Shroud Cay

From Norman's Cay, we made our way to Shroud Cay and the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. The anchorages were full of charter yachts and fellow cruisers. We anchored down past all the crowd, in the lee of the island to avoid the still heavy winds, and headed out to explore the island.

Anchorage at Shroud Cay

We tucked in to one of the island creeks that weave through the island like little rivers of beautiful blue water on our way to find adventure. 

After about 20 minutes of idling along, we passed another dinghy heading the other way. Good sign, we weren't lost. We continued on and soon saw an opening to the other side, with a beach and what appeared to be a full camp set up with several boats. Charters. I'll give them one thing, they do it up in style but they also take all the good spots and fill it up with their toys. Several kids on paddleboards, jet skis, families lounging under one of the many tents, crew running around attending to their every need. Lucky ducks! But for us mortals, we must fend for ourselves. Off to find another beach. We continued on along our little river of Caribbean blue, right turns, left turns and just when we think we might be lost, we find what appears to be access to the beach on the other side. We anchor our dinghy, walk over a hill of moon rocks [aged limestone, blackened by the sun and sharpened by the waters] to a beautiful long sandy beach and what do we see? Not a single yacht guest or another person in sight!

Tropicbird in nest

Tropicbird in nest

Making our way down the other side of the moon rock hill, we are caught by surprise [okay, I'll admit, scared silly] by an ear piercing screech. Looking down, we see a white-tailed Tropicbird guarding his nest in a small cavity in the hillside. Making sure not to scare this beauty from his nest, we take a moment to look around and realize there are quite a few of these holes and decide to keep our eye out. Good thing too, we almost stepped on one more on the way down. These unique birds are a beauty to see in the sky. Easily identified by its pair of long tail feathers that stream out behind it, extending to over 30 inches. The populations of Tropicbirds are declining rapidly. Just twenty years ago, there were 10,000 pairs nesting in the West Indies, today there are only 2,000 - 3,000 pair. Approximately 500 of these pairs nest in the Bahamas. A pair will lay a single egg and take turns incubating while the other hunts.

*not my photo* but I wanted you to see how beautiful they are in flight

Once off the rocks and onto the soft sandy beach, we had a pleasant walk and swim in the soft waves. We spent a couple hours there before heading back, extra careful this time to avoid the nesting beauties. Once back in the dinghy, we continued down the inland river in the same direction we were in before we stopped. We ended up coming out of the island on the same side but about a mile down from Miss Daisy. While on the way back, we spotted a sign on one of the small beaches. We had read about a fresh water well that had been used for over a hundred years and here was a sun-faded sign that read simply "To Well". We beached and followed the path, up the cliff, aided by steps that had been carved into the limestone. At the top was another sign that read "Trail to Well" shaped into a makeshift arrow. We followed a path that ended at a large natural hole. There were a couple of buckets with ropes attached, so Steve pulled one up and sampled the water. Delicious! We just so happened to have our large water container with us [always plan ahead] so we filled it up and our strong man-child, Jacob, carried it back to the dinghy.

Delicious, yummy water

Fresh Water Well that has been used over 100 years. The Caretaker in 1929, put a rock ring around the lip of the well to keep it from crumbling in.

Once back on the boat, we realized the wind had turned just enough to rough up the waters and our plan of anchoring out of the way didn't pan out as several boats were not too close for comfort. We decided we'd rough the waves and winds and head out in search of calmer water. Steve planned our route for Warderick Wells, only about an hour away, and off we went.

Next stop, Warderick Wells!