After a communication ‘black hole’ (as an MDIslander I kept thinking of the Exumas Land & Sea Park’s lack of bars as the ‘Echo Lake stretch’ in that regard), we’re back in the land of cell towers on Staniel Cay.
It’s been a packed stretch of days (week?!) since Atlantis. We crossed the Yellow Bank on Tuesday morning, and landed off of Allan’s Cay, isle of iguanas, apparently. Our first run ashore was thwarted by the scaly buggers’ attempts at scoring some sweet salad ingredients off of us, and once they realized that we were sailors and that we were a) almost out of salad ingredients and b) too thrifty to share if we had had spares, they thumbed their noses at us and let us be. Even still, the idea of unpacking our beach chairs in relaxation was tainted, so we dinghied around to the oceanside beach and found a vast expanse of sand, and alas, only three iguanas, who were no doubt booted from the coven for not being aggressive enough with the tourists. A rogue Pringle fell an hour into our time there, and Señor Respectful had his turn, but I must say, Pringle + Bahamian iguana = ridiculous sight to behold. It turns out that evolution didn’t make their jaws big enough for that stacked slices of compressed hydrogenated vegetable oil (and to be clear, evolution still hasn’t had a part in making that junk edible for any creature!).
From Allan Cay we went to Shroud, our favorite stop last year, and again enjoyed the tangle of waterways through the mangroves en route to the ocean beach that we love so much. The mangroves had lemon sharks, green turtles and checkered puffers for us to spy while we wound around the sandy shoals. There is something so exciting about a dinghy adventure, which is funny since you’d think that being in an even smaller boat wouldn’t be something we’d be working toward, but with our view bucket and the sharp eyes of the kids, we always seem to scout the goods.
After Shroud we went to Warderick Wells, and our two nights planned turned into three after we woke up yesterday morning to a torrential downpour and high winds. It rained so much through the night that by morning we realized that the decks were clean enough to ‘drink off of’, and subsequently plugged the scuppers and opened the water fill. An hour later, we fill our tanks! We had further water collection with Lily and Andy ‘milking’ our bimini, and therefore had water to top up after doing the dishes later in the day.
It cleared up in the afternoon, and the Ruach crew took the kids out to the sand bank in the middle of the harbor and let them play. The day was pretty ideal in that it was Saturday, we had nowhere to be, books to read, plenty of crafts to craft, food to eat, and movies to watch. Check, check, check and check.
After a beach gathering last night, Lily and I were hanging over the rail with a flashlight, checking out the scene below us. We watched wee fish being chased by slightly less-wee fish above the turtle grass, and reveled in the reactions of it all in the stiff current of the anchorage. And THEN, into the beam of our light came a very large hammerhead shark, which made me gasp, and made Lily toss me the flashlight with a quick ‘No thanks’, as she ducked down below. It was nutty! I haven’t seen a hammerhead since I was in the Sea of Cortez almost twenty years ago, and it was so clear and beautiful and BIG. It was also a great learning experience for the kids as to why we don’t let them swim at night!
This morning we made our way, upwind (bummer), to Staniel, and made quick work of enjoying ourselves once the anchor was down in 6′ of white sand. We swam to the boat next ‘door’ to say hi, snorkeled through the Grotto, and went for a walk in ‘town’ to scout what the stores had on the shelves. Then it was on to the Yacht Club, where the kids pet the nurse sharks below the conch stand, the adults enjoyed the Super Bowl happy hour specials, and we all recognized the exhaustion of the day. Tomorrow’s goal is Farmer’s Cay- stay tuned!
