hooked.  She will finish the background on her own.

We plan to move closer to Georgetown and maybe back to Red Shanks at the end of the week for more west and south winds.