The Exumas are a long chain of small islands and cays (what they call an even smaller island in the Bahamas, pronounced “Keys”).  Supposedly there are 365 cays, one for every day of the year, as the locals say. Many of them are uninhabited or private, with either private homes or resorts on them, but plenty are still accessible to anyone.  

The Exumas are quite undeveloped compared to the rest of the Bahamas.  Even the islands with settlements on them only have few roads and there are no big stores or much of any infrastructure on them. The lack of infrastructure somehow dictates our travel: where can we get groceries, water and fuel.  But of course the winner is always the weather!   People live a simple life, not dictated by consumerism.  A “mailboat” stops to some of the cays, either once a week, once every 2 weeks, or once month.  The mailboat delivers everything needed on the island: grocery, goods and supplies of all sorts, and of course, the mail.  Each island has to manage their own water, garbage and refuse.  In general a grocery store will be the size of a 7/11 in the US, maybe smaller, and is probably the only store in town.  Fresh foods are really hard to find, and when we find it, it is treat. On each cay, you can feel that resources are limited.

Considering how on some islands the number of residents is very low, you might not find somebody to fix your old stove, etc….Is it why a lot of households have old appliances and cars with missing parts on their land? I guess if you can’t buy the parts to fix something, you need a new one, then the old one can provide extra parts as needed.  In any way, how are you going to move the car that doesn’t start anymore, and if you move it, where are you going to move it?

On our last post, we left you with our arrival at Allen’s Cay. 

We spent a relaxing 2 nights there where we snorkeled, hung out with our friends Paul and Julie who we had met initially in Fort Lauderdale at Christmas.  Allen’s Cay has a large population of an endangered species of iguana, and on some very small cay, they can be everywhere.   Snorkeling was good there, on the Atlantic side of the islands, and the weather cooperated.

Lots of iguanas!

From there it was a short hop to Highbourne Cay where we anchored a couple of nights then spent 3 nights at the marina there.  The marina was a bit of a strange experience since we were the only sailboat and the smallest boat. The other boats were mainly big motor yachts and even megayachts with professional crew.  However, they did have a restaurant there and we had the best dinner we have had since New York, at least! It was a great treat. 

One of our neighbors at Highbourne Cay Marina.

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Relaxing sailing day

From Highbourne we sailed south down the Exumas to Warderick Wells Cay, which is the headquarters of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. This is the oldest marine preserve in the Caribbean region, established in 1958.  It is a gorgeous string of uninhabited cays and islands in the center of the Exumas where fishing isn’t allowed so the underwater life is thriving. We loved it there and spent over a week just hiking and exploring. We even volunteered to clear one of the trails on the island. The scenery at Warderick cant really be described.  It is very beautiful, and the seascape changes depending of the tide.  At low tides some beaches appear to disappear few hours later.  it creates a contrast of colors, between the soft light color of sand and the multiples hues of blue and turquoise of the water, depending of the depth. Words don’t do justice to the beauty of the place, and neither the pictures, but are sharing some of our favorites below.

The mooring field at Warderick Wells.  You are really off grid here with no cell phone reception, stores, or any other civilization except the Park office.  Most other islands in the park are completely uninhabited.

Getting ready to cut brush on one of the trails. We volunteered to do a day’s work for the Park.

 

The Atlantic side (Exuma sound)  is not as peaceful as the western Bank side  especially with an east wind.

In Warderick, you have to share the ocean with sharks, all kind of sharks.  This one, a nurse shark (which are generally harmless), adopted us and was doing some laps along our boat.  Because I (Lucie) likes to swim off our boat, I had to share the swimming  lane with the shark.  But I made sure that I would never be behind him, to not make him feel trapped.

 

Hiking on Warderick Wells

We could not snorkel much while at Warderick, due to the current, tides, weather and sharks, but we enjoyed beautiful hikes.

After spending almost a week at Warderick Wells, we left to continue our trip south, with the ultimate destination of Georgetown.  On our way we stopped at Staniel Cay, for supplies and weather a storm, then Black Point. Staniel Cay was quite touristy and busy but we really enjoyed Black Point, a more local town where the only visitors are generally cruisers.

Chatting in Black Point

At that time we didn’t completely realize how many storms and cold fronts we would go through during our trip.  It is a El Niño winter, and according to the meteorologists, it is a strong one with more frequent storms with more intensity than usual. And unfortunately he is right. 

Another front was coming so we stopped at the Emerald Bay Marina. It is a nice and friendly place, but the problem there is once you get in, sometimes you can’t get back out for a while until the winds and seas lighten up. The entrance channel can get quite dangerous in the wrong conditions.  The marina was near a nice resort which didn’t mind us using their beach, so we enjoyed that every day. We also got our bikes out and did a couple of longer rides up and down the coast of Great Exuma Island.

Finally we arrived at the famous Georgetown, Exumas on February 10, where we spent 2 weeks, had a lot of fun, rum, festival, music, dance, yoga, volleyball on the beach, and spent time with our friends from Origin and Phocea, all Canadians!  More to come on Georgetown in the next travel log.  We are trying to catch up on our posts…..

Cheers to all of you! xx