We’ve been pushing hard lately, if we’re not out exploring then we’re sailing to the next destination (today it’s Shroud Cay) on our way back to the US. Some days we do both!

3.27 – Friday

When we got up the wind looked pretty good for sailing – it had switched to a more favorable direction ahead of schedule – so we relaxed with our coffee, then pulled up the anchor to make a big move to the northern edge of the Exuma Land and Sea Park.

We had a beautiful, textbook perfect sail up to Shroud Cay. It would have taken about five hours motoring, but we were sailing in light winds so it was more like seven. That makes for a long day, even though sailing sounds relaxing it’s usually very tiring, especially if the helm is in the sun.

After we dropped anchor, we had an early dinner so that we could set off on a sundowner cruise of Sanctuary Canal, which bisects Shroud Cay. Kyle packed a cooler of beers and I packed up the camera gear and we headed off into the mangroves. We were going against the tide, so we opted to motor all the way through to start out.

We saw one turtle that has been tagged. It’s not easy to see in this shot, but there’s a little metal clip on the front flipper, almost underneath the shell. [Edit: I posted this on Instagram and a volunteer host at the Exuma Park let me know about the Bahamas Sea Turtle Network, so I’m in contact with them to see if we can ID this turtle and find out more about it!]

We arrived at the far beach and it was not what we were expecting! It was a beautiful, sugar sand beach with clear blue water. This made me realize what’s different about Shroud Cay: normally the Sound side of the island is rocky marl, this is one of the few beaches we’ve seen on the weather side of the islands!

I wanted to climb the trail up to Camp Driftwood, but we were losing daylight and tide, so instead we decided to crack our beers and drift back. By the time we started our return trip it was a little too dark for the underwater camera.

We saw numerous turtles, then later we approached a stick that we’d passed on our way in, but Kyle was sure it was a shark. We paddled towards it and sure enough: shark!

We enjoyed a peaceful drift until the sun set, then Kyle fired up the motor to assist a quick trip back to the boat.

We made it to the mouth of the canal just as the sun dipped below the horizon. What a beautiful way to spend the evening!

3.28 – Saturday

High tide came around 10am, Kyle blew up the paddleboards early so we could paddle a different canal.

We dropped the dinghy in the water and towed the paddle board over to another mangrove canal for non-motorized vehicles. There was a stiff breeze to paddle against, but with both of us paddling one board we made headway. We paddled up the canal for quite a while but there was hardly any sealife. The trip back was much easier with the wind pushing us. We can’t help but compare the canals here to Manjack Cay in Abaco, this canal is prettier but in Manjack there was more sealife, and it was easier to see in the glassy shallow water.

Back to the boat for a quick swap of paddleboard for camera gear, and then we dinghied back down the Sanctuary canal again so we could hike up to Camp Driftwood. I know that sounds like a fun thing to explore, but it is really just the top of a hill, there is nothing there but a sign.

The views, however, are incredible. Teal water and pale sandy beaches accented by palm trees and whitecaps. Absolutely gorgeous.

The mangrove canal empties into the Exuma Sound, marked on our charts by a location called “the rapids.” I can see how this roily water might get some standing waves with a stiff wind!

We dinghy explored more tributary canals on the way home, I got some great shots of turtles and we may have seen a shark. It disappeared before we could get anywhere near it, which is definitely a shark characteristic (went through the photos, yup it’s a shark!).

I know this is a terrible shark pic, it’s just enough to prove it’s a shark but that’s about it. It’s the second time I’ve mentioned a shark so I feel like I have to show you. These mangrove sharks are really hard to photograph because they won’t let us come anywhere near them, and they are fast!

The sunlight shining through the water really shows all the colors of this turtle’s shell!

Kyle kept calling the turtles “soup sized” and when questioned he claims “They even come with their own bowl. If they don’t want to be turned into soup, why would they wear a bowl on their backs?” (No turtles were harmed during our explorations.)

Just as we arrived at the exit of the canal, Kyle spotted a ray! It was a southern stingray, but now we can officially say we saw turtles, sharks and rays here.

There are several coral heads around our anchorage, so we dinghied over to a couple and took some photos from the dinghy. Kyle calls this computer snorkeling, because I have no idea what’s down there until I load the photos onto my computer and take a look!

There was a bit of interesting coral but most of it looked overgrown with weeds. My kneejerk reaction to that is either an invasive species killing the coral, or unhealthy coral that can’t fight off the growth.

There were a few fish, a lot of French grunts, and even a juvenile French angelfish! These coral heads are known as Angelfish Hideaways so I expected more angelfish but hey, maybe you have to get in the water for that!

After that I was dead tired. Dead. So much paddling, and the sandy beach was deep sand – Kyle put it best: we were basically doing walking lunges all the way across. So I prepared to curl up for the rest of the afternoon, but the growth on the hull has been bothering Kyle so he put on his wetsuit and hopped in the water.

After about 30 seconds he came right back out and said “if you get me the SJcam, I’ll show you why I can’t scrape the hull today!” That piqued my curiosity so I grabbed the camera and hopped outside.

“There’s a 5 ft barracuda hanging around the boat!”

It probably wasn’t 5 ft, but it was definitely big. I grabbed the scraper and scraped some of the fuzzies off the hull to see what it would do. Kyle called out, it was headed my way! Okay, so no scraping the hull today! That will probably have to wait until Florida.

Speaking of which, we looked at the weather and we just can’t decide the optimal route or travel days. I’m already exhausted, so the thought of pushing hard and doing a couple overnights sounds daunting, but if the weather was right for it that would probably be the right move. Unfortunately, the weather is not particularly steady or strong enough. In the end we’ve decided to move north and anchor on the dark side of Nassau, then check the weather again once we get there.

Oh, and we’ve been totally alone in the anchorage, which has been amazing, and then this evening two boats came in and anchored almost right on top of us. It’s a huge anchorage. Seriously, so close. There’s a good reason these antics made it onto Murphy’s Laws of Sailing!

I watched a ray flit along the bottom around us. We’ve been pulling some big days lately, and there’s no end in sight.