Shroud Cay

 The weather abated as forecast on March 9th. We pulled the anchor and made a lazy 11.9 nm sail to Shroud Cay in light conditions. Shroud Cay is in the Exumas Land and Sea Park. That is a National Park that does not allow fishing of any kind. We had heard that the wildlife was abundant and we could not wait to go see. 

When we arrived Shroud Cay, we decided to pick up a mooring ball. There is a cost to anchor that is the same as a ball, so why not? I always sleep better at night on a mooring. The balls in the park are way overbuilt to handle large yachts. Kim had trouble lifting it up to the rail to attach. I went forward and got it done. It was a calm day and the water was beautiful. 

I went ashore to deposit money in the iron ranger, but there were no envelopes. I did not want to just stuff money in, so we went back to the boat and paid on-line. That turned out to be a mistake. Two days later I was contacted by my credit card company about a fraudulent charge. My card was deactivated. Luckily, we carry three cards, so I can wait until we get back in the US to get a new one sent to me. I have found out since that many people had the same problem and they have shut the website down. 

The crystal blue water on our sail to Shroud Cay. 

We found a beach that was stunning. If you look through the rocks you can see SHIFT on her mooring ball.

One of my favorite beaches.

We have to have a Kim on the beach shot.

The following day was also very calm. The thing to do at Shroud Cay, is to take the dinghy on a slow ride through the mangrove rivers. You have to wait for high tide because it is very shallow. We saw a number of turtles and a shark. We loved it!

The water was crystal clear and the current was light. 

One of my favorite days of the entire trip. Looking a bit scruffy, Captain!

The turtles were easy to spot

The limestone rocks added to the scenery

The river opened up into a large basin. It was pretty shallow out there.

A side canal

There is a turtle in this shot

OH look, there is anther one.

I just can't get over the water 

We found a beach and hung out for a while

Then it was back to the boat. I wanted to get some shots of SHIFT in the beautiful water. There were some birds flying overhead. The strange thing is we have seen very few birds while we have been in the Bahamas. These are White Tailed Tropic Birds.

SHIFT is very photogenic. She has taken very good care of us for almost 4 years. 

 

We had an amazing day at Shroud Cay, but the weather was going to change the following day. We had called in to Wardwick Wells to get on a mooring ball the next day, but that was not for sure. The wind would be coming in from the southwest and arriving at about 5 am. In my next entry, I will write about the following day. It was a bit crazy. I will end this with some final shots of our beautiful day at Shroud.

The water was so clear, you could see the mooring like there was no water.

Our beautiful sunset at Shroud Cay. Too bad that Super Yacht was in the way.