Very early morning start for me today woke up at 5 AM I have to stop going to bed so darn early or perhaps this is a good thing. I love this time of the morning no one is up I can sit and watch the sun slowing wake up very peaceful even in a marina.  

Looks like it will be another great day here there are clouds off in the distance the normal Bahamas morning . I'm looking forward to the day with our guide Lester, I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to write about later.

One note about the Mantra Rays we thought we saw during the trip after further investigation they are actual called Southern Sting Rays. There tail does contain venom this is their defence system but it is not lethal to humans but it really hurts so avoid contact. They won't attack humans best to just stay back and observe, you do have to be careful walking in the shallow sandy bottom beaches as the baby lay in the sand there we witnessed that often in Jamaica.

Hello again, I have to first say so sorry to our guide for posting his name wrong he was Ernest not Lester...oops! Bryan and I went for an hour walk earlier this morning before the guide showed up it's always nice to walk around a new community / town to see how they live. The vegetation is so much thicker and green here, there were many goats along the side of the street a few dogs . The area of Clarence town is fairly depressed the economy was as all the Bahamian Islands were but there are parts that are starting to pick up now. Locals either decide to leave for further education to Nassau or they decide to stay and live here in a very simple lifestyle. Our guide arrived promptly at 10 AM and we started our journey, 1st stop was the end of the Island approximately 80 miles away, no street lights, no street lines, no real rules at all, it was the strangest thing the road just ended and there was a beautiful beach with several big pine type trees very beautiful.  

As we travelled along we passed through several settlements (as they call them here) each settlement is named after the person who was originally given that spot of land. So if Emslie was an original settler here we would have X number acres we can give that to any Emslie and there are no taxes to be paid. The Bahamian Government is made up of a central control and each Island is given a representative some of the bigger or shall I say more settled Islands are given more than one representative who speaks on the Islands behalf . There is only one tax here a 7.5% VAT which is new to them, no land taxes, no income taxes very different but with no tax means very little extras. They grow local fruits which they consume for themselves but nothing for sale, their main economic growth comes from fishing, tourism and foreign investors. The banks here are all Canadian on this Island we see RBC and The Scotia Bank There are approximately 3000 to 3500 people live on this Island I'm really sure how accurate that number is or how often they do a census. It’s said that Christopher Columbus, making his third
landfall there in 1492, commented Long Island was the
most beautiful islands he has ever seen.

Years ago they would create their own Salt use it and sell it but the Salt farms are now all abandoned. As we drive the Island we pass several Salt Ponds each connected by a man made canal which feeds the ponds with fresh sea water so they do not go stagnant, the guide could not give us a date as to when the canals were made but he said "many years ago" (Ernest was 40) before his time .  

Our first major stop was at a secluded beach you walk a short ways into, it was a small protected bay with white sand beach so beautiful. He said the locals call it "Lovers Beach" very romantic place and a good picnic spot.

From there on to Deans Blue Hole which is located towards the southern end of Long Island, it is the worlds deepest known ocean blue hold 663 feet deep, it is absolutely gorgeous and wonder of the wold. It is very safe to snorkel but if you can not swim you must be warned that it drops off suddenly 3 ft to over 600 just like that. This location is home of many freedivers who train and compete here. As you approach the hole you see tropical fish swimming about in the sand light green colored water then just like walking through a door the water is deep blue and bottomless you can see coral heads line the circumference of the hole for a ways down then you see nothing. Apparently if you dive down about 75 feet there are natural canals that off shoot the hole . It is a natural wonder how the hole stays a hole as the sand does not cave it in but just slowly trickles down along the walls amazing! After our swim drying off our guide went back to the jeep to open it up for us and he locked his keys in the vehicle...oops, so he called his Aunt who runs / owns the local car rental shop to come and rescue us, Nancy drove us back to the boat and we had lunch there while Ernest waited for someone to open up his jeep. Around 2PM he came back to the Marina and our tour started again...no problem just an intermission as he called it :-)

Everyone on this Island are very friendly and inviting I guess if you lived here your entire life you learn to be relaxed. We started the afternoon with another passenger from one of the mega yachts here who needed a ride to their airport which is located in Deadman's Cay Settlement part very small air strip but receives 3 flights daily so very easy to get to. We have learned on this trip that Bahamian Air flys to all the Islands for approximately $100 so if you flew direct to Nassau you could take a hopper flight to most of the small Islands very convenient.  This man lived in Grand Bahamas so we gleaned some great information from him on places to see and different passage routes for cruising.

After our pit stop to airport we stopped at a very old Church, I've added a picture of it below which I did not take as I forgot my camera this afternoon...oops...but it looks just like this. Ernest did not know the age of the church but it was very old based on it's looks, in behind the church we walked along a path to a grotto hidden there was what they call the "Red Shrimp Grotto" tiny red shrimps line the jagged rock formations which line this cave and deep salt water pool, the shrimp don't nip or hurt you. You jump into the water from there an swim in the cave...oh my another amazing moment. There are light holes from the ceiling and some vines growing down to the water, the walls are a cool green color it was so hard to describe but another very cool moment. Next year we will definitely come with a GoPro camera to catch all these water moments.

Off to the local grocery store to stock up on water then back to the boat. A great tour, Ernest was very knowledgable a wonderful guide who will definitely use again next year.  

The late afternoon consisted of laundry, trip planning and dinner at the local grill. A note to remember for next year plan to be here on a Friday night for the local pig roast, live music and dance but not this year. Tomorrow we are off to Conception Island.

A wonderful day!