The Exuma chain of islands in the Bahamas are arguably the most popular part of the Bahamas, and certainly the most crowded. They are home to the pig beach, the Thunderbolt grotto and endless miles of sandy beaches and good snorkeling.
We were excited to get there and set out from an anchorage near Spanish Wells early on February 14th, after leaving our dock at high tide the previous afternoon. We had some good wind and enjoyed the sail and motor sail to our first anchorage in the Exumas at Highborne Cay. It was a 60 NM trip and we dropped anchor in the early evening in a very crowded anchorage.
Highborne Cay was interesting, and we stayed there for a few days swimming, walking and visiting our friends who were in the marina there. During our time at Highborne, we visited the Iguana island which is a tourist attraction where people go and feed the wild iguana population. As a result of overfeeding the population has exploded. As soon as we arrived at the beach we were surrounded by iguanas; a lot of iguanas. It was creepy, they were quite aggressive and had no real fear of people. In fact, the next day we heard that someone had been bit by one while trying to feed it.
From Highborne Cay we went to Norman Cay to see the famous Pablo Escabar plane crash which is now used as an artificial reef. It was amazing to snorkel through the wreckage, and it is in very shallow water so no need to dive down. There were so many fish there that it felt like snorkeling in a fish tank. There were fish of all colors and sizes. Some of them were so used to people that they would swim right up to you! Sadly I did not get any underwater pictures, but in the picture below you can see part of the airplane sticking out of the water at low tide.
From Norman Cay we took a great sail to Shroud Cay where there is a lazy river for dinghy drifting. After we got anchored we decided to head over to the river in our dinghy but we got stuck several times at the entrance. We found another way in and right away started seeing rays, sharks and turtles… then they became less and less after we got away from the entrance. However, it was calm and relaxing to float down, only occasionally having to row ourselves out of some obstacle. We found one really cool place along the way where the river met up with the sea on the other side of the island. It resulted in a narrow cut with a huge current running between two points of land. We hiked up a small hill to the top of the point and the view was amazing!
We only spent one night in Shroud Cay and then moved on to Wardwick Wells. We had great wind and a great sail there, although it was less than 20 miles away. We had reserved a mooring at the National park mooring field there. We called before entering the bay and received instructions to get to our mooring: “Come all the way through to the very last moorings, it will be tight but you shouldn’t run aground if you stay in the channel….” We couldn’t believe our eyes when we came through the passage to the bay. There were boats closely spaced in a large half circle and the channel ran right next to them.
We were a little nervous about how close we were and how strong the current was, yet we managed to get through just fine. It was gorgeous!! No picture could ever do Wardwick wells justice. It is basically a current cut that is almost out of water at low tide with a deeper trench in the center for mooring balls. The water is a spectacular blue, the bay is calm and rays and sharks play around your boat. Yes, sharks, bull sharks! While we were there we noticed small bull sharks hanging out under our dinghy, and when Douglas decided to swim, I stood on guard. Sure enough in about 30 seconds of him getting in the water, two of them shot out of nowhere towards him. After that I was a little nervous on my paddleboard, but I got over it since it was such a nice spot for paddling and the water was so shallow that big sharks couldn’t get in there!
While in Wardwick Wells we also did a bit of hiking. One day we went up a path where people put all manner of crazy signs with their boat names on a large pile of the same. The view from the top was spectacular! The next day we took a dinghy ride to another area called the pirates lair, which is basically a cutout under the rocks from one side of the island to the other in a narrow point. Douglas and Tony tried for some time to figure out a way through it without smashing in their heads on the ceiling. Eventually they gave up and we all hiked up and walked over the opening. We could look through the volcanic stone into the cave and we were sure glad that they hadn’t really tried to go through. It looked like a total death trap, but maybe when there is no current or waves it would be safe. We will never know.
To be Continued…
