Long Island - Shallow water alarm

We had such a wonderful sail to Long Island, we firstly had to motor sail through the harbour to the south exit where we stuck closely to the waypoints as thee as scattered coral head and off lying reefs all around. Once out of the main harbour we sailed along the length of Little Exuma passing the Tropic of Cancer beach which we had visited on the scooter. We then passed Hogs Cay, White Cay and a few other islands, these are tiny island which look very isolated but on some you could see a house, that would be a very remote holiday.

We sailed with sail main sail and the foresail poled out running with the wind which was lovely in the flat calm seas.  It was extremely hot and both were slightly feed up with sitting in the heat but our day was brighten up when four bottled nosed dolphins came to visit.  The watered were under 5 metres but they darted around us riding Magnums bow wave but we wee not really going fast enough for them so sadly they did not stay for long.

Lovely bottled nosed dolphin

Mark on the bow dolphin watching

As we started to approach  Thompson Bay winds started to build to over 20 knots so we were racing along, not ideal as the water started to shallow to under 3 metres and this was the first of many times that our shallow water alarm started to beep.. We reduced sail and crept round the headland before dropping sail and slowly edging into the bay where thankfully the sea was lovely and flat. Thompson Bay is large but shallow but we settled in 2.8 metres and dropped anchor.   

We stayed here for a couple of days and along with the extremely shallow water which meant we were a good 10 minutes from shore what was really noticeable was how eerily quiet it was, we would sit in the cockpit not wanting to speak as it would break the silence. We were able to land the dingy on the beach and walk into Salt Pond the local settlement, nice walk even though along the road, very pretty church along the way.

As with all these places the settlement was small, the were a couple of supermarket one actually well stocked but pricey although we did find a couple of bargains, not yet made our blueberry muffins but they looked too good to resist.  The locals we're really friendly and there is a small resort where you can use the washing machines, thankfully this chore did not need doing,  you could walk over to the opposite of the island, nice to see the sea crashing in but such a shame that the beach it littered with lots of sea debris.

Pretty beach

Look the other way and the beach is covered with rubbush

On our second day we walked out along the headland hoping to find a beautiful beach, sadly the shore was lined with rocks so we were not able to have a dip but I wasn't quite so keen as we watched the nurse sharks exploring the shallows. But it was nice to be able to get off the boat and stretch our legs.

Little nurse shark exploring the shallow

Amanda bravely sitting with 2 nurse sharks at her feet

The blurry mast in the distance is Magnum in Thompson Bay - shame it is so shallow

We sailed north in light winds, the sea as clear as ever hopping around the shallow sand banks frequently in 3m or less and yes more alarms beeping. 

Amanda enjoying the sail - look at the colour of the water!

We crept over a sand bar into a Hogs Cay anchorage and were down to 2.8 but were able to drop anchor in 3.4m.  This is a lovely little anchorage, Hogs Cay is a private island so unfortunately you are not able to go ashore but the main attraction for us was the whistling ducks, we believe there are 200 ashore and you can hear them all day and some of the night!  

The next day brought cloud and rain so no good for snorkelling which was such a shame as the water was amazing clear, from the cockpit we could see the see bed covered in sand dollars and we saw various fish including some reef squid which were quite cool.  We did explore a little in the dingy but had to dodge the rain clouds, the whistling ducks definitely enjoyed the rain more than us.  

Ducks on the roof loving the rain

Ducks on the beach after the rain

We were suffering in the shallow waters and at low water we actually touched bottom and had to drag Magnum forward and then re-anchor when we had more water, this is never a very relaxing position to be in as we knew at low water we could not get out of the anchorage, scary.  Next day we were up and out of the anchorage for 7am to cross the bar, we then anchored a few miles north waiting for the sun to rise enough to navigate into Calabash Bay.  As time rolled on clouds rolled in and by 11am we knew this was not going to be possible, it would have been dangerous to have navigated without the light and risk hitting a coral head so our only choice was to head back to George Town.  Motor on, we spent the next few hours surrounded by thunder storms and water spouts, scary but we motored on.  

Luckily we were only hit by one thunder storm as we entered the harbour, Mark could see very little from the helm but followed our track out to get us in safely if a little wet.

A very wet Mark

It was a relief to anchor in Sand Dollar Bay and be greeted by a turtle. We enjoyed dinner at sunset with the end of the George Town Regatta in the distance in the harbour.