A week flown by.

Long lapse without service of any kind, but no shortage of beautiful sights and fun-filled days, to be sure. It’s amazing how life keeps happening even in the void of internet service!

We had a great downwind sail from Nassau to Norman’s Cay last Tuesday morning, and despite the seas making it a rockin’, rollin’ day, we made great time and Andy had a blast at the helm. Norman itself was another rocky, rolly situation, due to the still-stiff winds (sustained 20-25 kts with gusts to 30) and a strong current pulling through the anchorage that was at times in combat with the wind direction. Having the wind on the beam and the subsequent chop while at anchor was interesting, to say the least. We did head ashore and the kids found and created their first beach house for the Family Game, which they had been excited to dive into once more.

We headed just south to Shroud Cay the following day, a quick hop. Shroud is gorgeous- on the east side (of all of these cays) there are low coral cliffs punctuated by bright white sandy beaches. An occasional palm or casuarina stands taller than the low mangroves, but even the trees are diminutive here, which for whatever reason makes it very inviting to me. Shroud is the northernmost island in a string that comprises the Exumas Land & Sea Park, and the knowledge that there aren’t any homes, and the possibility of less trash, is also a plus.

We dinghied to a beach in a cove of sorts, and ferried the kayaks and our new stand up paddle board with us, looking like a clown car strewn with trailing bit and pieces on the way. Naturally, the tide completely emptied the basin, and no kayakying or paddle boarding was to be done, but the adults set up chairs and read while the kids made a new house for the game. Voila! Instant happiness. “Cheese and crackers”, aka the phrased request for the families to merge in one cockpit or another at cocktail hour, occurred aboard Chickadee on Wednesday night, and we enjoyed a lovely sunset together while the kids worked on the film that they’re making. We were shown the trailer, and are in heightened anticipation of the release- lots of intrigue and catchy tag lines woven into some intense footage. These kids have a future.

Thursday after another successful school morning (I’m hesitant to mention the success, lest I jinx our string of good work), we loaded into the dinghies and headed north to the cut through the mangroves. As we learned last year winding through Manjack’s mangrove mazes, we could easily spend a lot of time puttering slowly through the twisty waters. Herons hiding in the exposed roots, tropical fish darting below, and the occasional sea turtle or lemon shark going by makes for perfect entertainment for the ride. This particular pathway spilled out into a truly breathtaking scene: the trough that sliced from one side of the cut to the other as we motored along gutted deeper into a brilliant deep blue just as it eddied into the bright turquoise shallows of the easterly (oceanside) beach expanse. We beached our boats and unloaded onto our day’s space. The kids found their newest building site, the adults again found their perches, and all was right in the world.

Along the way in we were surprised to see three healthy looking dogs bark at us while motoring through, but as our journey was long, they faded into the landscape and we thought nothing more of them. (Well, I did, but I’m a dog nut, missing my hound at home..) At one point our peace was shattered by the screams of all four kids, and just as we were trying to discern joyful shrieks from fearful, a stream of kids and dogs pealed around the corner, laughs and tail wags combined. And just like that, we were the ‘proud’ ‘owners’ of three dogs. The kids christened them Oak, Neptune, and, best of all Kathy, for some reason. They were healthy-enough looking, and clearly starved for attention, so we spent our time trying to figure out their provenance on the island, and what their future potentially looked like. (I would like it to be aboard the good ship Chickadee, but captain Andy is not as into that plan as you might think.) Our departure was interesting, as poor Neptune was all but jumping into our dinghies and chasing us, with a continuous ‘take me with you’ series of barks. A wee bit sad, and we’ve all woken up thinking about them. (Post script dog note: we learned from park headquarters that these little hounds are opportunists at their best. They live on nearby Pigeon Cay, and swim over to Shroud at low water to act adorable and take in as much extra love and food as possible. Whew. (If that’s true, which I’m choosing to believe that it is…))
Warderick Wells was our next stop, which is the official park headquarters for the Exumas Land & Sea park. The anchorage alone is incredible- a giant horseshoe-shaped trough of deep (11’) water with moorings spaced out along the ‘U’. The center is a giant island of sand at low water, which is wonderful in that it makes for a great babysitter. On the first afternoon we dropped the kids off to play, and came back to our boats (just 20m off our beams) to have a drink and prepare dinner. The following day everyone we saw asked if those were our kids on the bar- they laughed at our ingenuity, and thanked us for the entertainment. It was like Kid TV for all surrounding, since they were busy digging up sand dollars and using them as currency (sand dollars, get it?!) in the grocery store that they had fashioned out of a few drip castles and freshly dug troughs.

We have hiked the trails, tested the beaches, snorkeled at a few different spots (though briefly- the reefs here are small), the kids got our money’s worth on the paddle board, and enjoyed a boater’s cocktail hour on the beach closest to headquarters, put Chickadee’s board up in the pile of boaters’ paraphernalia atop Boo Boo Hill, and watched rays and nurse sharks weave in and around our boat and over the sand bar for hours on end. Warderick Wells gave us much to be thankful for indeed.

From Warderick we moved on to Cambridge Cay, where we had our most packed day to date: after school we jumped into the dinghies and snorkeled around and in two amazing grottos hidden within a small island. A quick dip under a rocky overhang and we were within an amazingly carved out theatre, open to the sky and showcasing stalagmites and stalactites all around. We stood in the soft surge and gaped in admiration of mother nature, and with pride that all four of the kids braved the mini duck into darkness to see the wonder on the inside. Another quick dinghy ride brought us to Compass Cay, where we wended our way up a shallow stream until it deepened into a pool with the look of little going for it. That is, until the sea surge blasted waves over a small lip and roiled the waters of the pool to a bubbly froth. We stood and were sprayed and waked again and again, like watching a predictable yet not-so-predictable tv show, all eight of us staring out and listening in anticipation of the next wave. From there we added more to the day by running home to dump snorkel gear and swapping it for beach things, since we were back on Cambridge to check out the oceanside beach for sea glass (and if I’m being honest, chapters 13-16 of my book). While there we scrambled up the side of Bell Rock, which was wee but quite steep, and afforded us an expansive view of the near islands, and our boats to boot.

Just in case we hadn’t had enough going on, the kids decided to take the kayaks for a spin when we got back to the boat, and Andy followed suit on the paddle board. Shortly afterward, Ruach had a reef shark circling their boat, and Dan jumped into their dinghy to go haul the kids home before they were made dinner by the waiting ‘guest’. Fun with wildlife!

At this point most our important needs are coming closer to true necessity- our lazerette is filling with trash, our sheets are uber-sandy and salty, the need for email and internet is reaching a peek for us on multiple levels, we’re about to switch to our smaller water tank, we’re running out of bread, and only have three sticks of butter left (for those of you who know me, you can imagine how this ramps my anxiety); it’s time to head to some sort of civilization soon. (Note: Made it to Staniel Cay, which checks some of those boxes, but not the wifi one- photos to come soon!)