s/v Kaleo

The flat calm of Thompson Bay was a welcome sight after having spent most of Thursday motoring up from the Jumentos at a wobbling pace slower than most people walk.

Exhausted and covered in salt, we anchored “Kaleo” just before the sky opened up with a boat cleansing rainstorm. We took the next day to recover, to catch-up with friends and family on Skype, and to enjoy being “back on the grid.”

On Saturday night Long Island Breeze, a local resort, hosted a pool and pizza party with an invite to the cruisers in the anchorage. Two of the two boats in the anchorage (“Kaleo” and “MG”) dinghied up the dock as the sound of tropical tunes floated from the pool deck.

While kicking back by the pool, enjoying conch fritters, rum drinks and pizza, we met a couple from Ohio. John and Penny live on Long Island six months out the year in a self-built house overlooking Thompson Bay. We became fast friends and were soon invited to visit their home during our stay.

Easter Sunday we walked to the church that we had attended a few weeks ago. During the opening announcements the paster mentioned that the day’s service would be seven hours long! He then shared that guests should not feel obligated to stay for the entire service but could if they felt led to do so. After two hours, we quietly excused ourselves back to our boats but had to commend their dedication.

The gals planned and prepared a celebratory Easter dinner of deviled eggs, tomatoes in olive oil, chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and Christie’s homemade chocolate chip cookies (lovin’ the new Betty on board). With tummy’s full, we lounged around and played a game of Mexican Train. During one particularly quiet moment, the VHF crackled to life with a familiar and welcome voice, “Kaleo, Kaleo, this is Sea Yawl Later.”

Ted and Mili had spoken to them the night before by cell phone and told us of their plans to try and make it to Thompson Bay for Easter but it wasn’t a definite. “SYL, this is Kaleo, wanna go 18?” “18 Copy.” We switched the radio channel to 18 with excitement. The VHF only has a range of 25 miles, meaning that “SYL” was somewhere within 25 miles of us.

Matt: “Hey Rusty, where are ya’ll?”

Rusty: “We’re at Comer West (a GPS waypoint we all know from our charts), trying to decide between going straight for George Town or bashing into the headwinds to come your way.”

Matt: “Well I understand not wanting to bash into the wind, it wasn’t fun for us. But … if you decide to come on over, we have plenty of Easter dinner and warm chocolate chip cookies.”

Rusty: “See you in a few hours.”

Matt: (With a cheer in the background from everyone else) “Alright! We’re looking forward to it. Holler if you need anything in the meantime. Kaleo back to 16”

Rusty: “Back to 16”

Another round of Mexican train, a trip back to the boats to clean up and before we knew it, “SYL” was anchored off our port side. Everyone quickly gathered aboard “MG” for a reunion dinner where we swapped stories until well into the evening.

Monday came with gray clouds and a day of off and on rain. We timed a break in between showers to visit our new Long Islander friends, John and Penny. They opened their incredible home to us as we took in their breathtaking view of Thompson Bay and learned more about living on Long Island.

Later that evening, upbeat Bahamian music drifted curiously over the water to our boats which reminded us of the Easter Monday festival at the nearby Regatta Point. Within minutes, we were on our way to join the occasion. Our ears were filled with dance-worthy Bahamian tunes, our eyes with local Long Islanders enjoying themselves, and our noses with the savory smells of chicken, grouper, steaks, Bahamian mac n’ cheese, peas n’ rice and tons of other side dishes.

We ran into some locals we had come to know, sampled our way through the Bahamian fare, and to the entertainment of everyone, Matt jumped on stage to dance to the Rake and Scrape band. A Bahamian woman showed Matt a few moves and he was soon bouncing to the beat with the best of them. We all laughed, cheered and encouraged his dance antics to songs like “The Polka with Juanita” and “Dinga-a-linga-ling.”

A peaceful dingy ride home wrapped up our time in Long Island, as we had plans to sail for George Town the next morning. Tuesday marks the start of the Family Island Regatta, an annual Bahamian sailboat race event, and we have a local Long Island race boat to cheer for! Go No. 5, Running Tide!

N 23° 21.18 / W 75° 07.79