Exiting to the Exumas

It took us longer to leave Nassau than we anticipated. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because weather and boating problems tend to dictate our progress more than our own plans do. Fortunately, we did manage to leave, and the Exumas really have been a lot of fun to explore.

Last Wednesday we were planning to leave Nassau and started the morning by doing a fuel run and run to the store to pick up some birthday presents for Norah, who is turning 7 this week! Unfortunately, the fuel dock was very slow and by the time we got back to Seasura and calculated the time it would take us to get to our first Exuma destination, Allan’s Cay, Kevin felt it was too late to leave. We would be arriving at 4:30pm and there were a bunch of reefs and rocks to avoid at the anchorage and we didn’t want to risk doing this in the dark. So, we decided to put off our departure by one more day. Instead we did chores and schooling.

The following day we got up early, got rid of garbage and got more fuel and were ready to go much earlier than the day before. We were so excited to get going. Then, we started to weight the anchor and we hit a snag. Actually, we discovered that our chain was wrapped around a series of pipes on the ocean floor below us. We had seen a marker on the navigation app warning of these pipes but it was in a slightly different location. Our chain would not budge! One of the previous nights, half the boat was up at 4 o’clock in the morning because it sounded like our chain was rubbing on something so, we adjusted the chain and it seemed to release itself. In retrospect, it might have just tangled itself more or released just one part from the pipes. We should have moved or adjusted our position that morning. Oh well, live and learn. Thursday would not be our departure day afterall.

Once we realized our anchor was stuck, Kevin got on the phone and called a dive shop. They were able dive down on our anchor and untangle it but, at a large expense. Instead, we decided we would buy the last two items Kevin and Owen needed to go scuba diving so, they could untangle it themselves. We went to shore and picked up the scuba gear and headed back to the boat. Kevin and Owen haven’t had a chance to scuba dive yet and Owen had been itching to get to it. He was so excited! They got themselves ready and I took them out front of Seasura in the dinghy to roll off into the water over top of the chain. They dove down and found that our chain was actually hooked around one 6 inch diameter pipe and then woven around several others. It was a mess! Furthermore, it was very taught and they couldn’t move the chain until they moved the anchor a little to released tension. They managed to do this just the two of them, but wiggling the anchor along the bottom closer to the pipes. Once the tension was released and they had some play in the chain, they were able to unravel it from the pipes. They actually had to lift and move a pipe off our chain in the process. Fortunately, they were successful! We were so proud of them because it was a tricky job. While they were doing that, I was sitting in the dinghy on look out and the rest of the crew was on the bow of Seasura watching. We all saw a large manatee swim through the channel while we waited. As soon as they boys were back on Seasura we weighted anchor and got ourselves out of there (Kevin also updated the app on the exact location of the pipes). We were now much too late to leave for Allan’s Cay, but we moved ourselves back to the Junkanoo Beach anchorage near the entrance of the harbour to remain clear of the pipes and for an easy escape the next morning. Luckily we found anchorage quickly. I spent the afternoon cutting the girls hair (and Halyna cut mine) and getting some exercise on the boat.

We left Nassau first thing Friday morning traversing around the north side of New Providence towards the east. Once we were clear of the island and the shallows off the east coast, we put up our sails and headed for Allan’s Cay. We only managed to sail for about an hour or two before we headed directly into the wind and were beating into the waves. We did some tacking, however, it was slow moving and Kevin was anxious to get there, so we put away the sails and motored into the cay. We anchored around 3:30pm and were therefore able to do a little exploring. This cay was interesting because there is a beach full of iguanas! We went to the beach and visited the reptiles. We were even able to walk over to the other side of the island and walk around a little. It was interesting to see how much rougher the sand was on the ocean side of the island, compared to the reef side. It was a nice experience and enjoyable to stretch our legs.

The following day we travelled down to Shroud Cay. It was pretty shallow close to the island, so we anchored out further from shore with the other bigger boats. It was a short trip down from Allan’s Cay, so we had plenty of time to do some exploring. We took our dinghy along a mangrove river that runs from the west coast of the island to the open-ocean east side and ends in a beach. It is a really neat trip and the river twist and turns several times. We didn’t plan the timing of our trip down the river as well as we could have so, it was low tide going out and we had to walk our dinghy in some very shallow parts. However, we got through. There were lots of turtles in the river! They kept coming up to poke their heads above the water and then dive down quickly again scurrying away from our dinghy. At the beach end of the mangrove river, there was a nice swim spot. At high tide the ocean feeds into the river and there is a deeper round area right at the mouth of the river that sets up the currents to create a mini whirlpool. Apparently, if you time it right then you can float around in the whirlpool and get moved out to the ocean. Instead, we got to swim across it and jump off the steep sandy beach into the deep areas. It was a lot of fun. We managed to walk the dinghy less on our way out because the tide was higher and we made it back just in time before a small tropical shower hit us.

We got up early the next day and moved just north to a more protected anchorage at Normans Cay. The winds were changing and picking up that day and our anchorage at Shroud Cay was not at all protected now. Luckily, it was just an hours trip away and much quieter in the well-protected cay. Additionally, Normans Cay is the location of a sunken piston-powered passenger plane that you can snorkel around and explore. Apparently, Normans Cay used to be a base for a very successful cocaine smuggling operation and planes came and went from this small island all the time. Now, they have put an elusive marina on it. We had lunch on Seasura and headed over to the sunken plane for a snorkel. All of us got out and really enjoyed the experience. We were happy to see so many fish around the plane and after being there for over 40 years there is coral growing on it. The fake skeleton in the passanger area was particularly funny for Simon to see. We finished our day with dinner in the cockpit (we are happy to be eating outside again) and some star-gazing on the trampolines.

When we pulled into the anchorage we noticed a kid boat that we had met briefly in Charleston. Because the following day was pretty windy and cool (not conducive to beach time) we took the opportunity to meet up with the other family. We first visited them on their boat right after school, and then they came to our boat for dinner. It was a relaxing way to spend a weather day.

We moved on to Big Major Cay the next day. This island is known for it’s Pig Beach and Thunderball Grotto. Pig beach is where all the famous Bahamian swimming pigs are. We anchored by them, but having seen some pigs in the Abacos, we didn’t make a point of going to shore to see them. We thought we might the next day, but turns out it was pretty windy and we moved the boat the next day to the other side of the island because it offered more projection. We did however, see the pigs from our boat. They were pretty big too! Apparently they are pretty aggressive about asking for food, which made Norah nervous about going there anyway. Thunderball grotto is a cave that you can snokel into at low tide. It looks pretty neat from the outside, but we didn’t get into it because we missed the low tide window and the waves were bigger than we would like given that we had smaller kids with us.

Despite not visiting the supposed ‘highlights’ of this cay, it is a very nice anchorage, especiallly when we moved between Big and Little Major. There were lots of boats around and Kevin was happy that we got in early and got a comfortable anchorage early on. Staniel Cay is just south of this anchorage and a longer but appropriate dinghy ride away. It has a yacht club and fuel dock as well as two grocery stores. We visited the island after school. We got some fresh milk because the kids were already tired of the UHT Milk that we have stored in our bilges. Halyna thinks it tastes like eggs were added to it and has dubbed it ‘egg milk’. The other boats and locals were very friendly in the grocery store.

While we were at the fuel dock, we were told to wander over to the umbrella next to the main building of the yacht club. Turns out, this is where they prep fish they have just caught, and no doubt throw the unwanted parts of the fish back into the ocean, because there was a collection of sharks circling the water. It was neat to see them so close, but scary to think that they are in the waters that we want to play in. Even though they tend to be smaller sharks that traditionally people said will very rarely harm us, there have been more attacks in recent years. We have heard that this may be due to increased tourism including expeditions to see sharks which habituate sharks to getting food from humans. Later that evening Halyna even saw a shark under our boat. We will definitely take precautions where we can.

The Exumas have lots of sights to offer and I am not surprised to see lots of other boaters and cruisers in the area. It adds an interesting element to the place though, because even though things are very remote it stills seems so populated! We are going to finish our trip through the Exumas in the next few days when we take my mom to Georgetown for her trip home. It has been really fun having her along for the ride and she has done a great job adjusting to the boatlife. I think she has grown her sealegs pretty quickly, probably because she has been walking laps around the boat every morning as practice. We hope that tomorrow we can actually show her a little more sailing before she leaves because the winds are looking favorable.