Highborne Cay to Shroud Cay, Exumas

          

Dreamcatcher and Too Much Fun were leaving today, so we decided to leave with them.  Though we didn’t know where we were going, any destination would be different from where we were, and none would be more exposed to the north and west than we were presently.  The alternative was to sit at anchor at a location where the only land destination was a beach or a marina or to wait at anchor until we decided on a destination.  Moving won over and at 9am we raised the anchor and headed out to the turquoise blue openness of the Exuma Banks.  North wind driven waves of the following sea were about the same speed as we were traveling which made for very pleasant motoring.

Once we were on the open water and clear of coral, rocks and headed south, our next destination became clear, Shroud Cay where there are mangrove swamps.  The Park Service maintains mooring balls there and with inlets into the mangroves we can do some exploring.  The anchorage/mooring area is still open to the west but we can’t have everything!  A run of only 2.5 hours and we picked up the last mooring ball though there is also plenty of space to anchor.  Peggy had trouble catching the line on the mooring ball as it was hanging straight down so it would almost have been easier to anchor.  Bob busied himself retying the dingy as we had been towing it, topping off the dinghy fuel tank, and checking for cell coverage.  We have it, though weak and with no cell tower in sight. 

 Calling the Park Service on Channel 9, we asked to be put on the waiting list for Warderick Wells moorings for tomorrow and also put in a request for a catamaran staying at Normans Cay who was having radio difficulty.  He had no trouble hearing the Park Service but they could not hear him.

As soon as things were in order we loaded cameras, shoes, the Garmin Blue Chart on the ipad, oranges, water, and mask, fins and snorkel just in case, and set off for the mangroves.  We found the inlet that cuts all the way through the southern end of Shroud Cay pretty easily, but the tide was low so Bob had to tow the dinghy with Peggy in it across the “too shallow to motor” areas.  It was like a scene from African Queen with Peggy as Kathryn Hepburn and Bob playing Humphrey Bogart.  

Occasionally Bob would find a conch but as we are in the Exuma Cay Land Sea Park, they were just to look at.  Reaching the opposite shore open to the Atlantic Ocean, we anchored the dinghy on the beach and went for a walk.  The sand was like fine, bright, white talcum powder.  Of course Peggy found a hammock someone had made using some abandoned fish netting. Sitting on the beach eating oranges was incredibly cool and we were both grinning from ear to ear at being lucky enough to be here.

The mangrove swamp is not a swamp at all.  No towering trees, snakes or alligators like the Florida Everglades but a thick mass of four foot high mangroves trees windblown to a constant height for as far as one can see in every direction.  This sea of vegetation is cut through by a winding rope of crystal clear water whose surface is only marred by the ripples of current arguing with the wind which invariably seems to come from the opposite direction.  Color is the key to water depth and is the book which one must learn to read to maneuver these channels.  The white sandy bottom is pocked by an occasional dark grassy area or rock ledge and we hesitantly followed the green and even deeper turquoise channels which were interspersed with wide light colored stretches of sand where it is too shallow to motor.  Here someone, invariable Bob, must tow the dinghy to the next deeper water passage.  

 

Channels in the Mangrove Swamp

 As the channel varied width from twenty to fifty feet across, the depth ranged from six to eight feet or more to several inches, sometimes quite suddenly as intensified currents swept out a deep blue hole or an eddy deposited a bank of shimmering sand.  Occasionally other channels split off though it was usually easy to tell the larger or deeper main channel from the others.  This became more difficult when the tide was high and the main channel became less defined.  The current of course, changed with the tide, and standing waves were common where the tide and wind met.

We did use the ipad to retrace our path as with the rising waters of the incoming tide we missed a turn in the channel.  It was a bumpy ride once we rounded the rocks in the lee of the cay and bounced northward towards our mooring field.  We both were soaked with sea spray and once again I reminded myself to always wear foul weather gear whenever I go anywhere in the dinghy.  I have yet to follow my advice.  Before climbing on board K2F, Bob snorkeled around the mooring ball to confirm that it was secure. 

 Since dragging the one in Block Island last fall we have no confidence in them.  Showers and dinner came next followed by cleanup, journaling, updating the blog, and eventually reading ourselves to sleep.  We have cell phone connectivity but it is too noisy for reliable service.  Instead of internet tasks, Bob spent his time chasing down rattling doors, slapping halyards and other noises caused by the rocking of the boat so it will be much quieter than last night though probably just as bumpy.

Overnight to Highborne Cay, Exumas

We continued traveling through the night, passing through Northwest Channel around 11:30pm and were south of New Providence Island, the home of Nassau, at daybreak.

We arrived as the second boat at the large Highborne Cay anchorage at 12:30pm, dropping anchor in 10 feet of crystal clear water, just west of a high cell phone tower.  We tried our new ipad with its new BTC chip, expecting to have full connectivity however it was not to happen.  The only thing we could get was a No Service message.  We spent the next few hours playing with the ipad, but with no success.  Later in the afternoon we accidentally caught some radio traffic on Channel 16 about the cell tower being inoperative.  No wonder we couldn’t get anything to work.

Bob radioed to the marina to request permission to go ashore at the nearby beach as this is a privately owned island.  We found white sand beaches, few shells, but lots of very jagged lava north and south of a few sandy beaches. 

 A short trail led into the vegetation and over the lava flows and where we found several collapsed lava tubes, one with water below and rocks built up around the edge of the hole in the top, seemingly used as a cistern at one time.  Soon tiring of that activity we took the dinghy around to a bay to the north which had a small resort area with cabanas, beach lounges, a pile of plastic kayaks, grill, etc.  On the way out Bob went snorkeling where we found an area of small conchs and one large conch-like shell (round with no horns).  We left them all there to grow larger though I really wanted the large shell.

Bob is part water dog.

All afternoon our quiet anchorage was filling up with boats and by evening we had 10-12 neighbors, among them two sailboats that Bob had met at Browns Marina, the monohull Dreamcatcher and the catamaran Too Much Fun.  On the return from the bay, we stopped at the two sailboats who confirmed our last weather report of increased winds from the north and a front from the west coming in next week.  Sure enough, the wind picked up making for a bumpy night.

Sunrise on the Bahama Banks