A Cave, Cliff Jumping & The Deepest Blue Hole (Sailing Curiosity)

That one is so bright. Got here early. It's like right on the dot, I think eight o'clock, and that is when the farmer's market opens here on Long Island. We are really hoping for some awesome fresh local veggies. And we're in a rush because there's like three dinghies coming right behind us. We were the first ones on the dock, though, so that was exciting. I'm like, yeah, we got up early. Accomplishment. You need money? Look at that. That is spinach. Made for a neat salad. Any idea how much it cost us? No, I clearly lost track of money. It was like four dollars, two dollars, three dollars. Yeah, but things went really fast in there. So getting here right at eight o'clock, super important. By noon, I don't think they'll have anything else left. But anyway, good selection, surprisingly. Lots of green leafy things because it is winter. So it's not like you're going to find many fruits. But yeah, it was good. That was exciting. Oh, and everybody was really, really nice. There's my view. There's Jason patiently waiting. OK, bring me down. Next task. Bottom. Nikki did the top. I did the bottom. I just came up with that. How do I look? You look awesome. OK, see you. It's chilly. There is an orange house up on the hill there with green, yeah, a green roof, solar panels. I think I don't know if you can see that all the way. Anyway, her name is Penny. She's a local and she actually runs the cruisers net in the morning. And the cruisers net is like the little radio thing that comes over the radio where they tell you the weather and what's going on about town and all kinds of information for cruisers. Anyway, really awesome cruiser supportive lady. She invited us to a little get together at her place in honor of some other cruisers. But I'll let her tell you about that. So let's go to the party. Nikki made cookies, shoes, we really need those in the boat, so I almost forgot them. Got my tripod. Oh, Nikki's leaving. Got my tripod because I think she has a nice view. It could be a great sunset time lapse and the radio, of course, and a backup camera. Ready to go, everyone? Plenty of depth, you're all good. This is what the locals call the hole. It's a nice spot to leave your dinghy. Obviously, they're probably all going to the party, too. Best shot ever. That was super stable, I could tell. Just as stable as a dinghy ride. We are having a gathering of boaters that are here in the Bay, Thompson Bay, that worked last year after the Hurricane Joaquin. They brought supplies. They went out in pickup trucks, went south, went north and fixed roofs. They fixed houses and worked their tails off. Some of them nine weeks every day. So it's all the locals and the boaters, and it's kind of everybody saying thanks for helping out, right? Absolutely. Yeah, very cool. And Penny, she is the one that does the net in the mornings when he's 15. Fair Haven up on the hill. I know that voice. What should we say on three? Papaya. Papaya? Sex. Conk. Sex? Conk. All right. One, two, three. Conk! All right, that was video. I'm just... Stupid dollar bet? Green flash or no green flash? Green flash. I don't know green flash. One dollar? Yay! That's not bad. We're rocking! Looks like we're prepared for a big adventure. We are. There we go. Is it unchild? We just dropped Joanna off. We have her car. We're going to go explore. Dean's Blue Hole. We're going to go get some conk salad. Fresh conk salad. Churches. What else? Caves? Holy crap, we gotta go. Grocery store? It's a long list. There's the map. We've got a car! That is... Or that was... This is Joanna's car. Anyway. Joanna is a lovely woman who follows our website. Watches our videos. And when she saw that we were coming to Long Island she was like, I have to show you my little slice of paradise. And she offered to let us use her car for the day so that we can go explore. Yay! Thanks Joanna. Yes, thank you Joanna. What's our first stop? First stop, Dean's Blue Hole. Kind of sounds wrong if you think about it. How was it Mr. Daredevil? That's been on my bucket list since we got to the Bahamas. Hopefully it came out. Not just like... Well that wasn't a bad way to start the day. It's pretty awesome. There's a lot more to see down there than I expected. And you? You could go deep. You just start diving, diving, diving but before you know it, you're way down there and it's a little... not disorienting I guess it's more... On the way up you realize how deep you were. I guess. It's locked. You're supposed to be able to walk up to the top and have a nice view but it's locked. But they don't have one of the doorknobs installed so I can show you inside. Come here. There's probably a dozen or so churches along the route that we've taken down here to Clarencetown and that one with the two spires that we just saw was a Catholic church and we're going to go over to the other church that this same priest built. It's an Anglican church. So in the middle of construction of the Anglican and the Catholic one he switched religions. Pretty neat story. There it is, just on the other hill. This is Max's new conch bar. It started off as just them selling some conch salad on the side of the road. It got really popular. People eventually asked for more because he was a commercial fisherman so he always had fresh fish. Fresh conch. So yeah, it eventually became what you see today and now they're super busy all the time. This is where everybody comes to grab a bite and wait out while they wait for their flight out. I guess because the airport's close by. Hey, how are you guys? Hey, good. How are y'all doing today? Good. Great. Ready for some grub. Thank you. Yeah. So that was like $32 with tip. We both had local fish, local sides and yeah. So money well spent. And quite tasty. Now we're off. Now we're off hopefully to see Hamilton's Cave. Although it's almost 4 o'clock I think maybe. We'll see if he feels like giving a tour. Mr. Cartwright. Yes, because it's Mr. Cartwright. I think he's like 67 years old and he's the one that does the cave tours. I don't think you can go in without him. Or at least they probably don't want you to. Okay, so what's happening? So Mr. Cartwright is supposed to be on an errand for his wife and so she's like, no you can't take those people on a tour. You can run my errand like I told you to. So he's going to have the little boy take us. And when I say little boy, I mean little. What's your name? Austin. You're going to give us a tour of the cave, yeah? Excellent. My name's Jason. And your dad said to pay you. So I pay. Oh yeah, okay. So what are you going to do with this money? Don't give it to him. For you, right? $20. Shall we go? He knows everything. Okay, well we're starting him young. Perfect. Right here? Keep going? Okay, perfect. Alright, we're parking right here. This one too? Yep, that one works. So Austin, have you ever given a tour by yourself before? Not really. Not really? It's your first time? Are you nervous? No. Alright. Lead the way. What's the spiel, Austin? Tell us about the caves. You know. This is the largest cave in the Bahamas. The Indians came here before the Columbus. The Lakaians? And did they live in these caves, do you think? They were used for shelters and hurricanes. Wow, that's neat. And they carved like, see what it looks like, an alligator down there? Oh yeah, it's an alligator. And a bat. That's Mary. That's Mary and the baby of Jesus. And who carved these? His brother. Your grandpa's brother? And here's an iguana. That's the teeth of an iguana. They're like little rats. That's where they used to make the spiels. That's their stove, huh? Yeah. That one's the? Stalactite. Okay. We used to call that Big Johnson. That's just not right. Sounds so wrong. And we have the freshwater spring where they used to drink water from. That's where the spring is? Yeah. The bats eat the fruit and it drops off the stem. And some of the bees color up all of them in the pool. Our one tour guide has become two. We're multiplying. What is this? Little Lily. See the crystals? They look like gold. Like gold? Yeah, they do. But I didn't get the money for gold. Don't lose that money. Well, you better put it in your pocket. The deepest pocket you got. I don't want that. These pockets are too tight. What are you going to do with that money? I don't know. Are you going to buy us all ice cream? I need the money for our unit. We already gave you the money. Are you trying to double charge me? So that was your first tour, Austin, right? Yeah. So you're going to now start the business up and you're going to do all the tours, right? Who needs Mr. Cart Ride? Not this guy. Alright, thanks for the tour. You didn't have to come. I had to come. I couldn't leave you by yourself. You hear so much stories. You never know, you know. Be honest. So how were we as your first tour guests? Good. We were alright to take on a tour? Yeah. Are we allowed to come back? No. Are you going to charge us double next time? Yeah. How much is the tour supposed to be? 20. But I got to charge you double again. Alright, thanks boss. See ya. So how about that? You go last minute to get a tour. We didn't even think we would be able to go. And then he just lets little Austin hop in the car with us and take off. I think his wife, which is Austin's grandmother, was probably about to have his hide for doing so because she showed up shortly after like, golly, you don't just send the kids off with anybody. Anyway, it was fun. He was an excellent little tour guide. He actually knew quite a bit. He's been paying attention during this tour. Anyway, loads of fun. Loved that. Loved it. This would be the tile shop if you needed tile for your house. The super secret? And yes, the super secret ice cream! Not super secret. All the locals know about it. Yay! Ice cream! Hold on, wait for the camera. Okay, go. Okay, so I ran out of my ice cream stash about two months into the trip. We've been here for I don't know, four months, five months, something like that. Anyway, I've been too cheap to purchase the $9 pint ice cream. I just couldn't do it, so I've been going without. Which has probably been a good thing. And then, Joanna brought us here the other day. The lady we're borrowing the car from. And it's like regular pricing ice cream. It's made in the Bahamas. It's good! Oh, we have to go knock on her door. Yeah. Forgot her name. I think it's her, it must be her daughter. Oh. How's it going? So you must be the daughter. Yeah. How are you today? Good? Did you have a good day at school? Yes. We'll do a scoop of peach and a scoop of coconut, please. Yes. Yes! Go outside and eat? Can't wait to get out the door. Nope. Shouldn't make me share. We got coconut, which is like a vanilla with little toasted pieces of coconut. It's actually really good. The peach and the coconut. So, anyway, that's a tip. If you come, get the coconut. I bet the rum raisin's good too, because they make rum in the Bahamas and then you can just throw some raisins in. A little cinnamon goes together. Why do we get peach? So some of our other grocery store run videos, people have commented like, well, you're going to the wrong grocery store. That's why it's more expensive. You're going to the tourist grocery store. It's not where the locals shop, or something like that. Anyway, most of these islands, there is only one or two grocery stores and it is where the locals shop. And this is definitely the locals grocery store for this portion of the island. And we thought, okay, well maybe the one that's down closest to where the cruisers can go, which is over where we're anchored, maybe it is slightly more expensive. But it's a pretty good selection, decent little grocery store. Came down? Nope. Not any better selection. Prices not any different. Exactly the same. Just is the Bahamas, man. Food's expensive. They pay a lot of money for their food. Unless they grow it. Which is why a lot of them do. We've been here in Salt Pond for just a hair over two weeks. And, yeah, a really long time for us. And I guess it's the community that has kept us here. Much like Georgetown, there's so many cruisers here, but like a quarter of the amount of cruisers. Right, but it's easier to get to know the locals here. Especially because of things like the Saturday Farmer's Market. There's just a big expat community, so they're tied into the, you know, local community. So, anyway, it's good stuff. Yeah, and we're here at Penny's Fairhaven on the hill, as she says. Yeah, on the hill. Still in a little bit of, a little less, little drop of internet. Downloading some books and magazines and such, yeah. And got a couple tomatoes. It's the very end of the season, so she just had a couple left for us because we couldn't stay for the last Farmer's Market. And we're off. We have a big grand plan, which we'll share later. Well, we thought we were leaving Thompson Bay and Salt Pond, but then we were raising the mainsail and the jack line blew. So, looks like I'm going up on the mast. Alright, so right there, that's the problem. That's what it's supposed to look like. That's what happened. That's what broke. And, uh, yeah, that's my view. It's kind of windy today. And I'm getting knocked all around up here, so yeah, I'm going to go ahead and call it. Come down, and figure out what the hell we're going to do about that.