March 26
After a couple of nights at Highbourne Cay Marina and after finding (and releasing) a beautiful baby King Conch, (as opposed to the more familiar Queen Conch with a pink lined shell) and spending time with our underwater friends we fueled up and headed for Shroud Cay, a pleasant uninhabited island in the Exumas where there are many mangrove lined creeks to explore.
We arrived at Shroud Cay around 2:30 and immediately set out in the dinghy to check things out. Glad we didn't step on this guy! These rays bury themselves underwater in the sand. Beautiful when they're swimming, but you don't want to accidently spook them...
The next day we left Warderick Wells and set our sights on Cambridge Cay. The weather had turned and become quite cool. We actually had jeans and jackets on! Unusual for over here. We could have lowered the dinghy and snorkeled but it was too choppy to consider so we stayed onboard and decided to explore on our return trip. We had snorkeled here a couple of years ago and it was beautiful. We slept well that night in the cool weather.
Our next destination would be Big Majors Harbour at Staniel Cay, a 5 hour sail from Cambridge Cay. We're here a lot earlier than we were two years ago and have never seen so many boats anchored. There must have been 50, and many mega yachts further out which is a change from the typical sailboats and powerboats.
After making a run to the local general store for whatever they had (not much to choose from on these islands so you take what you can) we went back to the boat for dinner aboard. The next morning we took what we had saved for the pigs and dinghied to shore to offer them breakfast. They came running to the beach when they saw us coming. There were quite a few babies this year and they haven't quite learned how to swim yet but I'm sure they'll learn in no time. Big mama swims out to the dinghy, throws her head back and opens wide!
Staniel Cay has a brand new laundromat and we were off after feeding the pigs to do our much needed laundry. Good machines are few and far between over here. This one just opened in November and included a liquor store. She's bound to have many happy customers. I'm not sure which is better - finding a great laundromat or freshly baked Bahamian bread! Both are equally important here. So, after the laundry was done we walked to the bread lady in the yellow house and picked up our fresh out of the oven loaf that we had ordered prior to doing our laundry. We're happy!
We enjoyed lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, a great little bar and restaurant. A local dog came in to cool off in the shade. It was a HOT day!
After lunch we hoisted the anchor and sailed to Sampson Cay, a short 1 hour away. Remember I told you about the mega yachts? Well, here we are anchored among a few of them. The one on the far right of the picture had a slide, a couple of jet skis, a huge tender and a crew that entertained the children on board in the evening at a campfire on the beach. Some of the crew dressed up as pirates and came ashore as they were probably telling Captain Hook stories... we heard a few screams. Aargh! Sampson Cay used to be the home of the Sampson Cay Marina with groceries, a restaurant and shops but it has now become a private island. It appeared that everything was closed so we'll have to wait to see what will become of it.
April 1st already! We left Sampson Cay around 10:00 and headed to Rocky Dundas to snorkel the cave we missed earlier due to the cold weather and glad we did. The inside of this underwater cave is beautiful. It was a little chilly still, so after we'd had our fill of snorkeling we headed back to the boat, had lunch and left for Compass Cay to take a slip at the marina where we had stayed two years ago.
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| The cave from the outside |
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| Looking out of the cave |
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| Inside the cave |
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| Looking up from the inside of the cave. Glad it's not raining! |
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| More of the inside |
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| Looking out from the cave - ready to head back to the dinghy |
After we dinghied back to the boat and dried off, we raised the anchor and slowly motored around to Compass Cay. As always, the nurse sharks were hanging around waiting for food. These are docile creatures and in fact some of the guests swim with them, albeit very slowly. Our boat plaque was still there so we added another year to it. The owner has added another dock, big enough for a large yacht, which is reflected in the price of the slip and the $25 trash disposal fee PER BAG. Yikes!
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| Swimming under our boat |
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| 15 feet under our boat and it's a beautiful aquarium |
We had intended to sail across the Exuma sound to Cape Eleuthera on Saturday to catch up with our good friends John and Cherre on the Let It Go but saw a weather window on Thursday and decided not to wait. We left Compass Cay at 9:20 and had a fishing line out in hopes of catching dinner. Lo and behold, about midway across the sound our wish came true. Jeff reeled in a beautiful Mahi!
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| A little rum in the gills and the fish is feeling no pain |
We had a beautiful sail to Eleuthera arriving at 3:10. We had arranged to take the slip next to our friends and discovered that they had gone off for the day which gave us plenty of time to give the boat a much needed bath. Around dinner time John and Cherre came back from taking their daughter, son in law and grandchildren to the airport and were totally surprised to see us two days early. If they were to catch a little rest before their next guests arrived, it wasn't going to happen. Needless to say we had lots of catching up to do and after having drinks and dinner together in their rented villa, we stopped talking at a surprising 2am. Time flies when you're having fun! None of us had been up that late since college! The next day John and Jeff worked on boat projects. Their friends Kim and Mickey were to arrive that afternoon so we made plans to meet at the beachside pool for cocktails that evening.
A fishing trip on Saturday aboard the Let It Go was quite successful! We froze a bunch and decided to have surf and turf for dinner. Mickey is a fantastic cook and with our combined fresh fish, flank steak and fresh veggie medley we had a feast!
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| Here comes the first catch of the day |
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| Mickey reeling in with Jeff handling the gaff |
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| John puts another one in the hold |
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| And another. What colors! |
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| The big one lost color momentarily and then it returned. Must have been shock? |
On Sunday we took John, Cherre, Mickey and Kim out for a sail before we all headed to chill on an island beach later in the afternoon.
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| Our new friends Kim and Mickey Moore |
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| Mickey getting a quick sailing lesson |
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| Happy Mickey! |
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| Cherre and Jeff |
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| Captain John trying out the helm |
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| Mickey enjoying cooling off |
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| John and Mickey "chilling" |
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What a sandbar!
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Kim and Mickey were leaving the next day so we bade farewell prior to dinner and slept soundly that night. The next morning we were planning on leaving for Rock Sound, not too far away, but it clouded over and we decided to stick around another day and wait for better weather. We said our goodbyes to Kim and Mickey over a cocktail with all, then headed back to the boat for a quiet dinner aboard. The next morning John and Cherre tossed docklines for us and we set out for Rock Sound.
Stay tuned for the next chapter aboard EXILE. We are pleased to hear that spring is coming in the states!
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