CODA STILL HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (49)

 CODA : Living the life in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas.

28 February 2025 

Shroud Cay, Exumas Land and Sea Park,  Shroud Cay North Mooring field, Bahamas  

Another day another cay (pronounced key).

Marc-  This map shows how far we made it up the internal creek that winds across Shroud Cay before the water was too shallow for the dinghy.  It was still a blast.  We saw lots of fish, some sea turtles, and had a great time sometimes pulling the dinghy up the creek in shallow spots, rowing in others, and then mostly just setting the outboard for shallow draft.  At high tide you can wander all over the island through the several creeks crossing from the ocean side to the banks side of the island.  Both Mindy D. and Charlie L. highly recommended doing the Mangrove creeks at Shroud Cay.  Thanks.

The sign above our first landing beach.

Landing beach that leads to a trail going to a well.

The Shroud Cay well (reportedly safe to drink).

Sue lowered a bucket and brought up some water (she did not drink it).

The beautiful waters of Shroud Cay (creek entrance).

Sue saw Coda through a beach window while getting to the creek.

As we went up the creek the water became a bit shallow for navigation.

We decided to stop and walk around a bit.

When we came back the rising tide had worked its magic.

Sea turtle in the creek.

Sea turtle distorted by ripples.

I am always amazed by the mangroves since they live in salt water.  Salt water is toxic to most trees.

A Shroud Cay sunset.

Sue:  This Cay is part of the National Park.  We got the last mooring when we arrived at about 1:30pm.  Many more boats came in after us.  You pay the same fee whether you take a mooring or anchor.  Although I normally prefer to be in "civilization," this was a great stop.  Just beautiful.  It is nice to be on the move and seeing new things.  There were supposed to be trails, but they didn't go far, or hadn't been used enough to stay open.  The small lengths of trails we got through had big coral rocks and big holes.  This would not be a good place to get hurt.  Most of our exercise today was rowing and towing (pulling the dinghy).

Tomorrow we move out of the Exumas, and over to Eleuthera.

 

CODA STILL HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (48)

CODA : Living the life in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas.

27 February 2025 

Staniel Cay Harbor west anchorage, Staniel Cay, Bahamas   

Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Marc-  This is our second visit to Staniel Cay.  Our first visit was just a teaser since we only stopped for fuel and water.  I was impressed by the efficient system and dock staff that cater to everyone no matter what boat size.  We pulled in right after a 70 foot Oyster sloop was finished.  The facility is expensive but it works well (no free RO water here).  We came in today for a repeat performance of our first visit and we accomplished it plus gained local knowledge on access to the Thunderbolt Grotto.  It is critical to visit at slack tide and to anchor (all dinghy moorings are long gone) your dinghy with a significant anchor.  Our grapnel hook was not going to be a sufficient anchor.  As soon as we had Coda anchored nearby, I removed our big boat "back up" anchor (a 40 pound hi-tensile Danforth anchor) for the dinghy.  Sue and I gathered our snorkeling gear and off we went.  The anchor was an immediate success.  The Thunderball Grotto is an amazing cave used in several movies including the James Bond movie Thunderball (Sean Connery, 1965).  There were no fight scenes when we visited.  Our only excitement was when someone up on the top of the island decided to jump in through a natural skylight that had formed in the coral ceiling of the cave.  Luckily people below were warned about this guy and moved out of the way.

The west entrance to the grotto is near the center of this photo.  At low tide you can swim into the entry cave easily.  

Sue got this photo of a sea turtle after we came out of the cave.  Unfortunately I left our underwater camera on Coda.  The cave was phenomenal with natural skylights allowing light into the turquoise waters filled with tropical fish.  The grotto is about about 50 feet by 50 feet with a 20 foot ceiling and about 15 feet deep.  It's a cave so dimensions are not in square feet.  

Back on Coda anchored in this incredible water.

We anchored in 8 feet of water.

This catamaran was anchored nearby.  When I think our boat is beamy it does not compare to the 24 foot beam of this cat.  

They are a little boxy as well.

Entering the dinghy harbor at Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Now that's what I call a protected space .

Sue noticed a few underwater visitors by the big boat docks.

Just nurse sharks.

The marina has some nice cottages to rent if you need to get away from the boat or have guests coming in.

The marina grounds are well maintained.

We walked around town a bit.

The Isles General Store gives direction to come by land or water.

Isles General Store.

This looks promising.

We made it back to the boat in time to do The NY Times Crossword puzzle with Brian & Michael.

It would not be the Bahamas without one of these.

Sue:  I really liked this Cay.  The yacht club is very nice, with a gift shop and restaurant (not in our budget).  The little guest houses are very pretty and well made.  We saw quite a bit of building going on.  There was a new cement bridge, and a number of houses (cement block) going up.  The houses are solid and good looking, nearly all are pastels.  There was some landscaping around town - not quite as nice as at the yacht club, but nicer than we have seen other places.  In addition to the general store there is a "blue store" and a "pink store."  We went in the blue store and bought bananas.  We did not go in the Pink Pearl, as it is formally known.  We saw the airport on our walk, and little planes going out.  There were a lot more people here, a livelier place than Little Farmer's.

The Thunderball Grotto made our day.  I'm sorry we couldn't take you there, John Gilmartin.

The drain in the shower is not draining.  It was working great, but not any longer.  Apparently it is a very complex problem.  The valve we got at the general store today is not the right size.  There is no wind tonight and we are sweating.  That's the part I can't stand - the heat, the sweating, feeling sticky, the sheets bunching up because the bed is an odd size, and stuff that does not work.  It makes me want to go home.  

CODA STILL HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (47)

CODA : Living the life in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas.

26 February 2025 

Little Farmers Cay west anchorage, Little Farmers Cay, Bahamas  

Farmers Cut (the channel is right down the middle).

Marc-  It was a beautiful morning in George Town but unfortunately it was time for us to leave.  The wind was very light and the seas were calm as we exited the harbor via Conch Cay Cut.  We were not alone.  There was a line of sailboats headed north.  We raised sail as soon as the wind appeared however slight:  we went immediately from 6 knots to 7 knots.  We did the entire ocean part of the trip on autopilot.  Farmers Cut was easy to traverse with an incoming tide and an East wind.  Little Farmers Cay is a quiet place with friendly people.  Most of the boats are anchored near the Yacht Club (8 boats).  We saw a great sunset in our west anchorage along with 3 other boats.

The west anchorage dock needs some repair.

The Club dinghy dock ia in excellent shape in the main harbor.

The center of Little Farmers Cay.

Town pier with a few shops.

Turtles are very popular here and they are not on the menu.

Yacht Club services.

A good night to all.

Sue:  It was time to leave George Town.  Beyond time.  We were there for 2-1/2 weeks.  It just worked out that we were there that long, but it was too long.  We saw and did everything we wanted to do there, except for getting a lesson in making a conch shell horn.  That was today.

We had missed coming to Little Farmer's Cay on the way here.  We didn't miss anything.  We were the only tourists on the island between 4 and 5pm.  And as Marc noted, there are very few boats in the two harbors.  There was a little shop that sold conch shells and straw items.  There was a restaurant with no patrons.  There was a church.  50 people live here. If you like quiet places, Little Farmer's Cay is for you.  It's not for me.  I know that Black Point and George Town are the most populated settlements in The Bahamas, and there are not big populations there (even compared to Vermont!) so I should not be expecting to see much from here on in other than natural beauty.  I've seen a great deal of that already, so am feeling ready to go home.

CODA STILL HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (46)

CODA : Living the life in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas.

25 February 2025 

Sand Dollar Beach mooring field (#42), Elizabeth Harbour, Georgetown, Great Exuma Cay, Bahamas   

This could be in New England except the colors would be off.  Even when its stormy here it's colorful.

Marc-  We had to deal with repeated fronts coming through today with wind and rain and then an intermission.  We found that some of our hatches leaked when not super tightly dogged down.  Even then a few pots were needed for a few drops.  The problem is we would re-open the hatches during the intermissions.  

Sue did lots of reading today.  I did lots of boat maintenance stuff including an engine oil and filter change and some electric circuit repairs.  There is always something to be cleaned as well. 

This photo shows a front coming through after an intermission or break.

Then here comes the rain and wind again.

And then, at 18:00, it was all over and we were back to our tropical sunset.

 

CODA STILL HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (45)

CODA : Living the life in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas.

24 February 2025 

Sand Dollar Beach mooring field (#42), Elizabeth Harbour, Georgetown, Great Exuma Cay, Bahamas    

Our friend John heading back home to Vermont.

Marc- We brought Coda over to Kidd Cove off of Regatta Point and found a spot to anchor near White Seal (Mary Langworthy's boat).  The area was quite congested with boats seeking protection, due to a forecasted cold front coming soon.  We needed to drop John off so he could catch his flight.  We then began a fuel shuttle to fill our diesel tank from the Shell station.  This is the most reliable way to get fuel  and unfortunately their pump dock is on Lake Victoria and only accessible to dinghies and small runabouts.  Sue came over on the final run to get a few items at the Exuma Market.  We had hoped to get some free RO water but there was quite a line waiting.  Some of the boats come with 150 gallon rubber bladder tanks while others come with multiple jugs.

We returned to the less hectic side of the harbor at mooring # 42 for our continued stay.  

We do enjoy walking these sandy trails about the island.  Some trails are more rough coral than sand and are less desirable. 

End of the red trail on the ocean side of Stocking Island.

Note the ocean appears to have undermined the ancient coral formation here and the some big waves broke it off.

An observation about tracks in the sand:  dogs never step on other dogs tracks while humans tend to stomp all over each others footprints.

We came back through the Artist's trail and passed by my favorite bronze goose.

Back aboard Coda I took this calm photo looking south.

I took this photo looking to the west.  It appears to me that something is brewing weather wise.

Suspicious looking clouds from my meteorology class 20 years ago.  

The Weather Channel shows a Cold Front approaching from the northwest.  

There is a forecast of a low pressure system developing to the east of Florida that will affect The Bahamas.  We will just hunker down until it all passes. The white dot is Coda's location.