Long Island to Georgetown

Our last stop in the Exumas was Musha Cay which is owned by David Copperfield. He commissioned a sculpture and dropped it in the shallow waters by his island creating a very cool snorkel spot. The next day we departed for a 50 mile sail to Long Island. The trip took us about 8 hours and I managed to hook a 100+lb sailfish on the trip. I say "hook" because it quickly pulled out all my line and disappeared back into the ocean! Long Island is the longest island in the Bahamas at 70 miles and is quieter than any of the islands we have visited so far. We stayed in the northern part of the island where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492. There is a nice resort owned by a Canadian couple that is very cruiser friendly with great happy hour prices and good food. We then made our way down to Salt Pond (Thompson Bay) where we stayed for a few days. This is a popular spot for sailors and there were about 30-40 other boats with us. We had planned on renting a car to explore the island but had very strong winds and I was not comfortable leaving the boat and being hours away should the anchor drag. We ended up going to the grocery store to stock up supplies and visiting the local coffee shop for lunch. Getting groceries in the Bahamas on these remote islands is a unique experience. All the food comes in by boat and only shows up every week or so. We go in with a shopping list but are fortunate if we can get 50-60% of our items. In addition, prices are very high given it all has to be imported. We went into town for happy hour at a local island bar only to end up there most of the evening visiting with other cruisers. One of the great parts of this trip is all the new people you meet. Nearly every dinner or happy hour we go to we end up speaking to other sailors and exchange stories. It is really enjoyable to meet people from all walks of life that you would not normally cross paths with back home. The weather was not cooperating with our visit to Long Island so we ended up leaving earlier than planned and heading to our final destination for the trip Georgetown.