January 7, 2013
On Saturday January 5th we departed the north mooring field at Warderick Wells and traveled out Warderick Cut into the Exuma Sound. To the west of the Exuma chain are the shallow waters of the Bahamas Bank. Water depths here range from mere feet to 30’+ and sandbanks, coral heads and rocky bars abound. The Bank is generally protected from the prevailing easterlies, but you must pick your courses carefully. The Explorer charts are, however, excellent and give information, waypoints, and suggested courses – they are indispensable resources for cruising the Exumas. On the east side of the islands lies the Exuma Sound which is basically ocean loosely bounded by some of the outer Bahamian islands. Here you can generally set straight courses between cuts (channels where you can cross from the Sound to the Bank), but you do not have any protection from the easterly winds and waves.
The Sound this day had moderate (15 knot) winds as we traveled SE to Cambridge Cay, but they were pretty much on our nose requiring another motor-sail. True sails are rare as you make your way east and southeast through the Bahamas because of the prevailing east to southeasterly winds.
We navigated the Bell Island Cut just north of Cambridge Cay without difficulty, but as we headed into the Cambridge Cay mooring field the sun was ahead of us making it difficult to ‘read the water’ (estimate its depth by the color). But the entry directions from our Pavlidis cruising guide were very complete and we slipped into the field without incident. Pavlidis guides give a tremendous amount of information, but we often find that is not that well organized which sometimes makes it difficult to find what you want. But he gives very complete directions on entering many cuts and anchorages and is another indispensable resource here.
Cambridge Cay has been our favorite place so far in the Exuma Park. It is well protected in almost all directions and has some great snorkeling nearby. We snorkeled the ‘Sea Aquarium’ at the northern tip of Obrien’s Cay. It is a relatively small rock surrounded by coral and tons of colorful fish. I am pretty sure they are fed regularly by visitors because they get right in your face. We did not get to some of the sites on the south end of Cambridge because of relatively high winds on that shore, but they are reported to be pretty spectacular. So far the snorkeling has been good, but not comparable to some of the sites in the Virgin Islands that we have visited before on bareboat charters.
On the Sound side of the Cay is Bell Rock, a distinctive bell-shaped rock. This high headland near this rock reminded us of the Virgin Islands which are formed by volcano activity and are higher and steeper than the typical Bahamian islands.
 |
| Bell Rock from the mooring field |
 |
| Bell Rock from beach |
 |
| Bell Rock from Bell Cut Headland |
On top of the headland, someone had built a stone memorial to their brother – very touching.
On Monday January 7th, we plan to again head out into Exuma Sound to travel to Black Point on Great Guana Cay. This is a real ‘non-touristy’ out island settlement that we are looking forward to visiting.
Tom
Cambridge Cay
Exuma, Bahamas
No comments:
Post a Comment