Far and Away

The Exumas (Part One)

Our plan is to go where the wind takes us as much as possible and so, when we woke up on March 3 and saw that there was a brisk wind from the South south east, we decided not to go to Cat Island, which was in that direction, and instead we headed over to the Exumas. We caught an 8 lb Mahi-Mahi on the way! We entered Bell Island Cut and anchored on the West side of Cambridge Cay. This cay is within the Exuma Land and Sea Park, a 22 mile no take zone which extends 4 nautical miles out to sea on either side of the 15 major cays it encompasses. It was established 60 years ago as a replenishment area for many species on land and in the water. We were in our element. The first thing I was impressed with was the number of nurse sharks hanging out by our boat! We had some great snorkeling here but found that the corals in the shallow bays showed great bleaching and general distress. However, we saw some wonderful fish, rays, barracuda and turtles.

Cambridge Cay - we snorkeled around this rock

Ruddy Turnstone prints on the beach

Sunset at Cambridge Cay

Gorgeous water all around

We motored over to this small sandpit to put our fee for the mooring in a box.

The payment box

Barracuda under the boat. We kept running into them while snorkeling and they always look like they are in a bad mood.

Sharks also swam back and forth under the boat, making me hesitate to jump into that beautiful water.

One of our mega yacht neighbors

I worried that our sail covers were clashing with the turquoise water.

We tried hoisting Nico's cell phone up the mast to try and get cell reception so he could read any e-mails from work.

After several days in this location we headed south to Staniel Cay. After one rolly night in what we thought would be a sheltered spot, we headed early the next morning to the anchorage opposite the town. I caught up on Wi-Fi by sitting next to the Taste and Sea Restaurant while Nico bought rum and got rid of trash. We then had the amazing lunch I described in my food blog entry.

The Taste and Sea Restaurant from my perch where I tapped into their Wi-Fi.

The inside before the lunch time rush

The menu

The Dumply Soup

Various leftover bones

Workmen picking up their orders

Bahamian colors

In the afternoon we went over to Thunderball Grotto, featured in the Jame’s Bond movie. We snorkeled in at slack low tide with only a few inches between the water and rock. Lots of colorful fish greeted us in the entry and then we were inside the grotto that had a ceiling of about 25 feet with light streaming in a hole at the top, like The Pantheon. There was another entrance where you had to dive underwater to get through so we did that and circled the island. Light coming in from the several underwater entrances, as well as the top, made it magical.

The grotto from the outside. The entrance is under the ledge.

The current was strong by the fuel dock so we took in cans with the dinghy and ferried it back to the boat instead.

The next attraction we had to see were the pigs on the beach at Big Majors Cay. It was quite a scene there. Tons of boats from 200 ft on down were all anchored there. We took the dinghy into the beach but stayed in at the edge and watched the action. The pigs would swim out, looking for handouts. They, too, came in all sizes. A boat full of guys pulled in. They played football in the sand and fed the pigs at the same time so there were guys and pigs running all around with lots of squealing.

The welcome committee

A group flew in to see the pigs.

We continued south to another animal attraction. Bitter Guana Cay is a preserve for an endangered subspecies of the Bahamian iguana. Here, too, boats would pull up and people would feed the iguanas fruit on a stick. They pretty much ignored us when we landed but later, after seeing the guides do it, as soon as I put a piece of discarded fruit on a stick they came charging. We hiked along the very windswept spine of the island. Waves were crashing in the cut between the islands. It was an inhospitable spot. I wouldn’t want to be shipwrecked here.