In August we went back to the Bahamas. But we went to a new island. Eleuthera is getting further developed and thus more crowded and expensive. Long island is further south and clearly less developed. The geography of the island is comparable to Eleuthera. A long island (80 miles) that is very narrow and countless beaches on both sides. We found a nice house on a pretty much deserted beach 2 miles from the main town.
The last week of July, Stephen was at the Jamboree, and Stephanie and Jordan were in Wisconsin. Stephanie and Jordan flew back to Newark together with Chris, Stephanie's sister. Diederik met them on the airport and that is how this trip started. We all had dinner together. Stephanie and Chris took the car and went to Delaware. Diederik and Jordan stayed overnight at the hotel and left the next morning. The first picture is Jordan waiting in the lounge before departure.
We had rented a beach house on Lochabar Bay. The Bay is protected from the Atlantic Ocean waves by a few Cays (small Islands). So the water is calm and there is very nice sand in the water and on the beach. The pictures show the house and the beach in front of the house.
The house was build a little elevated and had a very nice deck.
Here I am throwing in a picture of a cactus blooming next to the drive way. Saw it only once.
We explored the island a bit and found this magnificent beach on the Caribbean side at the south end of the island. It was very shallow and obviously one ship had gotten in trouble.
Here is a picture from a different beach on the Atlantic Coast. With another shipwreck. In the course of our 4 weeks, we saw quite a few shipwrecks.
Here 2 pictures from Jordan enjoying himself on the beach in front of the house, and another one of him working on school type work.
After 6 days it was finally time to go to the airport and pick up Stephanie and Stephen.
What follows is a series of pictures of critters we saw while were were at Long Island:
Above a snake on the drive way and below a hermit crab on the path to the beach.
Two lizards in the house; note the bug in the mouth of the second one.
Then some fish, 2 pictures of Turtles right in front of the house and a Stingray. We saw quite a few Turtles and Stingrays in the water before the house.
Finally a picture of Stephanie cooking some critters. Lobster season started on August 1st and these were caught the night before.
Sunrise over Lochabar Bay, followed by 2 pictures of sunset and one of the full moon.
What follows are a series of self explainatory pictures taken during our vacation.
In and in front of our house:
The picture above is Stephanie painting in front of the window of the upstairs bedroom.
The some pictures of various beaches around the island. First some of Dean's Blue Hole. A Blue hole is a place where an underground cave has collapsed. Dean's Blue hole is the deepest in the world with almost 700 feet. The transition from shallow beach to 'bottomless' hole is very sharp. The name comes from the change in water color which is clearly visible on the pictures. On the 3rd of these pictures you can see Stephen jump in from the cliff.
During several short trips, we visited places both on the Atlantic side and the Caribbean side of the island. Some sections on the Atlantic Coast can be quite rough.
Long Island is 80 miles long and we were staying about 3/4 of the way 'down'. We made one day trip all the way to the northern end. Up there is a monument commemorating Columbus' landing on the island on his first trip. Close by is Cape Santa Maria resort, where we stopped for lunch.
Most of the Bahamian Islands have only 1 long road, the Queens Highway. Along this road we found a restroom. Soon there formed a long line.
Based on the location, I assume that it was build a long time ago for the workers in the salt pans.
Of course we also had to eat and there are quite a few basic Bahamian restaurants around. One of the most famous once is Max' Conch Shack. It was cute, but but definitely not the best food on the island not withstanding its reputation.
Then there was a small restaurant close to our house that was build partially over the water by the marina in Clarence Town. Clarence town is the main hub of Long Island and was about 1 mile north of our house.
But at some point we had to go home. So we went to the airport. About as small an airport as you have ever seen. But they have fire fighting equipment as you can see, a waiting lounge with natural airconditioning. Plus routine arrival of airplanes from 3 different airlines.
The last picture was taken from the plane. There were several rain showers in the area and the pilot flew in between the clouds.
A couple hours later we were home, dreaming of when we would be able to go back. In 2011 Diederik has his 4th Sabbatical and we will probably spend some of it in here.
