We spent the last day of March exploring Shroud Cay. The island is actually very big but it is a few outcroppings of rock with lots of tidal wetlands that are covered with mangroves. In the morning we dinghied up to a creek that went back into the mangrove but since it was nearing low tide we couldn’t get back far. So after some walking about we headed back to the boat.

In the afternoon we went to a creek near the south end of the island where we found a very nice secluded beach and enjoyed the sun, sand and water. After enjoying the beach for a while we were able to dinghy up the creek as the tide was coming in and flooding the low spots.  

Shroud Cay is part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park that is an effort to preserve some piece of the original Bahamian landscape. Wednesday we moved further down the chain to another island piece of the Park, Warderick Wells which is the primary island in the Park. Tuesday afternoon we called to reserve a mooring and got on the list.

Tuesday the weather finally cleared off in the afternoon and it was perfectly clear without a cloud in the sky. As the sun drew to the horizon we could watch it sink into the ocean on its way to coming back up Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning we listened to the Park broadcast and learned that we were lucky enough to get a mooring so we worked up the anchor and left. It was a beautiful day for a sail with between 8-10 kts of wind just ahead of the beam so we sailed about 6 kts until we had to turn into Warderick Wells which was right into the wind.

Since getting fuel in Nassau when we arrived there we’ve run the engine 7 hrs which should have burned not more than 11 gals of fuel. So we should have no problem. If we return to the Beaufort, NC from the Abacos we will probably want to top off before we leave.

We motored into the narrow channel and got our mooring. We arrived at just about low tide with a strong following current. The channel is just wide enough for boats of our length to swing 360’ so coming in we stayed close to the boats already on moorings and went past our mooring and turned where there was an empty mooring and came back up into the current and got our mooring ball. Being low tide the channel was easily discernible because much of the shallows were dry or nearly dry. At high tide the channel is less well defined.

After checking in we went for a hike across the island to Boo Boo Hill. The highest spot on the island and so named because supposedly at full moon you can hear ghosts from a ship that wrecked offshore back in the early 19^th century.

Most of the islands we’ve seen so far have been low rock outcroppings covered with mangrove and scrub palm. Lots of old conch shells. On the beaches there are crab holes and a couple different types of lizards. We haven’t been to the Iguana islands yet but we got very close and personal with one little lizard.

We plan to spend a few days here in the Park before heading on. Probably Sunday or Monday we’ll be on Staniel Cay and be able to get full internet and upload pictures.