Just pull up and go
We ran into a sister boat last week, another Antares 44 by the name of True North. Before we had a chance to do the same, the owners Jason and Ashley dinghied over to us to say hello. We invited them onboard for a chat and then landed a dinner invitation at their boat. Great meal and fun to see the same boat in a different incarnation. It also got us fired up about switching to lithium batteries and getting more solar installed sooner rather than later, not to mention getting the darn water maker and the generator fixed. We now have a plan to stop in to Just Catamarans in Florida for a make-over on our way north for the summer.
Another inspiration from True North was backtracking 20 nm to visit Prime Cay. We’d already spent time in that general area but missed the cay since the entry is very shallow and the cay is not mentioned in our cruising guide. We weighed anchor early the next morning and headed south. How nice to be free to just pull up and go wherever our fancy is! We arrived at high tide and carefully nosed our way into the anchorage with only a foot or less under the keel at times. Once in there’d be no leaving until another high tide, that was clear.
We spent the weekend at Prime Cay and had it all to ourselves except for one other boat. Stunning surroundings including a large shallow lagoon of turquoise water. We kayaked around the lagoon and saw lots of sea turtles and stingrays. The sea turtles are shy and oh so fast when they zip around in the water. We also explored the island by foot and dinghied around it. Prime Cay was well worth the detour.
Then on Monday we sailed back up north. Good east wind made for a fast sail. We chose the ocean side of the Exumas to avoid the tricky navigation on the shallow bank side, but regretted it towards the end of the sail. We had manageable waves most of the day but the sea state turned confused and bumpy towards the end and made for an uncomfortable ride. The bank side would have been - literally - smooth sailing in the same nice wind.
Now we are anchored in Staniel Cay, another hub for sailors and cruisers in the Exumas. As has been the case with the other settlements (as the villages are called here) and towns we’ve visited so far in the Exumas, the services and infrastructure are rudimentary at best, the food is not good and there’s a lack of appeal for the most part. The Exumas are absolutely lovely, but you come here for the natural environment, not the man-made world.
Though there are exceptions of course; Staniel Cay has a rustic and charming yacht club and we had (finally) a tasty meal by the yesterday. We also filled up on diesel and water and will do a big grocery shop today. This is the last stop with such services for the next few weeks as we travel north towards Nassau to pick up Justus and Eva on March 14.
Later today we’ll move a few miles away from Staniel Cay - back to the all natural world! - and spend the weekend exploring the surrounding area. There is excellent snorkeling around, including the ThunderBall Grotto featured in the James Bond movie with the same name. And the water here is some of the clearest we’ve seen so far. I was almost startled when I jumped in yesterday to dive on the anchor and could see far across the sandy bottom. We are eager to get the chores done and go play!
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