Land Exploration
January 27 was a super fun day as we met up with SV Sparkle Motion friends Emily and Greg. Together we rented a car to explore Long Island for the day. Renting a van was easy and near the docks at someone’s house. In fact Nate called over channel 16 on the radio to Fox Auto to rent the car. Our first stop was famous Dean’s Blue Hole which is 663 feet deep and host the Vertical Blue Free Diving Competition each year. Part of the documentary “Deepest Breath” was filmed here. I recommend the movie but be warned that parts are hard to watch.
The hole is great to swim and we saw a few free divers practicing. I tried to easedrop on their conversations but only heard talk about sinuses. There is a small shrine/memorial to those you have died at the hole with estimate being over 100 deaths since 1997. I also enjoyed walking the shallows and found SO many sand dollars.
On our way from the Blue Hole to lunch we gave a “backpacking” couple a ride to their boat. They were walking the dirt road and we saved them a few miles. Plus I love hearing stories especially about sailors. They were crewing on a catamaran and then were set to go travel in Guatemala. We tried to eat in Clarence Town but everything was closed. We did get to see the pretty port.
Finally ate lunch at a nearby resort which some locals directed us to. We shared stories over food and played BS card games at the table. From here we checked out the canals which were built by slaves and used to move salt water to the ponds which created salt to be harvested.
Now the salt ponds are populated by flamingos.
We were so excited to happen upon an ice cream store. Our freezer on the boat freezes everything rock solid but for some reason the ice cream is never frozen and we gave up buying any months ago because we kept getting disappointed. This shop had the best eye catching outside “sculpture.”
Our last stop of the day was The Shrimp Hole which is is on trail behind the St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church. This is an inland blue hole and is filled with tiny red shrimp. Not of us was brave enough to take a dip - I kept thinking about getting a weird rash and the water was not very deep.
A full day of exploration with great friends.
