We be cruzin' now

It was so great to wake up at anchor off an almost deserted island Thursday morning. The weather had moderated from the day before although it remained humid and squally for the next few days. We lounged around in the morning and cleaned up the boat.

We set out for Allen's Cay, home of prehistoric iguanas who have inhabited the island forever. Each island's iguanas have different DNA which means they're pretty much unique to that island. When we anchored for lunch and took "Fun Fun", our dinghy, ashore there were about 40 iguanas who came out on the beach to greet us and look for a handout. They would come right up to you and then hang back when they didn't get a scrap of food from you (see pics). They're kind of scary and have been know to bite, so we were very careful.

The water colors, coral, beaches and small islands strung along this Exuma chain reminded us of the Abacos last spring, but these islands are less populated and there are many more small islands, most of which make great anchorages or snorkeling stops. We finally felt like we were actually cruising and relaxing into that lifestyle.

That night we anchored at Norman's Cay, home of an infamous drug running operation in the '60s and '70s. Now it's inhabited by two people and one runs a famous beach bar called McDuffs. We took "Fun Fun" out to a snorkeling spot and then went into McDuffs for drinks and dinner. We were the only guests and sat at the bar and heard many interesting stories from the owner who had grown up on the island before going to Canada for his education and settling in Nassau with his "well to do and privileged family" (read drugs?). His girlfriend lives in St. Louis and works two weeks on there, then flies to the island to spend two weeks with Stephan. Then back to St. Louis. We dinghied back to the boat in the moonlight and light breeze for a great night sleep.

The next morning we went to weigh the anchor and the windlass did not work. Reminded us of last spring in the Abacos where we (read Andy) had to manually haul the anchor and chain for several days. Fortunately we only had 17 miles to go, so we stopped the engine and I went to investigate, and once again get familiar with, the anchor locker. It's a triagular shaped compartment in the bow where the chain and rode from our two anchors is stored and wherein lives the infamous windlass (electric motor). I found 3 broken wire terminals and connectors so proceeded to spend the next hour fixing these. We have no idea what brushed against these wires to cause them to break, but the old terminals and connectors were very weak because they live in a constantly wet and salty environment up there. If you ever want to test anything for corrosion resistance, just put it in an anchor locker!

Fortunately the fixes worked and we proceeded on our merry way down to Shroud Cay, our first stop in the 44 mile-long chain of islands that constitute the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, part of the Bahamas National Trust which manages 25 national parks throughout the Bahamas, covering 700,000 acres of land and sea (www.thebahamasnationaltrust.org). The Exuma Cays park is about as pristine as a setting like this can get. The islands are very sparsely inhabited. There is absolutely nothing that can be put into or taken from the park, including no fishing. The ecology has been thus protected for over 40 years, so the reefs are beautiful and there are thousands of fish on every reef.

At Shroud Cay we dinghied through a mangrove flats to the other side of the island and climbed up to Camp Driftwood, a spot where sailors have left trash momentos found washed up on the beach. From the top of this hill you could see the whole island, and Mystique at anchor on the other side. There is also a fresh water well on the island where people have replentished their boat's water supply for almost a century. We didn't try it.

Saturday we sailed in light winds down the banks 17 miles to Warderick Wells cay, where the park headquarters is. On the way down we were just relaxing in the cockpit when I noticed something floating about a quarter mile away. It turned out to be a small skiff in very bad condition with an old outboard motor that had gotten away from a fishing boat about 40 miles south of us, and was just drifting north in the breeze. We called the park ranger on the VHF and asked if anyone was looking for a missing skiff. He said yes, and could we please take it in tow and bring it with us to the park HQ. So we zipped over, tied it to the stern rail of Mystique and towed it with us the rest of the way.

The ranger is a great guy from Louisana who has been here for seven years. He and his wife manage the park with assistance from a revolving group of members of the Bahamian Guard force which also keeps a boat here. The police protection is primarily for drug runner control and poaching fishermen. The park is now such a rich fishing ground that it's tough to keep the locals away. The rest of the Bahamas, as in the rest of the world, are so over-fished that the fishing industry has a rough time making fishing financially viable.

This morning (Sunday 11/16) we took a mooring ball instead of anchoring because a strong cold front as brought 20kt winds and is supposted to last until Thursday. We're in a well-protected cove safe from the N - NE winds blowing outside. This afternoon we've been relaxing, making a few Skype phone calls, updating software, downloading pictures to Flickr (see link at left) and reading. Oh, and catching up with our blog!

We are still amazed at the lack of other cruising boats. Apparently the cruising high-season doesn't start down here until after Christmas and New Years. So we've got these islands pretty much to ourselves. However, several nights there have been other boats with which to share a little rum and many tall tales of high seas adventure. We dinghy over to introduce ourselves or they to us and instant friendships are formed.

This next week has no agenda!!! We're going to go with the wind and tide and see some more islands before we meet up with Megan and Jeremy next Monday. Wish you were with us!!