At last we returned to Long Island in the Bahamas, a beautiful family island. This was our last stop in the Bahamas in 2010 before we left for the Eastern Caribbean that year. A lot has changed since then and yet, comfortingly, some things are still the same. The biggest change is the result of hurricane Joaquin that damaged the island, homes and boat fleet severely. We are seeing it 6 months later and a lot of progress is being made, yet you can still see a huge impact on many people who live here.
We’ve been waiting for spring to come and bring consistently milder weather patterns (still waiting).
A few rain showers here and there are helping the flowers bloom and it’s great to see bright colors in the landscape again.
The beaches show the same erosion that we saw in Conception Island and Rum Cay from the hurricane.
They will take a while to redistribute the lost sand over time.
A coconut grove was wiped out and we’ve heard that most of the fruit-producing trees are bare and may or may not come back.
These beaches are long and happen to be very soft right now ~ a challenge to walk on & a good workout.
The succulent plants in the beach scrub were also in bloom, attracting hordes of beautiful butterflies ~ the common Gulf fritillary with white spots & white underwing markings, a similar Mexican fritillary and a petite gray species that appear to be Bartram’s scrub hairstreak butterflies.
When landed, this hairstreak moves its colorful hind-wings up and down resembling a cute butt-wiggle.
A few landmark stores and restaurants are no longer in business and are missed. The Hilltop grocery store is still there for an impressive selection of products as we remembered. There is a new (to us) Farmer’s Market that features local produce. Since we’ve been veggie-deprived as of late we are giving any and all of the selections a try… butter beans, collard greens, arugula, watermelon, “candy” tomatoes (our word ~ such a sweet snack!), and okra… finding new recipes to experiment with such as stews and pickling.
Nearby, the Sou’side bar and restaurant offers cold beer and hogfish sandwiches, among other tasty meals.
Their Friday happy hours have been a fun place to connect with some very nice people, some we remember from last time plus some new acquaintances.
We met up with Cameron & Emile who were back from their most recent fishing trip. We usually see them out on the water in the Jumentos, but it’s great to see them here on their home island. Cameron picked us up for a trip to Kenny’s for a freshly made conch salad after his beach trip with his adorable girls.
Emile stopped by Sou’side during happy hour and this was the first time we’d seen him since the Mutton festival six years ago…
They lost their fishing boat during the hurricane, but are back out there on another boat, working hard as always.