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.