The Exumas – So Many Shades of Blue!

We are currently on a mooring in Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, waiting for possible thunderstorms and strong winds to pass through. It seems a good time to catch up!

In between Nassau and the northernmost Exuma Islands is a shallow area known as the Yellow Bank. With reported depths as low as 6.5 feet and dotted with coral heads, we were a bit nervous as we left Nassau headed southeast towards Highbourne Cay. Fortunately, it was a pretty day and we had good visibility and the high tide, which gave us an additional 2.5 – 3 feet of water depth. Winds were calm and seas were flat, making motoring easy. Ritual burns about a gallon of diesel fuel per hour, and we had topped off our 150 gallon tank in Nassau, so we would not need fuel again until leaving the Exuma Islands. And if we could sail, or even motor-sail, so much the better!

We arrived at our anchorage on the northwest side of the island and joined several other boats lining the pristine beach. We marveled at the clearness of the water, the white sandy beaches, and the lacey, eroded limestone rock ledges. Sunset was over an endless sea, and Lisa finally saw her first green flash! The Exuma island chain of 365 cays stretches 120 miles southeast, so we would only be visiting the “highlights”. 

One benefit of having a hard, V-bottom dinghy with a 9.9 hp outboard is being able to leave the “mothership” anchored, and explore areas further away, so the next day we took the dinghy 1.5 miles north to Allen and Leaf Cays to see the Northern Bahamian Rock Iguanas. Thought to be extinct in 1916, these two islands now support 400+ adults of this critically endangered species. They are visited by several small tour boats daily (from as far away as Nassau), so when we hit the beach with our baggie of veggie leftovers, they came right out to greet us! It was a little creepy to have lizards crawling all around us, but they did not seem too aggressive, and we made a note to hopefully anchor in this gorgeous spot between the islands someday.

Since prevailing winds tend to have an east component, most of our anchorages would be on the west side of the cays or in between two cays, along the shallow Exuma Bank, where 20 ft depths or less is the norm. Traveling down the chain is a matter of choosing how far (or not) one wants to go in a day, what the weather forecast portends, what one wants to see, and what services might be needed. Many of the islands are uninhabited, and you need to plan ahead for limited services of fuel, fresh water, groceries, laundry, liquor store and restaurants.

We entered the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, spending a few days exploring at Hawksbill Cay before heading to Warderick Wells, the heart of the park. We and Shank’s Mare were assigned moorings in the v-shaped trough of deep water (10-12 feet!), surrounded by pristine sand bars barely under water. We were greeted by a curious sea turtle, and watched several large rays and a couple sharks swim past our boats almost daily. Those darn sharks actually scared Lisa onto the sandbar one day, and back onto the boat another! What could have been a couple days stay turned into over a week, in part due to a northeast front moving through with strong winds and a bit of rain. We repeated our new mantra – “but it’s warm!”, and there was so much to enjoy.

Boo Boo Hill is a high point above the bay that sports a large pile of boat momentos from over the years. We added a rock with Ritual’s name, next to a Petosky stone from Manitou, another Traverse City boat. Warderick Wells was one spot where our phone signals were very weak, and we hiked up here several more times to check emails and texts and weather apps and make phone calls. The views were incredible, including watching the blowholes in the rocky cliffs on the west side of the island. We kept thinking of new colors to describe all the variations of blue in the sea and the sky. We also couldn’t help but compare this national park to those back home. Rugged and sometimes poorly marked trails, cliffs with no railings, hand-painted signs – all require care and individual responsibility for staying safe.  We balked at one trail that was underwater from the tide and required walking on submerged rocks. As we turned back, a family with 3 very young kids picked their way across. Guess we are getting old!

With a break in the weather we continued south to Cambridge Cay. Seas were still rolling from the high winds – more than we had anticipated – and Shank’s Mare (a beautiful Niagara 35) took a few zig-zags to deal with the waves. Another benefit to having a big, heavy boat – its slower but cuts through that stuff more comfortably.

We anchored near the mooring field and the next day took the dinghy north to O’Brien Cay and the “Sea Aquarium”.  This is one of the iconic snorkeling spots in the park – a small, protected reef teeming with fish!  We met a fellow cruiser who was taking underwater video, and he promised to share it with us at a later date.  As an aside, the island to the west of this spot (Little Halls Pond Cay) was owned by Johnny Depp, who sold it to JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame.  Not a bad neighborhood!

As another nor’easter threatened its approach, we moved to a large but protected anchorage at Big Majors Spot – infamous home of the swimming pigs, as well as nearby Thunderball Grotto, and close to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. For us, the pigs were a 10-minute attraction (they bite, pee and poo in the water, etc), yet tourist boats come all day long to feed them!  Thunderball Grotto is a neat cave that you snorkel in to see fish and the unique rock formations that let the sun stream in from above. Yes, the James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed here, as well as Never Say Never Again, Splash, and Into the Blue.  This is also where we noticed more of the huge mega-yachts anchored offshore. We had seen some really big boats in Nassau, but these are well over 100 ft long. The most noticeable was Infinity, at 290 feet. It has its own 220 foot “support boat”, Intrepid, which carries a crew of 32, various runabout sport boats, jet skis and a helicopter.  You can google these for more details. Really – how much is enough?!

We visited the three small (think – your living room) grocery stores on Staniel Cay. The supply boat comes once per week, and if you get there three days late, fresh things are fairly picked over or gone. Not to mention expensive. We stuck to staples and some fresh fruits and veggies, and did without the Oreos at $10 and the Ruffles chips at $13! 

We continued south to Black Point on Great Guana Cay to take in the weekend sailboat races. The class B and C sloops have one huge sail, and the crew rides pry boards to balance when heeling. This is also a favorite cruiser destination with the best laundromat around, a couple good restaurants, and Miss Lucy’s famous coconut bread. AND – we also finally met up with Pete and Liz aboard Manitou, from Traverse City!

At this point, we were half way through our 3-month cruising permit, and Shank’s Mare decided to head back north.  We were sad to part ways, but excited to continue to Georgetown at the south end of this island chain.  This time we sailed on the east side of the islands in the deep and wide Exuma Sound, in company with Mananan (Toronto) and Misty (Monroe, MI).  We sailed past a few anchorages before we chose a spot off Sand Dollar Beach on Stocking Island.  Georgetown, across the harbor, and this island in particular, are a cruiser’s mecca. Many boats spend all winter here, so there is a real community, with a radio net every morning, and activities like yoga, water aerobics, potlucks, and games. The Chat ‘N Chill bar and grill is the central gathering spot, but there are also wild trails and beaches spread out along the 4-mile long island. Our favorite was Da Sand Bar – a low key beach shack with tiki huts, volleyball and games, and a gorgeous beach – and yes, cold beer and polish dogs off the grill!  We ate out in Georgetown, and did a major shop in the two large (for here) grocery stores. It is a 1.5-mile dinghy ride across the harbor, and it was a wet ride when the wind was up!

We spent more than a week here, pondering our next move. Mananan was heading south to the Caribbean, and we had two other boats beckoning us to join them in Long Island and the Ragged Islands further south.  As much as we wished to continue in that direction, reality bit. Our autohelm is still not working, although we have the windvane steering when we are under sail. But imagining multi-day passages where we might have to hand steer was not attractive! We also need to think about new batteries, and the insurance company wants a survey to cover us further than the Bahamas. So – the decision was made – we would make a circuit of the Bahamas and return to the States for hurricane season. 

More soon! Fair winds, Fred and Lisa