Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Long Island, Bahamas

3/31-4/7/16
We took a trip to see Long Island in the Bahamas. We wanted to get a feel for the island and also look at properties as we were thinking of buying a house in the Bahamas. We especially wanted to see this island as we live on Long Island, New York. It was fun talking to the locals and telling them that we're from Long Island, but it's in New York and quite different than the Bahamas.

We flew Bahamas Air to Deadman's Cay Airport

Not much to the airport

Our rental car for the week. Thank goodness we got a truck. Most of the roads were too rough for a car.

The beach at C Shell Guest Quarters, where we stayed for the week.



We were treated to a beautiful sunset for our first evening on the island.


Every beach on the island was beautiful & deserted




Stella Maris Resort doesn't have a great beach, so they cut a pool out of the rocks





Lots of bats inside the cave

Christopher Columbus Monument 





The trail we took to get to the monument 



Washed out bridge from Hurricane Joaquin 


Every Saturday morning there's a farmers market for fresh produce, handmade straw 
baskets & welk soup

We visited Dean's Blue Hole. It's the deepest blue hole in the world at over 600ft. deep.
In a few weeks they will hold the world championship free diving competition. We saw several
divers practicing for the competion.




A monument to people who lost their lives at this blue hole. There is such an extensive 
underwater cave system below, that bodies are never found.

Looking down into the abyss 

Lots of fish were around the blue hole






We climbed to the top to get a better view.






We went to Clarencetown to see two historical churches


Channels dug through the rock to bring saltwater to the salt flats

Just another beautiful secluded beach.



Different day, different secluded beach



Sea cucumber


Crystal clear waters

We went to Long Island to look at real estate. This was our favorite house. It came with a car, golf cart, boat dock and beach. We almost made on offer, but decided to think about it.





Al fell in love with the garage



We looked at this house, but were not impressed 

We really liked this house right on the ocean, but there would be constant maintenance because
of salt spray & nowhere to keep a boat. But I did like the idea of my own ocean beach.


We took a ride to the southern end of the island which was even more desolate than the 
northern end, and was hit much harder by the hurricane. We saw goats, sheep & chickens 
by the side of the road, and not many people.


Storm clouds moving in, but didn't bring much rain for the cisterns.

Salt flats, no longer in use.

We found another cave. Didn't see any bats, but this one had owls & bees.




Found another blue hole, but this one was only 30ft deep.




Bull shark swimming around by the marina in Clarencetown.

Bone fish

There was a humminbird right outside our door 

Santa Maria Resort at the north end of the island.




Someone knows how to get comfortable.






A cage filled with crabs. Cheryl, the owner of C Shells Guest Quarters and the real estate agent that showed us the properties, has this cage filled with crabs. She goes out at night into the bush with a flashlight & tongs. She catches them & keeps them in the cage to fatten them up. Rice with crab is a popular dish on this island. 

Driving at night we saw many crabs in the road


Al thought it would be cool to have a license plate from Long Island