Our first guests, Hubert and Carolyn, had flown out of Georgetown on April 28th, after which we had spent a couple of days at the Exuma Yacht Club re-provisioning and tidying Sonas up for our next guests. We headed out for our final run up Exuma Sound on April 30th and had a very relaxed cruise to Farmers Cay Cut, our third time through the cut this trip!
We went inside Little Farmers Cay and ray up to Little Bay, planning to stay there until it was time to go into Staniel Cay to pick up our daughter and her boyfriend in 3 days. As we approached the anchorage we saw the tell-tale sign of a surge running into the anchorage, the masts of a couple of sailboats were rolling slightly. We did lay down the anchor just to see how bad it might be to overnight and decided it would be very uncomfortable. So we upped anchor and headed around Black Point, around Staniel Cay and into Big Majors Spot. Another trawler was entering Little Bay as we left and we advised them of the surge. They turned and followed us up to Big Majors.
We basically chilled at Big Majors for the three days. Taking Bella walks and dinghy rides through the cut at Fowl Cay and between the Majors, relaxing dinners and drinks in the cockpit every night, and chatting to any and all other boaters who cared to stop by the beach or Sonas.
On May 3rd we headed around the corner and picked up a mooring ball at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. These balls cannot be reserved. You arrive and if there is one free, you pick it up and then radio into the yacht club office and tell them what number ball you are on and how many nights you are planning on staying.
May 4th. Our daughter Claire and boyfriend Jerome arrived on Makers Air at lunchtime. They had overnighted in Fort Lauderdale and were on the second flight of the day. Sian and Bella walked the short distance to the airport and walked back to the marina with them.
They were staying with us until May 11th. Since they had not been to Exuma before we had a lot to cram in during the week. We needed to do and see all the things one does with guests in central Exuma. We snorkeled the sunken plane to the west of us, we waited for slack current and they really enjoyed Thunderball Grotto, and we drank and ate dinner at the Yacht Club.
On May 5th we headed north. We wanted to start off at Shroud Cay and then work our way back through the Exuma Land and Sea Park south to Staniel. We anchored in the south anchorage at Shroud and immediately launched the dinghy heading to the Washing Machine. We slowly worked our way through the shallower southern “river” (which is really a creek through the mangroves) seeing lots of turtles in the very clear 2 feet of water. We spent a couple of hours playing like little children in the current of the Washing Machine before returning to Sonas via the northern “river.”
May 6th. We motored the very short way down to the anchorage at Hawksbill Cay. We pointed out to Claire that this is where her mother had the nasty accident and had to be medivac’d. See story on this by pressing here.
Claire and Jerome walked the island, paddle boarded and we all snorkeled the coral heads in the anchorage. We were on the lee side of the little easterly wind that there was so the anchorage was calm and peaceful.
Due to time constraints we could only stay at Hawksbill for one night as we wanted to make sure we could spend two nights and the best part of three days at the amazing Warderick Wells. We had used one of the benefits of our Bahamas National Trust membership to pre-book our ball at Warderick, so avoiding the mess that the 9:00am radio calls create.
May 7th. We got to Warderick just before lunch. We called Claire and Jerome onto the bow as we made the turn into the anchorage so that they could see it as it opened up. We feel it is one of the most beautiful sights in the Exuma chain. We were assigned the exact same ball as the last time we were there – the southern most ball just around the corner in the mooring field. As we approached our ball a gentleman from the boat ahead of us came by in his dinghy and handed my wife the pennant!
The great thing about this ball location is that the best snorkeling spot is right behind the boat, a short swim away! In fact as we were sitting at dusk a dinghy went past and we watched a couple snorkel the little reef with lights. As they went back we asked them about it and they told us that a different set of sea life tend to appear at night, including sharks, and that it can be a totally different experience than during the day.
While in Warderick there were walks to Boo Boo hill and across to the causeway, lots of snorkeling, and walking the fantastic sandbars that appear at low tide, talking boats and previous Bahamas experiences with the other boaters doing the same.
The first day at Warderick we watched a sailing catamaran come in and pick up a ball. Flying the Canadian flag it had mom, dad and three young children on board. They had a fine time running on the beach and swimming. Then just after dinner Paul was sitting out in the cockpit and watched as their dinghy broke loose and started out of the mooring field. Our dingy was ashore with the kids and we couldn’t raise them. Paul jumped on the radio, then blew our horn a few times but did not get a response from the cat. He finally raised the Park ranger on the VHF who first came into the mooring field, by which time the dinghy was half way to Emerald Rock! Paul got him on its trail and he corralled it and took it back to the family. They did make sure to thank us the next morning. The second dinghy rescue of this trip!
May 9th. Time was running out and we still wanted to take them to see another beautiful part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park, Cambridge Cay. This was another short run so there was a little more snorkeling at Warderick before heading to Cambridge. We always favor the south entrance to the anchorage and it is the shorter route from the west. It does take some focus and caution though as you first perform an S-like movement to cross a bar at the south entrance and then half way in you need to pass quite close to some rocks on the shore to avoid a shallow reef. We had done this in and out many times before so were comfortable with the route.
There are a number of moorings at Cambridge managed by the park. Some are reserved for large yachts so often you may get there and an appropriate size ball may not be available. However there is plenty of space to anchor. This time we were fortunate to grab a ball and pay via the park’s web site payment system.
As we enjoyed our stay at Cambridge we were visited by a large nurse shark and it’s companion barracuda, who took great interest in Sonas, and Bella a great interest in them.
May 10th. Before we left Cambridge we ran across to Rocky Dundass to have a look at the caves there. Due to it being mid tide and rising, plus the seas running in from the cut, we could not access the caves. Nor could we snorkel the Coral Garden near the cut due to the seas.
So we upped anchor and headed back to Staniel where we had dockage booked at the yacht club. This would allow our guests to get off easily for their 6:30am flight the next day. For some reason we could not connect to the marina power. We were told by the dock hand, and other boaters, that the power was good, but no matter what we tried we could not get connectivity. It could have been that we did not have the switches on the panel thrown correctly, but we did not have an issue beforehand (which was at Little Farmers) and when we next plugged in at Marsh Harbour it all came up fine.
We watched as some guys cleaned their fish off the dock and the nurse sharks came by the dozen. No one was that eager to get in and “swim” with them though! We had drinks and an excellent dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club in the evening.
May 11th. Although it was only a short walk to the airport from the marina, and they had minimal luggage, we booked a golf cart early the next morning to take our visitors to the airport. As soon as we saw them off we untied Sonas, headed out through the cut bound for Eleuthera and Spanish Wells.