The Crooked-Acklins area consists of two large and numerous small islands surrounding a shallow lagoon in a U-shape, with the opening to the ocean on the west. We anchored at Acklins Island, one of the large islands (50+ miles long, less than five miles across), near the Spring Point settlement, and went ashore to take a look around. It looked to be about three miles walk to the settlement, but that’s OK, because we like to walk. Well, we nearly didn’t get the chance. Before we got a half mile, a nice gentleman offered a ride to the settlement, and we accepted. On the way back, no fewer than five people stopped to offer us rides; we walked because we needed the exercise. And everyone, whether driving or walking, welcomed us and said hi. Spring Point is smaller and less village-like (i.e., more spread out) than most of the other places we’ve been so far, with a few houses and businesses (one gas station, one restaurant, one bar, one store) stretched along the road. We stopped at the bar, which advertised wholesale liquor, because Chris has been looking for Olde Nassau dark rum, which we picked up in Bimini and have had a problem finding since. Colby, the owner, welcomed us to Spring Point, and apologized not only because he didn’t have the rum, but because he couldn’t drive us back to our dinghy, since he had just picked up supplies and was unloading them. Perhaps it’s because there are fewer than 500 people living on the entire island (I read that in the 2009 Bahamas phone book) and they get so few cruisers, but the warm welcomes were very gratifying. We also saw several kestrels, small falcons, on our walk, and that’s the only thing I got a picture of (although not a good picture, here it is).UPDATE: We're now on Mayaguana (no internet lately), and the people here are just as friendly. I love these out-of-the-way islands!
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