Sailing Exumas with Thijs
9th January 2011 - 6th February 2011
As long as we have had this boat, everybody has been telling us to go the the Exumas. It is a chain of about 300 little and medium sized islands, each within short cruising distances of each other. This meant that there was no more need for overnighters, but that we could suffice with relaxing morning cruises, followed by exploration and snorkling in the afternoons. After 5 days of repairs, upgrades and restocking every last nook of the boat with food in Nassau, we were definitely up for some relaxing cruising. And so was Thijs (Adriaan’s cousin), our additional crew member who joined us in Nassau for three weeks.
The temperatures were significantly better compared to the Abacos, and every day was suitable for swimming, snorkling, kitesurfing and other beach activities. We speared a few fish for dinner and found our first lobster. Thijs caught an alien fish from outer space (which we dared not eat), check out the shoe-sole-forehead on this zebra-coloured creature. It turned out to be a sharksucker, an animal that vacuums itself to the belly of a shark and then feeds on meat scraps. A day later we found out sharks were no joke, when there turned out to be about 20 of them going crazy over washed out fish guts in the Marina on Highbourne Cay.
One of the most amazing places we visited was Shroud Cay, actually an archipelago of countless little islands all connected by a maze of mangroves and shallow tidal rivers. The mangroves were teeming with life, all kinds of fish, lobster, turtles, stingray and even some little sharks. We felt like 16th century explorers, as there is no sign of man anywhere except in the anchorage itself. This means the island looks just like when Christopher Columbus and friends arrived some 500 and something years ago.
Shroud Cay is part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, a great initiative of the Bahamians to conserve some of the most beautiful islands and their surrounding reefs. The next island in that park gave us shelter for a strong cold front: the boat was safe on a mooring ball and we could go kitesurfing on the strong winds. It wasn’t easy to get to the beach through the jungle though, weighed down heavily with kites and boards!
Probably most impressive of all the Exumas was Staniel Cay. Not the island itself, but the underwater cave “Thunderball Grotto”. The name is derived from the James Bond movie, check out the underwater pics! It was full of hundreds of fish that were used to being fed, so they swam towards our hands every time. We practised swimming large distances underwater by trying out every entrance of the cavern.
The Exumas were a really enjoyable stretch, would have loved to stay there longer. It ended in the Bahamian sailing capital Georgetown, where we dropped Thijs off and picked up our next passenger Jos. He’s been with us through the Bahamian “Far out” islands all the way to the Turks and Caicos. We’ll write more about that isolated and exotic stretch soon!
As long as we have had this boat, everybody has been telling us to go the the Exumas. It is a chain of about 300 little and medium sized islands, each within short cruising distances of each other. This meant that there was no more need for overnighters, but that we could suffice with relaxing morning cruises, followed by exploration and snorkling in the afternoons. After 5 days of repairs, upgrades and restocking every last nook of the boat with food in Nassau, we were definitely up for some relaxing cruising. And so was Thijs (Adriaan’s cousin), our additional crew member who joined us in Nassau for three weeks.
The temperatures were significantly better compared to the Abacos, and every day was suitable for swimming, snorkling, kitesurfing and other beach activities. We speared a few fish for dinner and found our first lobster. Thijs caught an alien fish from outer space (which we dared not eat), check out the shoe-sole-forehead on this zebra-coloured creature. It turned out to be a sharksucker, an animal that vacuums itself to the belly of a shark and then feeds on meat scraps. A day later we found out sharks were no joke, when there turned out to be about 20 of them going crazy over washed out fish guts in the Marina on Highbourne Cay.
One of the most amazing places we visited was Shroud Cay, actually an archipelago of countless little islands all connected by a maze of mangroves and shallow tidal rivers. The mangroves were teeming with life, all kinds of fish, lobster, turtles, stingray and even some little sharks. We felt like 16th century explorers, as there is no sign of man anywhere except in the anchorage itself. This means the island looks just like when Christopher Columbus and friends arrived some 500 and something years ago.
Shroud Cay is part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, a great initiative of the Bahamians to conserve some of the most beautiful islands and their surrounding reefs. The next island in that park gave us shelter for a strong cold front: the boat was safe on a mooring ball and we could go kitesurfing on the strong winds. It wasn’t easy to get to the beach through the jungle though, weighed down heavily with kites and boards!
Probably most impressive of all the Exumas was Staniel Cay. Not the island itself, but the underwater cave “Thunderball Grotto”. The name is derived from the James Bond movie, check out the underwater pics! It was full of hundreds of fish that were used to being fed, so they swam towards our hands every time. We practised swimming large distances underwater by trying out every entrance of the cavern.
The Exumas were a really enjoyable stretch, would have loved to stay there longer. It ended in the Bahamian sailing capital Georgetown, where we dropped Thijs off and picked up our next passenger Jos. He’s been with us through the Bahamian “Far out” islands all the way to the Turks and Caicos. We’ll write more about that isolated and exotic stretch soon!