Nassau to Allen

Allen's Cay, 12/29

After our unplanned delay in Nassau to ship our instrument remote display back to the U.S. we finally got away under sunny skies and a nice wind. The weather was a welcome change from most of what we had seen in Nassau. The sail across the Yellow Banks started with Christopher hooking a goodly sized Bonito. What a sweet tasting fish we had for dinner that night at Allen's Cay. Almost immediately upon dumping the fish entrails in the water a small shark paid us a visit.

The Allen's Cay - Leaf Cay archipelago was our first stop in the Exuma Cays. Leaf Cay is known for the resident Iguanas that come out to greet the visitors to their domain. By the time we actually got our anchors attached to the bottom it was late in the afternoon and chilly so we put off our visit 'til the morning. It took us three real tries to get attached to the bottom. At that we seemed perilously close to the rocky shore on one side and the sand bar on the other. A boat that came in after us tried four or five times before they were satisfied. With 20 knots of wind and six boats in the anchorage it all seemed rather crowded. I mention this because we learned later on the BASRA morning weather net that there were as many as 24 boats at Allen's Cay in even higher winds!


These fellows are handsome aren't they. The cruising guides report that on warm days large numbers of these will come to the beach to greet visitors. They can also be aggressive, but our experience was that they are shy in the extreme.

The morning of our visit to the Iguanas dawned clear and chilly. Too chilly for the reptiles. When we first stepped ashore it took Christopher awhile to find a denizen with his tail sticking out of his lair. We crouched quietly waiting for the creature to come out, but each time he caught sight of us he scurried back into his hole. Eventually Christopher found one sunning himself on the rocks so we were able to get some photos and Diana learned that they were not as aggressive and fearsome as she had heard.

Norman's Cay, 12/30/00

On the way out of Allen's Cay Christopher hooked another fish; this time a Bar Jack. We cleaned this fish at Norman's. We are sure that the same little shark followed us down from Allen's to see what else we would throw overboard.

There is much folklore about drug running in the Bahamas in recent decades. One of the centers of activities was Norman's Cay. That operation has long since been shut down and the island returned to its bucolic state. We shared the southern anchorage inside the bight with about 30 other boats, with room to spare. With high winds from the NW the anchorage on the west side was untenable for anyone.

While here we met the family on Hallelujah with two kids, Carolyn (8) and Mark (6). Diana was in heaven. Also in the anchorage was sv Articus with some college kids on board as guests. For the moment at least our kids were happy.

	Christopher with his first lobster of the trip.
The total take of the hunters and foragers.

With the crews from a few other boats Christopher went out hunting and foraging everyday. His take was several lobster spread over a couple of days. One evening there was a picnic on the beach to help Carolyn celebrate her birthday. A total of 8 huge lobster and myriad other contributed dishes made it quite an affair in spite of the cold and wind. Speaking of cold and wind, we celebrated New Year's Eve on the beach with another potluck and a bonfire. Good thing we had the bonfire since it was cold and windy that night also.

Our stay at Norman's gave us the first inkling that maybe we have the wrong dinghy and motor with us. When the other crews zoomed out to the fishing grounds with their RIB's and 10-15 hp motors we tagged along way behind in our wooden dinghy with 2.5 hp.

Shroud Cay, 1/2/01

At Shroud Cay we anchored at Fresh Well Bay. Looking at the charts this anchorage appears to be no more than a little dent in the shore line. Indeed, if the wind has any real westerly component to it this would not be a place to anchor.

Our friendly little shark still seems to be with us. He doesn't like fruit and vegetable peelings, but does seem to like left over oatmeal.

While here we took the dinghy in to visit the fresh water well. We tasted the water, but didn't take any for our tanks since we are still full from Nassau. After the well we continued on to Camp Driftwood overlooking the Exuma Sound. The beach on the Sound is covered with plastic detritus. We spent a little time picking up the biggest containers that could still float and dragged them up to what appeared to be an impromptu collection point. We didn't make a noticeable dent in the state of affairs. Our planet has a serious waste and trash problem in addition to the apparent global warming!

On our second day at Shroud Diana and I went in to a little lagoon to play on the beautiful white sand beach and snorkel on the rock and coral reef at the entrance. She really likes to snorkel. Christopher went out to Camp Driftwood again to take some pictures and to erect an 'ADAGIO' marker from some of the trash laying about.

The entrance to camp driftwood	The view from the path on the way to the freshwater well at Shroud Cay.
Our contribution to Camp Driftwood.	The decor at Camp Driftwood is assembled by visitors gathering trash on the beach. This could be a scene from Castaway starring Tom Hanks.

The story is that Camp Driftwood was originally established by a hermit that set up housekeeping there many years ago. Visiting yachties now leave something with their name on it as a sort of memorial to him.

Warderick Wells (Headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park), 01/04/01

Leaving Fresh Well Bay we sailed a broad reach then wing-and-wing as the wind went more to the north. The last 4 miles into Warderick Wells we sailed a beam reach at 6+ knots under the main alone. It took us about 2.5 hours to cover the 19 miles. The next morning we learned that the wind was blowing 36 knots for that last portion of the trip. In any event we were thankful for the Park's mooring. The wind and chop in the mooring field were too much to go into shore the first day.

	The view looking north from Boo-Boo Hill at Warderick Wells.
The view looking across the banks to the southwest. We went snorkeling in the deep blue water just below the park headquarters at the left side of the picture.

We had a busy time here at Warderick Wells. We went to the Saturday Happy Hour on the park office deck. Maria and Christopher exchanged our library for a fresh batch of potboilers. We hiked to the top of Boo Boo Hill which offers a view, it seems, of most of the Exuma chain. We spent a morning working on the path being built between Park Headquarters and the new ranger residence. Diana and I had a great snorkeling trip with the kids from Hallelujah right off the park building.

Cambridge (Little Bell) Cay, 01/07/01

We came into Cambridge Cay from the Sound side, our first leg on this side of the Exumas. The water, instead of the azure blue and green of the banks, is a beautiful cobalt blue of the deep ocean. Still no fishing for Christopher since we have been in the Park since Shroud Cay.

Our first afternoon here I took Diana to snorkel at Dundas Rocks. This was our first experience snorkeling into a cave. Additional excitement was provided by the barracuda guarding the entrance. We just went out and around him and had no trouble. Diana was concerned about that predator so we didn't linger long to admire the stalagmites and stalactites.

While Diana and I did our thing Christopher went off with the crews from Frangipani (Canada), Different Drummer (Chalfont, PA), Allura (Canada), and Independence to dive for lobster and fish. Their dinghies are fast enough that they can get outside the park in no time at all. CCB came home with a lobster.

There was some rain in the AM and again in the PM, but this just seemed to clean an already pristine sky. Christopher went out fishing with the other guys again today and came home with two lobster and a grouper. To celebrate the success of the hunter - gatherers we had a potluck on board Independence (42' Grand Banks, Greenport, NY). From their bridge deck we saw the proverbial green flash. It isn't really a flash. As the last bit of sun drops over the horizon it turns a beautiful emerald green. The scientists in the audience can explain the refraction of the sun's rays that produces this phenomenon, but suffice it to say that it is a beautiful and rare event.

Our last day at Cambridge Cay we did household chores and explored the island. This is a beautiful anchorage; a must see for anyone coming south.