The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is a popular park, which means lots of visitors. Most common mode of transportation? Seems to be really big boats, for this is the land of the mega-yachts and charter boats. Shroud Cay was popular, with a dozen or so vessels less than 65′ on the mooring balls. Then you move out to the medium-sized (think 85-footers), and further out, the BIG boys…

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Here are a few from Shroud Cay:

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With a few windy days in the forecast, we decided to follow some great guidance from Barry and Robin on Crossroads and head all the way down to the other (southern) end of the park. On Wednesday the 29th, we took off in beautiful weather and motored through the boat traffic.

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As we were cruising along watching the others, one boat in particular caught our attention. Is that a fellow Selene in the distance?

Yes, it sure was a Selene. That’s Greg & Glenda on Paradigm Shift! We were just reaching for the VHF when Greg hailed us, having spotted SaltyMare on AIS.

We met Greg & Glenda in Georgetown last year and last saw them in Virginia in September when we met for lunch with Barry & Robin. Now, we were literally two ships passing in the night, starboard to starboard. (Okay, so it was broad daylight, but you get the idea). After exchanging greetings and a brief catch-up conversation via radio, we all carried on our separate courses. Hope to catch you in the summer, Greg & Glenda. Travel safely!

About that Bell

From the northern corner of the park, we moved all the way down to the southern end and snuggled into a little mooring field off Cambridge Cay (aka Little Bell Island). Little Bell is right next to Bell Island, and one of the ways to enter the area is through a very tight gap.

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As an interesting aside, Bell is another private island. It was purchased for 100mil in 2009 by the Agha Khan. Hence, it’s called an “island” not a “cay.” Apparently, if you buy it, you can call it what you want.

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Now back to that pinch point at the north end of Bell Island that we needed to navigate through:

There is definitely a difference between doing it and watching it be done. One’s perspective changes:

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We planned to spend a few days on Cambridge Cay and couldn’t wait to venture out. Look at those pretty beaches, sandbars, and rocky islands just begging to be explored!

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Photos from those adventures are coming, but to wrap up this post, we’re going with an amusing bit of randomness.

While we were cruising, Susie had some laundry drying on the rails. Upon arrival we discovered the wind played Ring Toss with one of the muumuu shoulder straps and won!

After a special birthday crescendo like that, we all had to take a break…

Nah… we’ve been playing hard, and the upcoming area doesn’t have cell service, so it’s been quiet on the posting side.

So, let’s catch you up on what we’ve being up to. Given the nice weather forecast, we decided to go to the park! First stop, Shroud Cay.

To the SaltyMare crew, Shroud Cay is notorious. Last year it was the scene of about an hour of “not fun” before we gave up and headed further south. Check the annals, it was the weather’s fault, not Shroud’s so, what the heck, let’s try Take Two!

With the weather cooperating we got to explore one of the many marvels of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

Without further ado, into the park we go!

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We had a pleasant, leisurely cruise through the mangroves (3 mph speed limit in the creeks) as the tide was coming in, so we had to be careful navigating the shallows. Terry is very adept at finding the “good” side! It was wide at times and narrow at others, but finally we got across the island to …

The Washing Machine Beach!

We’d heard and read about it; time to see for ourselves.

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Thinking they would once again channel those inner swimsuit models, the ladies took a seat…or tried to, at least.

The swirling current and waves surprisingly lift you right up off your, well, you know…

Susie and Lynn may not have been able to reach those inner swimsuit models, but their inner little girls giggled like crazy. Clearly, this was fun.

So next up, the gals coaxed the gents to give it a try.

During the change in cast members, Susie stayed put, claiming rolling around was easier than trying to get up and down in it. Haha.

Seeing how much fun she was having, Todd joined her in the “machine.”

Next up, Terry and Lynn gave it a go.

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When everyone got up to leave the agitation cycle, they looked rather like drunken sailors.

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On the trip back through the creek it was time to look for turtles, rays, little sharks, anything big enough to see in the clear water.

The day was beautiful with threatening clouds off in the distance.

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Turtles? Man, did we find ’em. Todd quit counting at 28; not sure if they were new ones or repeats! Ha!

We even captured some under water on video, which is fairly tricky from a dinghy!

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Back out through the creeks lined with mangroves, occasionally being rocked by tour boats NOT following the 3 knot speed limit!

We explored a couple of other creeks on the chart before getting tuckered out, then returned to the boats for the good ol’ ball bidding the day farewell.

No visit to Normans Cay is complete without 1) visiting the colorful Welcome sign; and 2) diving or snorkeling the wrecked drug plane. So begins our special day.

Todd and Terry headed in first. Then the ladies joined in the fun.

Luckily, this year we carefully selected a time of day that the current was manageable.

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Taking a brief pause here for a personalized shout out from Susie to “King Dave” & Peggy:

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Countless fish, and we took some good pictures so that we can compare in years to come. All in all, a dive to remember.

A good time was had by all, especially the fish, who seemed to sense this was no ordinary day and followed Terry around for “fish food,” i.e., oatmeal.

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All tuckered out, we headed back to the boat.

While Todd was in the shower and Susie was hanging up our rinsed gear, Terry hailed from Finish Grade.

Susie looked up, and….. WHAT?? No Way!

Yes, way. Terry leapt from the top of their boat!!

While Terry was floating triumphantly and Lynn was taking 911 off standby, Susie considered hollering across that she hadn’t gotten the shot just to see if he’d do it again. Haha.

After the excitement, we finished cleaning up and headed over to Finish Grade to join them and Barry & Robin from Crossroads for a lovely surf & turf dinner, complete with homemade carrot cake. (Thanks, Lynn!)

We were all so busy relaxing and enjoying the evening – bet you can guess what video we watched for entertainment (backwards, even) – that we didn’t take any more photos, but we took plenty of memories. And I’m sure Terry will never forget “diving” into another decade. Happy Birthday, Dude!

Having fun near Oyster Cay was good, but the ‘Mare likes to move, so off we go on the next voyage. Ah, well, actually, we just idled south about 7.5 nautical miles, taking 90 minutes to get there…. to good ol’ Normans Cay. It was a pleasant cruise, not in the least a “three-hour tour.” You might remember Norman’s history, named after a pirate, but made famous by the movie “Blow” about a massive cocaine smuggling operation. For those interested, check out this writeup.

Once we got settled and had lunch, we “dinghied up” and headed north to stretch our legs, i.e., find a beach to comb, as we are always on the hunt for “treasures.” Unfortunately, this section of Normans Cay didn’t offer much in the line of sea glass or shells. It was mostly rugged stone. But there was…

A Mystery

While the fellas waited patiently on a rock (solving the problems of the world, as it were), the ladies strolled the length of what rocky shoreline they could safely access. They returned with a handful of these unknown whatchamacallits:

When we returned to the boat, we reached out to our niece for help.

Us: “What are these? Do turtles have teeth??”

Shel (after stifling a giggle, I’m sure): “They look like pieces of chiton.”

AHA! Marine Biology degree to the rescue!

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As you can see, Normans Cay is shaped sort of like an upside-down fishhook. Tucked in at the top is Normans Pond, only accessible by a very narrow cut of deep water. All the tan stuff is water less than 2 feet deep at low tide…

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After crashing Robin’s online church service and making introductions, we chatted a few and then resumed our journey to Normans Pond, which, as the chart shows, requires a trip around the southern side, which is a bouncy, splash in your face ride! (Difficult to get photos when you’re holding on.)

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Once we got through the cut (sorry no photos) and into the pond, the water was much calmer.

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As we were gawking at the improbably anchored mega yacht, who showed up but Barry and Robin from Crossroads. They’d caught up!

And speaking of catching up, this was a fantastic opportunity for a group chat. So, we rafted together on the dinghies, enjoying the sunny morning, and jibber jabbing. Naturally, Susie wanted a group photo, but no matter how high she stretched out those long arms, from her vantage point in the center, all she captured was partial people. No way to get everyone.

It started getting a bit warm sitting there in the sun, and there was the tide to think about. We didn’t want to mistime the tide and end up stuck in Normans Pond, unless there was room for six extras on that mega yacht… So, we headed across the pond to check out the caves.

We see this every once in a while, the limestone craggy island has been split open by the sea and the caves are exposed.

After Susie threatened Todd with a paddle, we left the caves to check out a little beach that turned out to have the kind of sand where you sink to your ankles with each step. The most fun thing was the tiny mangroves trying to take hold.

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Mission accomplished: Normans Pond officially checked out. Now we had to face the sporty return. Somehow, it was much smoother on the ride back. Tides and currents. Tides and currents. Sometimes they’re in your favor.

Everyone cleaned up from the adventure on Normans Pond and got back together for sundowners. What a splendid day with friends! But just wait until the next day, when someone amongst us is going to have a VERY special day!

DISCLAIMER: Unlike Robin, who is very, very good at getting her posts out daily (Kudos, Robin!), the SaltyMare crew is most often several days behind. So, trust us when we say, some good stuff is coming…

Accurately predicting weather and sea state is a crapshoot. We picked Thursday to make the 40nm+ run across the Exuma Sound from Rock Sound to the top of Exuma. The wind was at our back all the way. We were headed west, and so was the wind. Sounds good, right? Well, we’ve mentioned “fetch” before, as basically the longer the distance of water upon which the wind blows, the greater the effect. So, you guessed it, having the wind at our back meant the closer we got to our destination, the “sportier” it became. The last 3/4 of a mile was a doozey! Something all parties do not want to experience again!

Naturally, once we got behind the island of Ship Channel Cay, all was calm.

As the sun set and revealed the moon rising, a large yacht crossed the horizon to join us, bringing the number in our little anchorage to four.

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By light of day, we could see our new neighbor more clearly. We’re back in the Exumas, where there are an awful lot of LARGE yachts, making us once again small fish in a larger pond. Ha!

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We’d planned to explore the north end of Ship Channel Cay, but there was a swell from the north that was a bit more than we wanted to deal with for a second night, so we chose to move on. We made a short cruise just south of Highbourne Cay, which is, for the most part, privately owned, thus no going ashore.

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From the top of the chart to the bottom is about 2.5nm, so not a real long trip but not a short jaunt. The small depth numbers are in meters at mean low tide. And you can see our last stop in Spirit Bay on Long Cay at the bottom before we returned to the boat through the real shallow water.

The first place we got off the dinghies was the sandbar off Tea Table Cay.

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Next, we ranged south looking for deserted beaches and spotted one over on Long Cay. Pretty sand it was, but also marked “Private” and even had a big dog that came up to yell at us. So, we moseyed a bit more east in Spirit Bay to find this craggy, iron-shore-y “beach” just to get ashore. And WOW, we came ashore in a conch nursery! Hundreds of small conch – they were everywhere! Many had been “caught” in small shallow pools as the tide went out. Todd and Terry must have tossed a hundred or more back into deeper water. Silly guys! We made our way through a little sand and across this narrow part of Long Cay to see the Exuma Sound, which crashed against the iron shore.

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Nearby beach combing options having been eliminated, we headed home. On the way, we crossed over a large area of coral just in front of the boats. The guys grabbed their gear and jumped in. Where we’d anchored was a bit of a throughfare for several tour boats that came roaring by twice a day, so the ladies stayed on the dinghies with the dive flag as targets, err lookouts.

Todd tried the video feature of his new camera to capture a pretty Queen Triggerfish and Butterfly fish.

Jacques and Aqua man (aka Todd and Terry) delivered gifts from the sea to their ladies fair.

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Once we got home, all parties rinsed the gear, showered and tucked in for an early night (leaving our shells OUTSIDE the boats). Ha!

As the sun rose, we discussed options over coffee time and decided to move on. Time to head to Normans Cay for a few days.

PS – About those “gifts” for the ladies? There are plenty of not-so-empty shells that got tossed overboard in the morning.