Trip to the South of Long Island

We planned a day adventure with our boating buddies to visit the south end of Long Island with a rental car. The narrow island is about 80 miles long and our anchorage in Salt Pond is about midway so we were anxious to explore a bit further.

Our first stop of the day was to visit Marcie, the local hair stylist. John was in need of a trim and I had quickly realized that even shoulder-length hair was too long to manage while living on a boat. Marcie has lived on Long Island all her life so she was full of interesting info about life on the island.

We learned that she also sells insurance from the same location. She explained that most people must have more than one job. Since the Island only has a population of approx. 2000, people often work at a couple different businesses. Marcie’s husband runs the local Seafarer Marine store with his brother. Her father-in-law owns the Esso and a local dock which offers boaters/cruisers a safe place to tie up their dinghies and dispose of garbage.

After 15 years of long hair, it was nice to see all the curls again…before they go completely grey.

We met up with our friends at Fox’s Auto rental (run by Marcie’s cousin) and headed south along Queens Highway in a Dodge Minivan with 120k miles on it, miss-matched tires and the engine warning light on…soon to be joined by the oil warning light. (It held together for the whole 24 hours we had it).

We were anxious to taste the famous conch salad at Max’s Bar & Grill, so that was our first stop. At noon on a Monday, this place was already hopping with cars lined along both sides of the road. Lots of paraphernalia spoke to many years of hi-jinks at Max’s. We even saw a Sobey’s lobster box from Atlantic Canada!

After a satisfying lunch, and many beer, we continued south and stopped at a couple shops near Clarence Town so the ladies could browse. Most stores carry an assortment of items, both practical and touristy. At It’s All Under the Sun (where they literally sell everything you can imagine, including lunch) I found a great beach hat for only $15.

We reached the main attraction, St Peters & St Pauls Church located on a hill with two 40′ towers that offer spectacular 360 degree views. Inside was very modest with the highlight being the stained glass window illuminating the altar.

At the very southern tip of Long Island, the road ended at Gordons Beach, marked by this building with a stop sign. A couple dogs wandered out to greet us and were happy to get some treats from our friends.

Gordons Beach is a gorgeous white sandy beach that Bahamas is famous for. Since it’s at the very southern tip of the island, it’s also pretty secluded. 

We enjoyed wandering the shore searching for interesting shells, and I clung onto my new hat to keep the wind from taking it.

While watching the sun set, we forgot that the no-seeums and mosquitos hang out in the mangroves bushes and come out at dusk, so they feasted on us as we rushed back to the car. It was a bit cool & breezy for a swim so when the weather improves, we definitely want to return here for a beach day.

We had the car until noon the next day, so we headed home and had a nice meal at a place we unexpectedly found called Lloyd’s Sporting Lounge. It was more a type of place you would find on the main land, than in one of the out islands.

We inched our way through the anchorage with our head lamps well after dark, looking forward to what we might see the next day.