We are back to being a double handed sail boat and set our sights north to parts of the Exuma Land and Sea Park we have yet to explore. The park has four main areas with mooring fields. All areas of the park must conform to their strict no catch/no take rules, but about half of the Cays are still privately owned. So far, we have only visited the section near the headquarters. Our first stop, on this trip, is Cambridge Cay. The entrance is tricky and shallow so we wait for a rising tide west of Bell Island, a private island owned by an Arabian sheik. On top of several of the hills are large villas, and the surrounding beaches have lovely tiki huts and meticulous landscaping. There is a large yacht basin under construction housing a mega-yacht, and we see helicopters and sea planes coming and going. It stretches the imagination….
Shortly we move on to an anchorage on the southwest tip of Little Hall Pond Cay. As we turn the corner we find a beautiful beach replete with four teak chaises and a matching beach umbrella. It dawns on us that we have just anchored off Johnny Depp’s private beach.
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| Not a bad hangout for a pirate |
It is late afternoon when someone from the Cay comes around to ask how long we plan to stay and if we wouldn’t consider moving to the Cambridge Cay mooring field. We chose this anchorage for its proximity to a snorkeling spot, and it is too late in the day to safely move so we agree we will depart the next morning. Later that evening, a sea plane arrives near us and as we leave the next morning, Johnny’s personal mega yacht moves into our spot – apparently we were occupying our favorite pirate’s favorite anchorage.
Cambridge Cay is a protected anchorage for just about any wind direction so we settle in for four days with only a few other boats.
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| Beautiful Cambridge anchorage |
There are beautiful beaches on both the east and west sides of the Cay,
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| Bell Rock off east side of Cambridge Cay |
and one morning we join another couple to volunteer to clean up the flotsam that has accumulated over the hurricane season along one of the eastern beaches. We make a good dent in the debris which includes all sorts of plastics – water bottles, fuel and oil containers, fishing nets, building materials, and the ever present flip flops. Where does it all come from? Perhaps cruise ships dumping trash hundreds of miles off shore or refuse barges from east coast cities in the US. It is truly sad to see such pristine islands defaced by trash. We also spend time snorkeling the nearby reefs. One site, the Sea Aquarium, is probably the most beautiful section of coral we have ever seen. The fish are especially varied and tame, and the Sergeant Majors are so friendly you find yourself swatting them away like mosquitoes. In the anchorage we see large Eagle Rays performing soaring jumps out of the water. By our last night there, we have six boats and where that many boat gather, there shall be a Happy Hour. In this case, we join together at low tide on a sand bar for drinks and munchies – a mixed group of Americans, Canadians, and one chap from New Zealand.
The next day we leave for Shroud Cay at the north end of the Park. We are joined by some friends we initially met in Melbourne, FL. It is a windless day, something unusual for the Exumas, and we motor in water 20 feet deep and so clear that you can see every ripple in the sand – it is mesmerizing. We anchor off the Cay and find the mooring field is full of boats cruising together – their common feature is that all the boats have children aboard. This is not unusual as cruising families are always looking for the “kid boats” for company. The anchorage is full of activity – paddle boards, dinghies pulling inner tubes, kayaks, and kids jumping off boats. We are not sure who is having the most fun, the kids or their equally enthusiastic parents, and again, it is a multi-national group consisting of Americans, Candians, and French. The next morning at a rising tide we are joined by our friends, and the two dinghies take off for a mangrove creek at the north end of the island.
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| Mangrove interior |
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| View over the mangrove creeks |
Winding through the narrow, shallow, and clear water, we first stop at an access point to an eastern shore beach. We walk through thick muck and then over a barrier sand dune to the water. Again, trash is everywhere, but if one can ignore that, it is postcard beautiful. We then head to an actual opening on to Exuma Sound and the location of Camp Driftwood. The cut has deposited bars of exquisitely soft sand.
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| Cut near Camp Driftwood |
A short hike up a nearby hill reveals Camp Driftwood. Back in the 1960’s a cruiser who was somewhat of a hermit built a “residence” here of driftwood and other flotsam found on the beach, anchoring his boat just inside the opening. In the 1980’s the US DEA used this spot to observe drug kingpin Carlos Lehder’s activities on nearby Normans Island. Now nothing remains but a spectacular view over the adjacent Cays and waters.
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| View from the top of Camp Driftwood |
Again we move on to Hawksbill Cay, finding the anchorage totally deserted.
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| One of the pocket beaches on the west side of Hawksbill Cay |
Some describe this Cay as being the most beautiful in the Bahamas.
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| Interior of Hawksbill Cay |
Five miles long, its shoreline features rocky points sheltering pristine powdery beaches on the western side and long, inaccessible crescent beaches on the east shore.
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| Eastern shore of Hawksbill Cay |
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| Surf pounds the eastern shore |
The winds have picked up so we take several wet dinghy rides to explore the beaches and inlets, and hike the interior to find ruins of a loyalist settlement and some views over the eastern shore. The loyalists hailed from the Carolinas and attempted to support themselves in this lonely outpost in the late 1700's. All that remains are a few winding walls and stone piles.
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| The Loyalist ruins in the interior of Hawksbill Cay |
Exploring the park has been an enjoyable experience. We have seen the Exumas as they existed prior to any development with plentiful fish, healthy coral, and beaches with no footprints other than one’s own. There is no infrastructure here to speak of – no internet or phone service, no restaurants or grocery stores, no water, fuel or garbage disposal available. It requires total self-sufficiency.
