White
Pepper is anchored at Salt
Pond, Long Island waiting on gentler winds. We are perfectly
comfortable in these protected waters but have a lot of time on our
hands.
One
day we choose to tag along with our friends Ron and Linda from Escape
from Reality on a rented car
excursion.
Long
Island is 90 miles long and we certainly could not see it all in one
day. After some discussion we headed north for the Columbus Monument
on Cape Santa Maria. Columbus may have anchored under the white
bluffs of this modest cliff. From his log book he certainly seemed
to have visited Long Island and cruised the its coast before being
blown over to French Wells on Crooked Island. In order to
commemorate the event in 1492 and maybe encourage more tourism, the
Bahamians have erected a monument atop Cape Santa Maria on the
northern most tip of Long Island.
Alert
readers will remember the Columbus Monument from a picture in the previous post. The monument is barely visible from sea. Thus we were
unprepared for the awesome beauty of the place. Pictures can tell
the tale better than words.
Columbus Bay
Columbus Monument
View to the South from the Monument
For
lunch we visited the Stella Maris Resort which is about 15 miles
south down the Queen's Highway. By the way the Queen's Highway is the
only highway on the island. Stella Maris is routinely described in
guide books as world class and 5 star, but it seemed a bit
threadbare to my eye. We did have a lovely lunch there.
Easily
the number one attraction on Long Island is Dean's Blue Hole—the
site of the world's record for free diving. The blue hole is part of
a beautiful bay that comes off of the Atlantic. The bay and beach
are attractive in their own right, but the blue hole engenders a
different feeling altogether. Although only 80 x 120 across on the
surface it goes down for 680 feet—the equivalent of a 40 story
building. Also it has claimed a number of lives due to accidents and
dare deviltry.
Finally
we finished up a great day with a couple of beers and conch fritters
at Max' Conch House and Bar in Deadman's Cay.
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