Finally, we’re about 1/4 mile from a cell tower with nothing to do. Evergreen is currently in the Abacos. The weather has been difficult the past few days. Had a salty sail yesterday and pulled into this anchorage at Crab Cay. We were anchored near another Crab Cay yesterday. Wind picked up. Much lightning and rain last night. Getting ahead of myself here and behind on the blog so, back to the Exumas and The Pirate’s Lair. 

March 5th- Black Point to Bell Island Exumas, Bahamas 

Time to start heading back. We are more than half way through our cruising permit. We have another wind event coming tomorrow and need to hide out from westerlies. This time we went to Bell Island. Other anchorages seemed to be filling up but we were only the 2nd vessel at Bell. 

Bell Island is privately owned so we stayed on Evergreen for our time here. 

Rocky Dundas.

Saw this launch around sunset.

Didn’t work out apparently. No one was on board.

By the day of the westerly blow we had 25 boats in the anchorage. If someone had asked me before, I’d have estimated that there was room for 10 (maybe). The last boat that came in was practically anchored on top of us. I was aggravated at first but realized the guy was nervous and had a family. He stopped over to ask if it was OK. I told him he was on top of our anchor gear but should stay there if he felt he was securely hooked. We’d work it out if a problem arose (none did).

March 7th- Bell Island to Hog Cay/ Pirate’s Lair Exumas, Bahamas 

We missed a lot of the Exumas but I wanted to do something different before heading back to Eleuthera. Hog Cay is an odd anchorage that most cruisers seem to bypass. It’s part of the Exumas Land and Sea park. There is no anchoring allowed but it has two moorings. It is accessible from the ocean side of the Exumas. We radioed the park office at Warderick Wells and got a mooring for a couple of days.

What a perfect spot! 360 degree protection. At least three beaches to choose from. Easy snorkeling spots.

It’s called Pirate’s Lair because pirates used to stop in here to hide and most importantly, there is a natural fresh water well. We hiked on Warderick Wells and saw the well. Apparently there are plants that grow on the island that aren’t native to the Bahamas. This would be from the sailors that camped on the island. 

Rough trails in the Pirate’s Lair.

This was a great last stop in the Exumas. We hope to go back someday and explore other anchorages in the park. On our second day we met the park warden who stopped over to the boat. His wife ran the vhf radio announcements at 9:00am each day. This included park rules and mooring assignments. Unique about her delivery, was that she almost sang the park rules. 

Some scenes from Hog Cay.

Basking on our own private beach.

We found this fruit. We didn’t have any internet so couldn’t look up what it was. We probably should have tried one anyway. There was a lot.

Lynne at the top of the hill.

View from the top.

We had these large fish swimming off the back of the boat. No fishing in the park. I think they just hang around for scraps of food.

Evergreen moored in The Pirate’s Lair- Hog Cay, Exumas.

February 23rd- Rock Sound, Eleuthera to Shroud Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 

Today we crossed over to the Exuma Cays. This was a first for us as we haven’t gone this far south in prior years. This was mostly a down wind sail. The day had winds heavier than predicted. We made good time getting over to the islands but I was starting to worry about the large following seas and how that was going to effect the cuts between the islands. After consulting the charts I decided to pass through Highborn Cut. I spent some time, the night before, figuring out tides and current for the area. It was time well spent. We caught the incoming tide and made it between the islands. The navigation was tricky.

We anchored off Shroud Cay for the night. Shroud is supposed to be a beautiful island but we didn’t make it to shore. Maybe next time. 

February 24th- Shroud Cay to Rat Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 

We were unable to stay at Shroud due to an approaching weather system. This is a problem in the Exumas and the main reason I didn’t come here last year. There are not many anchorages with wind protection from the west. To compound the problem, the whole chain is densely packed with boats. There are more boats in the Exumas than we’ve seen on the entire Bahamas trip. Everyone races to the anchorages with westerly protection when a front rolls through. The Exumas are beautiful but I find all of the boat traffic a little disturbing. In addition to that,  there are the super yachts, and the helicopters, and the yacht toys. It’s odd to be on some remote island and have all this stuff going on.

We worked our way down to Rat Cay. This was also a tricky (shallow) entrance. The chart says to only attempt entrance with good visibility. Well, we had a squall right about the time I got there. I had boats following me in so I decided to go for it. There were already boats in the Pipe Creek area and a few large catamarans anchored near Rat. Eventually we put Evergreen in a spot that I was happy with. We stayed through the storm. The protection was good. Evergreen swung around a lot due to the current but the anchor held and we didn’t hit any rocks.

The following day was calm and many of the boats left. We stayed. It’s a beautiful spot with lots of wildlife and nice beaches. Many of the cays are privately owned but there are a few that can be landed on. 

Sometimes these little islands (The Mice) seemed very close.

Happy to be in the Exumas with some nice weather.

February 27th- Rat Cay to Little Bay, Great Guana Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 

The settlement on Great Guana is Black Point. We anchored in a nearby bay to check the beach (excellent) and walk some of the island. We did some extra dinghy exploring around here but didn’t find any living coral. The landscape on the ocean side was dramatic. 

Evergreen anchored in Little Bay.

March 1st- Little Bay to Black Point, Guana Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 

We moved Evergreen over to the other Bay and Black Point settlement. We saw S/V Clara anchored in the Bay. We exchanged sea tales for while and they were off to their next anchorage. We needed a few things so decided to stay at Black Point for a few days. They have a very nice laundry and free water. Lynne also asked around and found a woman that bakes bread in her kitchen. She bought a loaf of bread right out of a bread pan on the bakers kitchen counter. That’s fresh. Everything is closed on Sunday so we wandered around to check out the cliffs and see the blow hole.

Evergreen is out there. Somewhere.

Black Point Settlement.

March 4th- Black Point, Guana Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 

We are going to have some Westerly component winds again on Thursday so the plan was to move out today (Tuesday). The wind started howling through the rigging around 2am. I’m pretty sure we were getting wind in excess of 30knots due to the little breaking waves in the harbor. No moving today for us! The harbor was rough so we stayed onboard all day. I’m glad we got all of our shore projects done yesterday, and we have fresh bread.