Flying Fish Marina, Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas

Another day, another 40 mile sail, this time mostly in sight of land as we made our way along the southern half of the unimaginatively named Long Island. Long Island is nearly 80nm long though, so I suppose the name is apt. We decided that we would make a stop midway at Clarence Town which although has little to offer itself has the only marina / anchorage on this coast.

The sail was fairly uneventful except for a fair amount of big ship traffic which has been picking up on the last few sails with two or three sightings each trip. I guess as there is no route across the Bahamas for them for a couple for hundred miles north from here many need to cut across south of Long Island. We heard one other yacht on the VHF who were confirming a safe crossing with one of the tankers but we couldn’t see them. Ever since we left the BVIs we have been the only yacht around which is a strange feeling after being in company with at least ten other yachts all around the Caribbean until now. However, it is well discussed that there is a dividing line – American / Canadian yachts go south to the Bahamas and other yachts cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean going north as far as the BVIs, but very few go all the way up what is know as the Thorny Path.

We passed down the channel into Clarence Town at about 2pm, with about a 20 knot crosswind. The shoaling natural harbour has every colour of blue and green running across the reef to sand to the shore and is a stunning site. The shore line is also dotted with some luxury (holiday?) homes showing the signs of greater prosperity we were expecting as we got closer to the States. We were directed to a berth in the far inside corner of the marina to give us shelter from the swell, we were told on the VHF it might be a bit tight to get in… a bit tight in marina speak I think means you have to grease the sides of your boat. In a twenty knot crosswind they wanted us to get into a slot at the end of the dock about 1.5 boat lengths off the harbour wall and with a 20ft gap between the telegraph pole stern post and the dock – we are 19.5ft wide. We asked if we could possibly take a berth which was a little wider. There was one at the end of 25ft wide which after a bit re-manoeuvring Kevin comfortably put us into and we were assisted by about 4 guys on the docks. There are only 15 slips and all the others are filled with big sports fishing boats and they are all really friendly and I think a bit curious about this thing with sails that has arrived.

Sports Fishing Central on Long Island

The facilities are excellent, Mario and Claudia the owners are doing a great job of developing the place. We next had a quick walk into town to find a grocery before it shut to get a few supplies. The only one in the town had just two shelves and didn’t quite have all we needed but enough to keep us going until George Town.

Flying Fish Marina and Outer Edge Grill

In the evening we decided to go out for a meal at the Winter Haven Grill we passed earlier. We went for a shower in the immaculate freshly tiled marina showers before heading out. When we arrived there was a group of people having a drink at the idyllic looking thatched beach bar at the back over looking the coast with a stunning view. We got talking to a family at the bar who live on the island. Zoe is from Canada originally but escaped the rat race when she met her Bahamian husband in Nassau and they moved to Long Island. They are both really happy with life on the island and told us how they they didn’t even lock their house when they went on holiday recently. One of the locals helpfully decided to lock it for them whilst they were away, they then had to break in as neither of them knew where on earth they kept their house key as it is used so rarely! Zoe offered to take us up to see the Blue Hole about 4miles away on Monday which we gladly accepted.

 

Great Beach Bar at Winter Haven Grill

We then went in to the restaurant for some food and found all of the people from the marina were here, obviously the place to be. There were a few other tourists too, including one couple who were bone fishing here, a popular fish which is taken by fly fishing off the shore. The chef was really gregarious and came to each table wearing his big floppy chefs hat, to make sure everyone got their food how they wanted it. I had conch fritters followed by shrimp Caesar salad which was lovely but so large I had to take a doggy bag home with most of the salad. Kevin had chicken wings followed by lobster and New York Strip steak Surf and Turf which he said was one of the best steaks he’d ever had and not bad value at 33$.  

 Winter Haven Grill