And we were off! We were headed south – away from Nassau and
into the mysterious Exumas. This was only going to be a quick six day adventure
so we decided we would spend most of our time visiting two islands, Shroud Cay
and Warderick Wells. On the way back we added a third, Allen’s Cay. Why??? Don't you know me by now? You will have to read on, of course, to find out.
Days 1 and 2: Shroud Cay.
I pulled out of the slip magnificently (primarily because
there was very little wind) and the trip began. The route from Nassau to Shroud wasn’t too
exciting as the waves were only about 2 feet, less than the 3-4 footers we had
when my mom and sister were here. Shroud Cay is in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.
(Created in 1958 this 176 square mile
park was the first of its kind in the world and is famous for its pristine
beauty, outstanding anchorages and breathtaking marine environment. It is the
first marine fishery reserve established in the Caribbean.) As we pulled
in we noticed that there we about half-a-dozen boats already there, but they
had anchored just outside the mooring area instead of taking mooring ball. We
learned that their reason for this was simple. The wind was calm, so no one
needed to be concerned about his/her anchor and the Park charges for mooring
balls. The fee varies with the size of the boat, but for us it cost $30. We
decided that wasn’t too much AND we kind of wanted to support the park. So we
went ahead and took the best of all mooring balls (since nobody else was on
one) and paid for the privilege. I think we have decided, though, that since we
have to pay for a ball at Warderick Wells (see below), the next time we come to
Shroud, we, too, will anchor outside the mooring area.
Anyway, Shroud is an unusual Cay. It has two salt water
“creeks” that divide the island into thirds. There are also a number of littler
creeks that make inroads into the cay and go varying distances. All of the
waterways are lined with mangroves and other salt water vegetation.
 |
| This photo of Shroud Cay gives you some sense of the meandering nature of the salt water creeks. |
You can take a motorized boat (our dinghy) along the
northernmost creek as long as you keep the engine at idle speed – which we did.
The creek doesn’t make a clean shot straight through the island, it meanders
its way across. Moving at idle speed, it probably took us probably the better
part of an hour to get from one side to the other. Putting along the creek was
kind of cool in that I almost expected to see trout, ready for the catching, in
the river below. Oddly, though, we didn’t see too many fish of any kind –
though we did see the shadow of a large turtle heading away from us as fast as
he could! When we reached the end of the creek, we were rewarded by a beautiful
beach, maybe a quarter mile long, on the Sound side of the island. We piddled
around there for a while, finally saw some small fish and headed back down the
creek.
Because we did not know how shallow the creek and its
environs got, we really didn’t pay attention to the tides before we entered. We
did, however, bring our little portable depth gauge and a pole that was about 4
feet long so we could check the bottom when it started getting shallow. On the
way back we discovered that parts of the creek grew very shallow. The through
occurred to both Ann and I at the same time.
When was the last time you saw two intrepid pioneers making their way
down a salt water creek? What happened when they went aground? Why it was the
movie African Queen, of course, with
Mr. Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) and Miss Rose Sayer (Katherine Hepburn). Only since I can’t get my foot wet, if we would have
been stuck I am afraid it would have been Ms. Brown doing most of the heavy
lifting. Can’t you just see Ann, walking in front of the dinghy, rope over her
shoulder, pulling us forward step-by-step?
 |
| Our visiting friend at Shroud Cay. He looks smaller here, but was in reality five or so feet ;long. |
After we got back to the boat, we went to bed and slept like
logs. I woke up early the next morning and went around the boat making my
morning check and what did I see off the back deck? A five foot nurse shark!!!
I got Ann and she was able to take its picture. We watched it for a while and
eventually saw other fish around it. Could one have been its offspring? It was
hard to say. Anyway, it stayed around for about two hours. The only reason we could figure was that, for
some reason, it liked the sound of the water slapping against the side of the
dinghy.
Days 2 – 4: Warderick Wells. Warderick Wells is the
headquarters of the Land and Sea Park. To get a mooring ball there, you have to
be assigned one. They can’t be reserved, so all you can do is come up on the
radio net at 0900, request a ball, hope that several people are leaving, and
await your assignment. If you don’t get a slot that day, you are on the waiting
list for the following day. We got lucky. The first time we asked for a ball,
we got one; mooring ball 15, right smack dab in front of the park headquarters.
The first day we were there, we went ashore and, first, went
to the little gift shop. We got some t-shirts, a book, some of those laminated
cards that help you identify what kind of flora and fauna you see and a couple
of other things. We then went out and hiked one of the trails and found
Barefoot Beach, one of the many small
beaches on the island. On the path, we met Bob and Virginia Keene aboard their
boat Shadowfax. Over the next few
days we got to know them fairly well. Bob is a retired submariner. They are
even more footloose than we are. They are headed south for a while, until they
decide they have gone far enough. Right now, they aren’t sure whether that will
be Turks and Caicos or Trinidad.
 |
| Ann in front of a sperm whale skeleton on display at Warderick Wells. It died because it ingested plastic. |
Saturday afternoon we visited Boo Boo Hill. On Boo Boo Hill,
cruisers leave wooden driftwood plaques containing the name of their vessel and
the year they were there. We didn’t have any wood with us, so didn’t leave a
plaque of our own this time (we will next time), but we did find the Finally Fun plaque of our friends Sharon
and Andy. We also visited the Warderick Wells Blow Hole and then went back
to the boat. Later that evening, we attended the weekly Saturday night cocktail
and appetizer party on the beach. We had some unusual visitors at the party.
Hutia are the only land mammal native to the Bahamas. They are an endangered
species that have been reintroduced to Warderick Wells. I swear there must have
been 12 – 15 of those little suckers at the cocktail party. They came right up
to the edge of the treeline and must have been waiting for someone to feed them
– a real “no-no” in the park. We have noticed one thing in our visit to
Warderick Wells; the animals, whether Hutias or curly tailed lizards or any
other kind of little animal do not seem to be at all afraid of humans. In
taking pictures of lizards you can get down to within a couple of feet of them
before they start to meander off.
We had planned to leave on Sunday but we were told that the
winds were going to pick up and it was not going to be good cruising weather.
So, we stayed another day in the mooring field. We weren’t the only ones – on
this particular Sunday nobody left (you can imagine how disappointed the boats
who were waiting for a mooring must have been.
Anyway, we left Monday morning on our way back to Nassau. We
thought about going down a little further, but we had to be back in Nassau on the
12th so we could pick up our friends Dave and Joan Wolf and didn’t
want to have to spend eight hours on the water heading back to Nassau. It was
still a little windy from the front that went through on Sunday so we decided
to go about half way back to Nassau and spend the night in between Allen’s Cay,
Leaf Cay and Southwest Allen’s Cay. Now what is unusual about these three
islands (other than the anchorage formed between them is one of the most
idyllic we have seen in the Bahamas) is that these islands are the only home of
the endangered Exuma iguana. Unfortunately, Allen’s cay is so close to Nassau
that speed boats come from Nassau carrying tourists who want nothing more than
to feed the animals. As a result, whenever the iguanas hear a dinghy approaching
the island they come out on the beach and wait for a handout. Oh well.
 |
| A few of the iguanas on the beach at Leaf Cay. Man those are ugly suckers! |
On Tuesday morning we headed back to Nassau, arriving at the
marina at 1:00 0r so. We refueled so we are ready for our next adventure.
Just so you know, yes, we did have a maintenance issue. I
think I have figured out why the battery monitor and the inverter display don’t
agree as to then the batteries are fully charged. I believe the generator is
putting out too many volts – and that this is the cause of the problem.
Tomorrow I am going to run my hypothesis past my good-submarine buddy, expert
electrician Bill and see what he thinks of it. Meanwhile, I am going to try and
find someone who can make the adjustments on the generator.
ANN’S NOTES: It was
nice to get out into the open water once more and just hang out on the boat for
a while. Michael had a few ideas about how to save some energy that made me
really plan ahead for the next day. It really was not that difficult but I had
to make sure we had snacks, water, soda and ice to drink during the day. He wanted
the fridge to stay shut during the day to keep the cold in plus turn down the temperature
so the inverter would not have to work so hard to keep everything cold. Once we
turned on the generator to recharge the batteries I could crank up the
temperature in the fridge again. I have
always been good at “energy management,” I learned it on our other boat Sans Souci. Anyway , the captain said to
pack up the igloo cooler for the day and I, being an excellent first mate, did
as I was told…that does not happen very often but I want this energy problem
solved as much as he does. I am not sure that the igloo plan worked but the
fridge door stayed shut.
Shroud Cay was just beautiful. Only a few boats in the area
we were in. There were lots of coves to explore and beaches to see. The trip
down the lazy river was fun, it did get very shallow on the way back and I did
think I would have to get out and haul the dinghy over the sand bar. One of my
all time favorite movies is African Queen and I thought I would have to play
the Bogart part. I saw no leeches so I was okay.
Warderick Wells was interesting. The mooring field is a
circle with two openings at each end, during low tide there is a round sand bar
that you can walk on. Also when the tide comes in it really is fast and you do
not want to be in the water when that happens. We did a lot of hiking around
the island. Some places are easy but most of the island is limestone and it is
very sharp and jagged. The trails are well marked and pretty easy to follow. We
did meet some wonderful people at the beach get together and than on our boat.
Michael did not like those creepy semi-little furry rat like animals. The darker
it got the closer they came, they were under the picnic table by the time we
departed, much to close if you ask me.
Leaf Cay/ Allen Cay
was another pretty spot. We had it all to ourselves for a little while, we got
the dinghy down and went to shore to check out the iguanas … again not my
favorite animal in the world but interesting. The night sky was full of stars and it looked like
you could just reach up and touch them. It reminded me of when Caylin was a
little girl and she could still see the moon one morning in the morning shy. She
said she wanted it and I asked her where she would put the moon if she had it…she
looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes with her long lashes and said..” in
my pocket’….silly grandma…I should have known.
Wildlife Count…
Thursday 7 Feb
2013 Shroud Cay
·
1 Turtle· 2 large rays
Friday 8 Feb 2013
Shroud Cay - 1 Nurse shark
- 3 Rays
- 1 Turtle
- 1 flying fish
- Reef fish
- 2 sting rays
- Small shark
- Small black and yellow bird
- Small fish in a hole in the limestone
- 2 rays
- 10 – 12 hutia (rodent) at night at the beach party
· Blue Crab
· 2 large rays
· Small reef fish
Monday 11 Feb 2013 Leaf Cay
·
12 or more iguana
Traveling Soul … Out
Traveling Soul … Out
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