The Exumas!

  We had planned to spend most of our time in the Exuma chain of islands in the Bahamas.  The Bahamas are made up of several ‘families’ of islands - the Abacos, the Exumas, eg - and several larger islands such as Eleuthera and New Providence (where Nassau is located).  Our favorite remains the Exumas.  After we left Rose Island, we headed for the top of the Exuma chain, and anchored off Allen Cay where we caught up with Canadian friends Mandy and Steve on 2 Outrageous.  This cay is a favorite day stop for tourists from the resorts and cruise ships in Nassau because it is one of the islands that is a haven for iguanas, which are a protected animal here.  Small fast boats bearing half a dozen people zip in and out of the anchorage all day, to let people gaze or get up close and personal with the iguanas who gather on the beach in hopes of food.  (Feeding is not recommended, but some people do it anyway.)  We did our snorkeling away from the the go-fast boats and the iguanas.  

From Allen Cay we made our way down to Shroud Cay, which is part of the Exuma Land and Sea park.  This cay is mostly made up of mangroves, with several dinghy channels cutting through the island from one side to the other, but as we quickly found out, they aren’t navigable unless the tide is between mid- and high.  Dan and I set off in the afternoon to take a meandering dinghy ride through the mangroves to the beach on the ocean side of the island and ended up spending quite a bit of time poling with an oar or just slogging through the creek on foot while dragging the dinghy along between us.  Eventually we just tossed the dinghy anchor into the sand and trudged through the creek to the end where we found a path through the scrub to the beach.  We only had about fifteen minutes to walk the beach, before we had to head back if we wanted to reach the Willie Dawes before sunset.  Fortunately the tide was coming; our way out required only poling once or twice.  

Shroud Cay sky

We spent two nights at Shroud Cay.  Here we met up with Tim and Tawnia from Knot Quitters, whom we’d first met a few years ago in Maine.  They live aboard their trawler full time and have cruised the East Coast extensively, but this was their first excursion to the Bahamas.  it’s always fun to see familiar boats in different places!

From there we moved on to Sampson Cay.  This was a new-to-us anchorage, in a little cove off a private (and quiet) island and we had some excellent snorkeling nearby.  The only fly in the ointment here is that this is a pass-through place for those go-fast little tourist boats zipping people over to Big Majors Cay where pigs (instead of iguanas) great people on the beach.  We discovered we could tuck way up into the cove and not be bothered by those little boats, but we had to be careful snorkeling - we anchored the dinghy with a dive flag flying and stuck close to shore while in the water.  Among the many fish we saw, we were treated to the sight of a line of fourteen squid equally spaced, just hovering.  

After our night at Sampson Cay, we moved past Staniel Cay and on to Black Point on Greater Guana Cay.  This was also new to us and what a fun place it turned out to be!  Black Point Settlement is a small, very laid back community that welcomes cruisers.  It’s famous for the laundromat run by Miss Ida, a white building with its own dock and gorgeous views of the anchorage.  The small town also has several little restaurants and bars, a couple of small grocery stores, and a post office.  Everyone who works in any of the establishments lives just a house or two away, and if they aren’t in attendance, such as when I needed tokens for the laundromat or when I wanted to buy stamps at the post office, someone else either tells you which house to go knocking on, or they’ll call them on the phone as ask them to come help you.  It was wonderful. The laundromat sells souvenirs, plumbing parts, oil for your engine, and snacks.  They also offer haircuts, hot showers, and occasionally sell hot dogs or baked goods.  And if you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to Miss Ida’s gospel singing while you do laundry.  Dan and I had a drink at Lorraine’s, ate dinner at Scorpios, and did two large loads of laundry in Black Point.  

Killer, the bartender at Lorraines.

Corner booth at Scorpios

This morning (Weds Jan 11) we moved over to Bitter Guana Cay.  This is another iguana refuge, and there are tourist boats that come here from Staniel Cay, but it is nowhere near as busy as Allen Cay.  We are only one of two boats here.  We walked from the beach across the narrow island to the ocean side, which has some impressive limestone formations, and later in the afternoon we snorkeled along the island.  Since much of this cove is just sand, we really didn’t expect to see much, and we were delighted to find several large coral heads teaming with fish of all kinds and sizes.  It was the best snorkeling we’ve found so far.  We’ll definitely keep Bitter Iguana Cay on our list of places to revisit.  

Limestone beach, Bitter Guana Cay

Sunset, Bitter Guana Cay