Our Final Days in the Exumas

After updating the blog Saturday afternoon, May 31st, the Exuma Park headquarters staff sponsored a cookout on the beach to celebrate the Park's 50th anniversary, providing hamburgers, chips and all the trimmings for everyone in the mooring field - probably about thirty people. They even had several cases of Sands, a relatively new brand of Bahamian beer, so that everyone could sample it.

The area behind our mooring at Warderick Wells dries out at low tide. Our stern was very close to the sandy bottom!


Sunday we got caught up on e-mail and then took the dinghy on a circuitous route around the west side of Narrow Waters Cay, north along the west side of Long Rock and east to Naked Beach. Todd explored the surrounding cay and found a few pieces of sea glass and then we snorkeled Kelly's Reef along side the cay. The water temperature is really nice now, unlike the first time I snorkeled in that area in early May!

More beautiful photos overlooking "Naked Beach" taken by the Captain as he explored the cay.



While we were at Naked Beach, a tender from a 110-foot yacht that was in the south mooring field pulled up to the beach so that its passengers could snorkel. We asked the young captain how much it cost to charter the yacht and he told us it was $42,000 per week, not including fuel, food or booze. Neither of us could even guess what fuel would cost for a boat that size, but we quickly determined that we would not be chartering one any time soon!

When we got back to the mooring field, we dinghied over to the beach and walked to Boo Boo Hill again to check on our sign, which was just as we had left it, and then walked over to see the blow holes since it was close to high tide. We soon discovered that the holes blow air, not water as we had assumed, although I'm sure they also blow water in rough seas or at extremely high tide. The Sound was pretty mellow that afternoon, though, so nothing but air was shooting out of the holes.

On the way back to the dinghy, we detoured to the deck of the Park headquarters to feed some sugar to the Bananaquits, small black and yellow birds that hang out there. The Park staff keep a container of sugar outside the office door so boaters can feed them, and the friendly little guys do not hesitate to eat out of your hand. We even donated a few pounds of sugar to the cause prior to our departure.




Monday we moved to an anchorage on the northwest side of Hawksbill Cay and followed a rugged trail across the island to the northern beach on the Sound side. Along the way we checked out some of the ruins where the last inhabitants of the island lived until around 1900. As you might imagine, the ruins are very primitive and don't look like much by today's housing standards! We also found the remains of an oven surrounded by piles of old conch shells. According to the cruise guide, "these ovens were used for cooking as well as to incinerate the conch shells for use in the making of mortar to line the walls of the houses."

When we got back to the beach where we had left the dinghy, we ran in to Jack & Susan and their black lab, Dakota. We originally met Jack & Susan in Blackpoint and then saw them again at Warderick Wells on Saturday where Susan graciously offered to let me use the Skype on her computer to touch base with my mom. Susan told us Skype costs her about $0.03 per minute as compared to $3.00 per minute to use the Park headquarters phone! Perhaps on our next visit we will look in to getting Skype for our computer.

At any rate, we didn't realize that theirs was the sailboat in the anchorage near "Life's2Short." They were getting ready to walk up to the ruins so we made plans to get together a little later on a beach closer to our anchorage. At that point, we dinghied to the northern end of Hawksbill and found a very nice, spacious beach surrounded by large areas of shallow water and sand flats with a great view of the Sound as well as the Bahama Bank.

The northeastern tip of Hawksbill is a truly gorgeous area!



This shade tree was a definite plus!




On the way back we joined Jack & Susan on the beach near our boats and made plans to have dinner on their boat "Freyja" that evening. We grilled the rest of the Mahi-Mahi that Paul from the motoryacht "Off Island" had given us and Susan prepared some wonderful pasta and a nice salad with rum cake for dessert. It was all delicious and we had a really good time visiting with them.

Jack & Susan left for Normans Cay the next morning but we wanted to stay at Hawksbill another day and go back to the northern end of the island. Early that afternoon, near low tide, Todd pulled the boat closer to the beach so he could stand up in the water and scrub the sides of the boat. It was still five feet deep when we first moved in closer, but it was probably down to about four feet by the time Todd finished.

The Captain diligently scrubbing the sides of the boat.


When we headed north in the dinghy that afternoon, the water was still too low to get over some of the sand flats so we waited and watched it rise. Once we had enough water, we motored to the southeast tip of Shroud Cay and walked around for a while before returning to the northeast tip of Hawksbill. According to the cruise guide, the area between Shroud and Hawksbill is called Hungry Hall. It is described as "a pristine, windswept, wind and natural place" and is definitely a trip favorite.

A temporary stop as we waited for the tide to come in.


Still waiting for the tide to come in. It won't be much longer now!


This is the southeastern tip of Shroud Cay.





We moved to the northwest side of Shroud on Wednesday and explored the north end of that cay but it wasn't as nice as the northern end of Hawksbill/southern end of Shroud. We ended up spending a couple of hours on a west-facing beach on Little Wax Cay, just north of Shroud, before returning to "Life's2Short" for the evening.

More island beauty!




On Thursday, June 5th, we went to Normans Cay and spent the afternoon trying to update the blog, but the satellite Internet wasn't cooperating and we finally gave up. We tried again Friday morning, but even e-mail was miserably slow that day. However, as we were leaving the Normans Cay Beach Club Friday afternoon, we ran in to David & Denise who we had met in Bimini in April. David is an avid fisherman and he and Todd ventured out several times while we were there.

David & Denise were with another couple, Craig & Beverly, on a beautiful 54-foot Viking named "Last Resort." We chatted on the beach for a while and made plans to get together at the Beach Club that evening for dinner. The food was excellent, as was the company, and Chris took good care of us. Chris owns and manages the Beach Club, along with Stefan who we met in late April/early May as we were heading south. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Stefan this time around as he was laid up with an injury.

What a great time we all had at the Beach Club that evening!



Craig & Beverly in animated conversation with the Admiral.


We left for Highborne Cay late Saturday morning and after settling in for a bit, Todd took the dinghy over to the marina to get a couple of gallons of gas, drop off trash and pick up a few groceries. Gas was actually cheaper than at Sampson Cay ($5.40 per gallon) and trash was the same ($5.00 for a large bag). Groceries, however, were outrageous! A loaf of sandwich bread was $6.00; a package of Romaine was $8.00; and it was another $10.00 for two onions and two tomatoes! Even for the Exumas those prices seem extreme, but you either pay the price or you do without.

That afternoon Craig and David buzzed by in the tender and invited us to "Last Resort" for a Sloppy Joe dinner. They had left Normans earlier than we did and were spending the night in the marina. Beverly ordered two dozen conch fritters from a guy on the dock, which were nothing short of huge, and also had a seemingly unlimited supply of wine and other nice appetizers. By the time we got to our "Manwich" dinner meal, we were well on our way to being stuffed! It was another wonderful evening with some very special people.

Highborne Cay has a very nice marina complete with an extremely well-stocked store and golf carts to tour the island.



Craig & Beverly own a resort called Bahama Beach Club on Treasure Cay in the Abacos and tried to talk us in to going there instead of back to the states. Craig even offered us free dockage and said he would put us up in one of his condos. Talk about tempting! If we didn't have commitments in the states, I'm pretty sure we would be heading to the Abacos! If anyone reading this is interested in visiting the Abacos, you should check out their web site at www.BahamaBeachClub.com. It's looks spectacular!

We went back over to the marina Sunday morning so I could call my mom and stopped by "Last Resort" to say hello. While we were there, Craig generously offered the use of his Bahamiam cell phone; little did I know that it was costing him $7.00 per minute - ouch! A few hours after we returned to the boat, "Last Resort" came out of the marina and passed by "Life's2Short" on their way to a nearby beach before heading back to Nassau that evening.

What a wonderful and fun group of people!


"Last Resort" underway. What a beautiful boat!


We made our final Exuma beach visit Sunday afternoon to a beach on the west side of Highborne Cay. We are definitely going to miss our beach visits when we return to the states. Even though there are beaches there, they cannot compare to the many extraordinary beaches we've seen and visited in the Exumas. It is truly beach heaven!

We left Highborne Cay Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. and arrived at our anchorage in West Bay, on the west end of New Providence Island (where Nassau is located), six hours later. The east wind, hardly more than a breeze, was to our backs so it was a hot, muggy trip, but at least the seas were relatively calm with swells of probably two feet or less. A few hours into the trip the port engine sputtered and died as a result of a clogged fuel filter. Todd quickly changed it out and we were on our way again.

West Bay was a very pretty anchorage in an apparently exclusive area and we spent a quiet afternoon and evening on the boat, glad to have at least one leg of our journey completed.

A couple of final sunset shots from the Bahamas. What a view!



On Tuesday we were underway by 6:45 a.m. and ended up anchoring on the Bahama Bank about 4:00 p.m. It was hot and muggy again but the water was very calm. Other than some minor swells during the first few hours, the seas were as close to glass as we've ever seen, especially in the Tongue of the Ocean which is thousands of feet deep.  After several weeks of very brief travel days, this was an extremely long day and we were more than ready for a break!

The Bank remained calm all evening and overnight, although we did see some bright lightening off in the distance about 2:00 a.m. and wondered if a storm was headed our way. Thankfully, it wasn't. We left the Bank at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday and arrived in Bimini at 1:00 p.m. Again, we were blessed with extremely calm water and, other than the heat and humidity, the trip was uneventful. At one point we saw a rather nasty looking storm brewing to the south, complete with heavy rain, lighting and thunder, and thought it might be heading our way, but it moved away from us and appeared to fizzle out.

Unlike the last time we were here, Bimini is booming and we were lucky to find a place to tie up. We are at the same marina we stayed at in April (Sea Crest), but they didn't have any available slips so we are tied at the end of the dock. We had hoped to stay here a few days before crossing the Gulf Stream, but they only have space for us tonight and tomorrow night and Friday doesn't appear to be a good day to cross based on the current marine forecast, so we may have to bite the bullet and leave for the states in the morning.

At any rate, we are grateful for the good seas we've had thus far and are relieved to have three of the four legs of our return trip under our belt. Depending on the condition of the Gulf Stream when we get out there, we will either cross to Ft. Lauderdale or to Lake Worth, near Palm Beach. If the seas aren't too bad, we hope to go in at Lake Worth (about 85 miles), but if it's too rough we will cut the trip short and go in at Ft. Lauderdale (about 55 miles). Please keep your fingers crossed for calm seas and fair weather as we return to the Motherland!