March 14, 2011.

There was a mini reunion while at Long Island to renew our immigration. We ran into The Savages who had picked up some family members that had flown into Georgetown. They rented a small powerboat and a captain and headed out to do some spearfishing with their company.

We anchored as close to the Long Island Breeze Resort as we dared in spite of the shallow water. Anchoring here cuts a mile out of the dinghy ride to jug fuel for the boat. We left Nassau in December, covered hundreds of miles and here in mid-March we only took 22 gallons of diesel. Thank God because diesel here is over 5 dollars a gallon. After topping everything up and hitting the Long Island Breeze for some internet we moved into the northern anchorage.

We were reunited with Gary & Mary of the Packet Inn whom we haven’t seen out on the water in about 2 years. A couple of happy hours, a little beach combing and it was like they never left.

Our friends Pancho & Esther rented a car so on Friday morning we headed north to the airport to take care of Immigration. Even though we had an appointment the only immigration official wasn’t in. We padded the sob story a bit and the Customs officer on duty made a call to Georgetown to the regional Immigration office and got the go-ahead to process our paperwork.

A half hour drive, 3 minutes of whining, a phone call, 10 minutes of paperwork and we were once again legally guests of the Bahamas. Since we were practically at the north end of the island Pancho drove us north to do a little sight seeing. Somehow, somewhere, somebody has decided that the northern tip of Long Island was once visited by Christopher Columbus.
It may not have been his initial landfall but I guess theres a chance that he might have happened by. Maybe. Anyway, they put up a monument on an overlook so we had to stop for the obligatory pictures.

With immigration and the touristing taken care of that pretty much left us faced with having lunch. Perfect waterside atmosphere, cold beers, close friends and good food made for a great way to say goodbye to Long Island.