March 11, 2008

Today is Tuesday, so while we were waiting to hear if our new outboard engine made it onto the mailboat, we’ve pretty much got a day to kill. So we decided that we would rent a car and see the island. One of the biggest attractions here is the deepest blue hole in the world about 20 miles south of us. There’s also the promise of a tiki hut with good food and free wifi at Max’s Conch House, supposedly only 5 miles away. Christy is having some serious wifi withdrawl, so we think we have a good plan.

Unfortunately, we woke to an overcast morning with a smattering of rain thrown in. Snorkeling the blue hole with the cloud cover would be kind of anti-climatic so we decided to scrap the car rental idea. Instead we adopted Plan B…..

Long Island is about 72 miles long with about 4000 residents. The Queens Highway runs north and south for the length of the island with a smattering of cross streets. The longest of the cross streets is less than 200 yards long. So it really is a long, albeit very skinny island. We’ve heard rumors of cruisers successfully hitch hiking up and down the island. So, why not us, we’ve got thumbs.

We figured that we could save the car rental money ($75) and hitch hike down to Max’s Conch House, hell its only 5 miles or so. We’ll have some lunch and abuse the hell out of the free wifi. Gary & Mary from Packet Inn decided to go with us, so there was the chance for some group fun. Little did they know…..

We took the dinghies into the dock, tied them up and walked up to the road and started walking south. Within 2 minutes the only woman we know on the island pulled up and offered us a ride. Excellent! She was only going to the edge of town, but it was a start. Oh, and the rainy morning had already disappeared and turned into a gorgeous, hot day.

She dropped us at the south end of Salt Pond, so I guess the 5 miles started about there. We started walking again and the first vehicle down the road dutifully pulled to the side for our 4 extended thumbs. The woman explained that she was only going about half way to our destination but would be happy to give us a lift. Excellent.

The 4 of us hopped into the back of her pickup truck and marveled at our good luck. In Arkansas, riding in the back of a pickup might be part of the wedding ceremony, but in Jersey you just can’t do it. That being said this was my first ride in a pickup bed at speed. Lets talk about the speed. The Queens Highway is best described as a “blacktop lane” with many potholes and washed out sections of road. The posted speed limit is 20 MPH with some sections marked at 15 MPH. Once settled into the pickup’s bed we quickly accelerated through impulse power and into warp speed. We were freakin flyin, literally. Plan B was starting to lose some of its luster. We started out sitting on the beds rail and wheel wells and after about 30 seconds we had all scrunched down to the floor of the bed and were even holding on to each other. Not to worry, they all drive like this here, so while we were hurtling along threatening to tear the fabric of time….did I mention that we were driving on the wrong side of the road? Yes, that is the way it is done here and it makes it just that much more intense.

After a couple of miles she pulled into her driveway and the end of the line for us. We thanked her profusely for her kindness, then quietly thanked God that we survived and started out on foot again. Almost immediately, the very next car stopped to pick us up. This time it was a smartly dressed woman in her Ford Explorer. We all piled inside and had a really interesting conversation about American politics.

She was a wealth of information about the Obama / Hillary duel. The American election is amazingly important to the people here. It is obviously a process that she and other Bahamanians look upon with great interest. It is something that a great many Americans take for granted and here, most people view with great importance. Christy and I realized that during the last election we were in the BVI’s and had talked politics with a great many interested islanders. We take so much for granted.

The Explorer woman dropped us off at Max’s, we wished her well and watched her leave. Then we found out that Max’s was closed; you gotta be kidding me. It turns out that the owner is in Nassau for the day or week or whatever. The woman at the shop next door sold us some sodas and we sat at an outdoor table at Max’s and sorted our options.


We decided to use our thumbs to head another 5 miles south in an effort to get to “Under the Sun Marine” in Mangrove Bush. Gary has been looking to replace his diving mask and they sell that type of stuff there. Under The Sun Marine is also the place Christy and I had bought the outboard from. We had completed the deal over the phone, so we hadn’t actually ever been there.

We stuck out our thumbs and the very next vehicle pulled over. This time it was a tiny pickup truck with 2 guys in front, so once again the 4 of us hopped in the back and held on. The bed of the truck was full of masonry tools so the accommodations weren’t that luxurious, but he drove us right to the front door. So as of now, Plan B has everyone’s approval.

We chatted with the folks at Under the Sun and found out that they did get conformation that our engine did make it onto the mailboat and will definitely be here tomorrow. Excellent.

So now its time to head north, it’s about 1230 and the sun is blistering. We decided to walk to a restaurant and liquor store that we saw from the bed of the last pickup. I thought it might be a mile or less so we should be there fairly quickly. Evidently not, we arrived at the liquor store (we’re almost out of rum) and found that it closed for the day at 1300 hours, about 3 minutes ago. Shit. We decided to forgo lunch at the restaurant although we were all starving and parched, because we couldn’t see it from the road and we were afraid that we might walk a couple of miles and find it closed, so we started walking again.

Gary was the one who had kicked the porthole and ripped off a good sized portion of his pinky toe a week or so ago. Since we would be doing a good bit of walking today he decided to wear sneakers for the occasion. The only problem was that he hasn’t worn shoes in about, forever. So now there were blisters to go with the mutilated toe, throw in some bone spurs and let the misery begin.

Unfortunately, we hit a spell where not a car was to be seen, we walked on and on. Phooey on Moses and his people, I scoff at his Exodus, you call that a walk? That was a stroll, this was a freakin walk. The sun was baking us, Gary was limping and we could see down the road for miles with no cars in sight. Finally after another mile we come upon the library, internet?, who knows, maybe.

Christy walked in and confirmed that, yes, there was dial up internet, and it was indoors, out of the sun. Woo Hoo. We took turns reading our mail, did a little internet banking and started north again with renewed vitality. Fortune smiled upon us and the next pick up down the road pulled over and gave us a lift for close to 2 miles. We hunkered down in the back of his truck and imagined we were itinerant farm workers off to pick bananas for “the man”.

We were on a roll now, after ten steps a small SUV picked us up for another mile or so before he got to his destination which happened to be a liquor store. Hallelujah. We had hit the jackpot as far as hitch hiking goes.

Next we got picked up by a woman and her daughter in their Dodge Neon. The 4 of us stuffed ourselves into the backseat and she took us all the way back to the market, near our dinghies. Her husband and 25 year old son go lobstering for a week at a time leaving her and her 19 year old daughter at home. This island is so safe and has such a feeling of community that even though they’re alone, they don’t think twice about picking up 4 strangers needing a ride. In fact, nobody did. Only 1 vehicle passed us by all day and twice people stopped to show us that their vehicle was packed with stuff and there was just no room for the 4 of us.

So all in all, we received 7 rides, got too much sun, Gary got blisters, I got rum and we all came to appreciate the people that live here on Long Island.