Pretty Penny: Long Island with the neighbors!

Our neighbors from home, Scott and Kathy, arrived on Long Island with plans to stay at Cape Santa Maria the last week of March. Last time they came to Long, two years ago, they stayed at another beautiful resort called, Stella Maris, also on the north end of Long. Stella Maris is on the Sound side of the island and Cape Santa Maria is on a 2 plus mile beach on the Great Bahama Bank side of the island. Both resorts are beautiful in their own way.

At Cape Santa Maria, they have bungalows that edge this just gorgeous beach. Kathy and Scott had checked it out when they were here before and thought they would like to try it this time. As it was on the bank side of the island (thus calmer water), we were able to anchor right off their bungalow for all but two days. When the wind picks up and comes from the West, it can be a little bumpy in that anchorage, so during those two days we moved the boat to the Stella Maris Marina. Since we had rented a car all week, it was easy to get between the two locations.

As we are a shallow draft vessel, drawing only 3 and half feet, we were in close enough that Bob and Scott were able to walk around the boat and do a little hull cleaning one day (while Kathy and I lay on floats tied to the stern!)

Scott and Kathy had been booked to fly in on a small airline (I won’t put their name here as they have been bought out and are trying to get back on their feet.) They received a call on Friday before they were to fly out on Sunday, telling them the plane has sustained some damage during a thunder storm and the flight was canceled. They had purchased a second plane, but it was not through its inspection requirements yet.

Kathy finally ended up chartering the trip from Fort Lauderdale to Long Island on Watermaker Air, which is a plane that services the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, and a return trip with “Chuck” who was a friend of a friend of the manager at Cape Santa Maria. Needless to say, it was the most expensive mail delivery we have ever had!

Arrival of Watermaker Air at Stella Maris Airport

Kathy and Scott arriving at Stella Maris Airport at Long Island

Scott and Kathy were happy to have finally arrived and I think may now be hooked on taking Charter aircraft to get to the out islands in the future.

We had dinner on the Pretty Penny with Bob's signature dish we call "Lobster Pretty Penny."

Scott and Kathy's first sunset on Long island

Monday was predicted to have just about the calmest weather all week, so we took Scott and Kathy for a day trip to Conception Island. Conception is a beautiful uninhabited island and is classed as “parkland.” That means it is a “no take” zone for fishing making it for great snorkeling. We spotted some birds that looked like egrets, but had underbellies the color of the turquoise water. It is just a gorgeous bird. I tried to get a good photo, but had no luck.

Scott and Kathy on the stern of the Pretty Penny on the way over to Conception Island.

Conception Island anchorage - unretouched color.

As our dinghy engine has been acting up lately, I stayed on the boat and Bob took Scott and Kathy in the dinghy to the pond in the center of the island. Most of the center is filled with mangroves, but there is a waterway and it is home to many sea turtles. They also spotted a little nurse shark about 5 feet long. Not sure how that guy made it in as you go through some very shallow water that is usually running one direction or the other like rapids. Kathy and Scott enjoyed the beauty and the turtles of the trip. I didn’t think to send Bob with our camera to take photos for the blog. Darn!

Scott, Kathy and Bob returning to the mother ship.

We immediately stowed the dinghy when they got back and got underway to make it back by dinner. Bob had fixed Lobster Pretty Penny on Sunday night and was planning on a dinner of Pompano for Monday night. We had purchased the lobster (in the Bahamas, the lobsters are called “Spiny Lobster” or “Crawfish.” It is a slightly different taste than Maine Lobster and they do not have claws, have sharp spines all over them making them more difficult to handle. The fishing operator, Danny, gave Bob a Pompano that he had caught. None of us have had Pompano, but according to a book on Atlantic fish that Valt on Amber Isle had, Pompano “under eating value” said it was “the best!” So we were all looking forward to dinner. It certainly was a wonderful meal.

The Pompano that was a wonderful dinner!

Tuesday we spent relaxing on the beach and playing in the water. This is the prettiest beach I think in the Bahamas. We ate dinner in the restaurant at the resort. The food was wonderful at the resort and we said to be sure and thank the chef. We were told that there was no “chef.” Brook, the manager of the resort, said that he had hired a chef for six months who had taught the Bahamian women in the kitchen how to prepare food. They were on their own now and doing terrific!

Wednesday, we headed out by car to explore the island. I had to get a couple of prescriptions filled, so we found the little pharmacy and took care of that task, then had lunch at Max’s Conch Bar, where Max prepared the conch salad in front of you. His Mom does the other cooking in an adjoining kitchen for the rest of the menu items. Max is a “must stop” for tourists on the island.

Scott and Kathy at Max's Conch Bar

If you have an license plate you want to get rid of, we could take it to Max for the ceiling of his conch hut next year!

Bob and Penny waiting for lunch at Max's Conch Bar

Max performing his magic!

We did not make it to Clarence Town, but stopped at a beach on the Bank side that we had been told was good for small shells. These are small white shells, which I have been making jewelry out of (after I drill small holes in them). We got a nice collection there, as well as back at Cape Santa Maria the rest of the week.

We also went to a beach on the Bank side and found a few things there as well. A farmer we have met in the past has a herd of goats that came up really close to us (because he was preparing to give them their food for the day behind the camera!)

A herd of goats that live on Long Island.

For dinner that night, we took Scott and Kathy to the Thompson Bay Inn where Tryphena puts on a typical Bahamian food spread. Some of our cruising friends off First Look and Barefootin', were there. An American couple who spend winters on Long Island for many years now stopped by to visit with the cruisers. They are now building a house that overlooks Thompson Bay. They are John and Penny, so the two Penny’s posed for photos! Scott and Kathy really enjoyed the food and getting to know some of our cruising friends.

Scott and Kathy at Thompson Bay Inn

Scott, Kathy, Bob and Penny enjoying Tryphena's traditional Bahamian meal

While at dinner, a couple came in that I had met last year that are building a house on Long Island. Her name is Penny also, so we had to have a picture of the "two Penny's." We hope to get up to see their new home before we leave.

Penny and Penny

Tryphena does beautiful shell work. I purchased a shell “creation” she made to use in our bathroom and in my jewelry booth this summer and Kathy purchased some gorgeous trumpeter shells for her bathroom at home. Tryphena gets the shells from the local fisherman that dive for lobster and then she has a process to remove the sea muck and shine them up. She then sends them to Nassau to a consignment shop of arts and crafts to sell. (She reluctantly sold me her shell-work piece as it was headed to Nassau to be sold there.)

On Thursday, we moved the boat to Stella Maris and then went back to spend the rest of the day at Cape Santa Maria. This marina had been in need of repairs for some time. The dive pool was empty of water last year because of a leak, boards on the dock were rotting to the point of being dangerous, towel bars were off the wall in the bathroom, and the dive boat was sitting at the dock going to rust. Well I am happy to report that all these things and more have been fixed and the dive boat was back in use again!

Stella Maris Dive Boat going out the day we were in the marina.

Sunset at the Stella Maris Marina - this needed no improvement!

Scott and Kathy waiting on the beach for us to come in and join them.

On Friday, Bob and Scott went to see Danny, the fisherman, to see if he had any more lobster and Kathy and I read on the beach. Oh what a life!

Saturday morning, the weather had calmed enough to take the boat back to Calabash Bay and anchor off the beach in from of Scott and Kathy’s bungalow, which we did. In the afternoon, Bob and Scott cleaned the hull (they could walk around the boat as we were at low tide in shallow water), while Kathy and I lolled on floats attached to the back of the boat. It was a beautiful calm afternoon. Bob prepared lobster and grits for dinner on their last night.

Kathy getting some down time on a float

Scott and Bob taking a break after doing some hull cleaning

Bob relaxing on a float - "drink please"

Oops! Was that an accident or on purpose?

Sunday we took Scott and Kathy to the Stella Maris Airport to wait for Chuck the friend of a friend retired pilot to arrive and take them back to Fort Lauderdale. It was sad to see them go, but will see them when we get home in June. (Now I think we all need to check into the Betty Ford Clinic!)