More Exumas

We left Highborne Cay early Tuesday morning and headed to Shroud Cay.  Shroud is inside the boundaries for the Exumas Land and Sea Park, a wonderful national park with a strict 'no fishing, no conching' rule.  With plenty of mangrove creeks to explore, Shroud offered something new each day.  We anchored off the West side and first explored 'The Well', a freshwater spring that has provided water for centuries.  Unfortunately its current state does not lend itself to offering anything close to potable, even though one of our guidebooks from ten years ago says that cruisers often stop there to get fresh water.  We then spent an entire day going from the Exuma Bank side through mangrove creeks over to the Exuma Sound side of Shroud Cay.  What an adventure!  Our destination was Camp Driftwood, remains of a 'camp' from the 60s where someone used to live.  He reportedly made tables, chairs, etc., from driftwood as the years passed.  The description in our guidebook says that you will think it is Robinson Crusoe's home.  Well, it has since turned into a pile of junk that folks have left over the years, with no remains of the driftwood furniture, but the view is fantastic.  Wow.  We picnicked up on the hill by the camp and had a great time.  With the exception of a few tourists from a nearby island stopping by for an hour or so, we had that entire side of the island to ourselves all day...

One night, we had a strange thing happen on Belisana:  all the lights stopped working.  While at anchor, we use flashlights and an oil lantern.  One flashlight would stop, so we'd reach in the drawer for another.  Same thing - with every single one of them.  Then the oil lantern went out.  There was of course an explanation - the flashlights just needed new batteries and the lantern more oil.  But we've changed batteries in the flashlights often - all at different times, though.  So for all of them to stop working at the same time and for the lantern to run out of oil too was quite eerie.  Brian speculated that maybe that's the reason for the name 'Shroud' - a shroud comes at night and puts out the lights.  We then had to stop talking about it because we were spooking ourselves.  There were other boats in the anchorage, but still...

Because the wind was going to shift and start blowing from the West, we needed to move on to another anchorage.  Our next stop was Warderick Wells, the headquarters for the Exumas Land and Sea Park.  We called early Thursday morning, May 4, to reserve a mooring ball for a few nights.  They had one for us and we were tied up before noon.  Just when we thought that the Exumas could not get any more magnificent, we found ourselves surrounded by an anchorage even more picturesque than at Shroud Cay.  At Warderick Wells, you are not allowed to anchor and have to reserve one of about 20 mooring balls.  This is partly to prevent overcrowding, but also to keep boats off the coral.   There are no amenities there other than ice and some t-shirts and books in the headquarters.  No restrooms, no snacks.  And no trash disposal:  "Pack it in, pack it out" is the rule.  And it has paid off - very pristine and unspoiled beaches, trails, etc.  One of the main attractions is a skeleton from a sperm whale that died from ingesting plastic.  It really drives home the point that littering really affects our oceans - and our entire planet - on many different levels.  

The small store at the marina provided a few provisions but not many, although they did have ice cream.  We were craving fresh fruit and vegetables and some milk (and internet access), so we took off in the dinghy one day to Staniel Cay just a couple of miles away.  The dinghy dock was teeming with nurse sharks and rays - what a beautiful sight.  We enjoyed lunch and some internet access at the Staniel Cay Marina - quite a bit cheaper than the fare at Sampson Cay - and then set off to find the grocery stores and some ice cream.  After a little searching, we finally found one of the grocery stores, Pink Pearl.  It looked more like a workshed from the outside and the shelves were mostly empty.  We were told to return in a couple of days after the supply boat made its weekly stop.  Not even any ice cream.  We then took the dinghy up a small creek to a second store which we were told has more to offer.  The Isles General Store definitely had more but not much.  They were also waiting on the weekly supply boat which was due Thursday night.  It was Wednesday so we made plans to return first thing Friday morning.

Between Sampson Cay and Staniel Cay are a few small cays, one of them being Big Major.  Big Major's claim to fame is Pig Beach where wild pigs live and will swim out to your dinghy for food.  They are actually not wild pigs - just the regular pink kind - that were put there by someone on the nearby islands who didn't want them anymore.  Boo told us that onions would get their attention, so we took an onion with us and set off to feed the pigs.  Only one pig came out to smell the onion, but she wasn't interested in eating it.  But we did get a kick out of a swimming pig...