Allen’s Cay to Shroud Cay – 16 nautical miles sailed, 2 miles in dinghy
The strong north-east wind was still blowing so we pulled anchor at 8am and set sail for Shroud Cay, just 16 miles to the south. Once out of the harbour and into open water we deployed the headsail and shut off the engine. Our moments of motorless sailing on this trip have been few and far between so we relished the 6 knots of quiet progress we made down the Exuma banks. There were many boats on the water today and at least two catamarans passed us, one with a magnificent, brilliant red spinnaker.
We reached Shroud Cay and zero’d in on one of the many available mooring balls in the expansive anchorage, fairly well protected from the wind, but still rolly as hell. Despite the mooring balls having a solid, easy to grab pendant, we had a tough time and were not able to snag it until the 7th or 8th attempt, and even then the ball went under the boat and got caught up in the keel, so it took a while to untangle that.
After a round of tuna fish sandwiches and a short accidental nap, I took the dinghy out for a reconnaissance mission while the ladies chilled on the boat. The main activity here is to take your dinghy up any of the several streams into the mangroves, then hike to a viewpoint or proceed to the beach on the other side of the cay. Unfortunately, this has to be done at high tide, which was around 9am, so the creeks now were mostly dry and impassable. The scenery through was gorgeous as the lack of water revealed expansive, perfectly white beaches and the fingered roots of the mangrove trees left high and dry.
Since the water was too rough to snorkel, we spent the afternoon on a boat job instead. The grounding in Bimini had shifted the floating floor of one set of our cabinets, opening up a crack in the seal between sections. For some odd reason the builders had decided to use this concrete sealant which was the colour of Kermit the Frog’s backside - a pale, nasty green. With the help of a sharp chisel and hammer, we chipped out all the old sealant, sanded the remaining green off the edges, pulled the floor back together, then deployed a thick stream of standard white caulking to refill the gap and glue it all back into place. It came out surprisingly well, although the gaps were large so I expect it’s going to shrink overnight as it dries and we’ll then put on a final coat to finish it off.
Shroud Cay is the beginning of the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, an area that is completely undeveloped and a marine sanctuary where nothing can be taken from the ocean, providing for incredible snorkelling, diving, and wildlife spotting opportunities. The cell phone signal here was very weak and intermittent, so we assumed there’s little in the way of towers in the park. Because of this, we did not realize that our buddy boat Waddington had arrived earlier in the day, as had our new friend Nico in Convergence (Malakei and Mary in White Seal had also sailed but continued onto Staniel Cay). By the time we made contact with our friends, it was a little too late in the day, so we hope to catch up tomorrow.
After a great meal of shrimp, rice, green beans, and the remaining two coconut buns from our Nassau shopping expedition, everybody retired to their spaces to ride out the dark evening. The girls set up shop in the cabin to watch a movie, Ana streamed a series from her phone, and I read a book until I fell asleep, which did not take long.
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