We've made a couple of stops in the Exumas so far. After partaking of the internet and grocery store at Highbourne Cay, we sailed to Allen's Cay, one of a triangle of small islands. After we dropped anchor inside the anchorage between the three islands, we had our first taste of snorkeling in the Exumas. The water clarity is unbelievable - better than anywhere else we've ever been.
Two of the islands are home to a native species of iguana. The iguanas sit out on the beach waiting for tourists to arrive - powerboats stop a couple of times a day with charter groups out of Nassau. There are also a lot more megayachts cruising this area, including a massive sailboat that anchored near us for the last few nights.
In addition to the water clarity, the Exumas are different from the other islands in the Bahamas in a couple of ways. First, they are practically deserted, except for a few houses or small resorts scattered about. Second, they are much warmer - whether that's due to geography or the season, I'm not sure, but for the first time on this trip I just put on my bathing suit in the morning instead of regular clothes. (We also finally broke out the sun awning.) Third, they are separated from Exuma Sound by a series of narrow cuts through which current strongly flows and ebbs with the tide. We had our first taste of this at Allen's Cay. When we arrived, the anchorage was placid, and according to our guide book, was supposed to provide all-around protection though windy conditions could cause swells. Apparently by "windy," they meant any amount of wind, or perhaps the wind shifted around to an area that was less protected. Either way, we woke up in the middle of the night to find ourselves rolling and pitching as the wind blew one way and the current pulled another. It wasn't dangerous, just uncomfortable, and a sharp contrast to the previous few hours. I didn't get a lot of sleep.
Still, we decided to stay another day to do more exploring. We were hoping to snorkel around some reefs on the south side of one of the islands, but the wind was coming from the south and churned up too much chop to make it safe. Instead we explored the islands and did some snorkeling in a more protected area. Hill saw several grouper and conch and considered going back with a fishing line to get us some dinner.
on Friday, the wind was still from the south. This presents a problem as 90% of the anchorages only provide protection from east winds and also our general direction of travel is south. (I keep wondering when these so-called easterly trade winds are supposed to appear.) We opted for another upwind slog south to Norman's Cay. Norman's has an anchorage near the cut that provides all around protection, but again with a strong current. We were wary about the current, so we decided to try an anchorage on the west side that we thought might provide some protection. It didn't. We took the dinghy in and walked to the other side of the island to inspect the second anchorage and it was much better. So, we moved and had a mostly calm night - but once again waking up around 3:00 am when we were rolling a bit. We also discovered this morning that the anchor line wrapped itself around the keel twice from the current shifts. Still, at the other anchorage, I was considering taking the dinghy into the beach and sleeping in it, which should give you some clue as to how bad it was.
Norman's Cay is also notorious for being the former haunt of a Medellin drug lord back in the mid-90s. There is a crashed drug plane awash near our anchorage, and we took the dinghy there this morning at slack tide to check it out. I tested my waterproof camera case for the first time and we took some pics.
Tonight we are going to join some other cruisers for a bonfire on the beach - I mixed up a killer batch of rum punch to share.
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