Monday, February 1, 2016

2016-01-31 - in Lee Stocking Island (Williams Bay anchorage)



It was a full day.  The anchorage looks like something Disney might produce.  There are twin beaches right in front of our boat, separated by a rock cliff outcropping.  There are small caves to our right and white sand and rock cliffs to our left.  All covered by thick vegetation.  It is just a short hike to the other side where you can climb to a high peak and marvel at the colours and crashing waves of the sound (ocean) side.  When we anchored we crept up as close to the beach in about 4 feet of water.  The rest of the boats were anchored much behind us as they couldn’t handle the depth with their draft.  In the morning we could walk around the boat and it was fun to rub the little bit of algae that had recently called our hull home.  As the tide came up I was losing my ground so I threw on my fins and checked out the coral heads just off our boat.  It’s amazing how much life is in just a few outcroppings.  Large groupers, ace fish, squirrel fish, jacks, margots, and eel (and that’s just the big stuff) laid claim to these small mounds. 
Connor spent his day with Eli from Water Lily.  They have been spear fishing, building at the beach, paddle boarding, etc.  It’s been fun to connect with the kids – he’s having a blast. 

With Connor busy, Kerry and I were looking forward to doing some hiking.  We mulled over how we might do this. Usually Kerry and Connor venture out first and then me and Connor.  We knew coming into this that our trip, this time, would be a lot different. With Dylan getting bigger he is a little less mobile than before.  We would have to do things a little differently, we had planned.  In the end, we decided that we would both go and take Dylan.  There are several trails on the island.  They are not well traveled or marked, so you just have to scout them out yourself.  We took the dingy a few beaches north of us and saw a green net and a conch on a stick on the beach.  This is a sure sign of a trail.  Not well marked, but definitely a trail…but to where?  We soon found out.  We rigged up a sling and strapped Dylan to me, at first.  It was great and Dylan was giggling the whole way as we trekked into the Bahamian Jungle.  The path with small but it went forever.   We traveled over a kilometer into the thick vegetation.  Kerry was trailblazing his way clearing branches for us.  We continued on but stopped about 1.5 km in and thought to turn around. We felt it wasn’t going towards to the ocean as we had hoped.  We took turns with Dylan, stopped for a quick drink and made it back to the conch on a stick.  It was hot when the jungle ‘spit us back out’.  We consumed some more water and travelled back to the boat.

After a short break, I was still feeling in the mood for a hike so I headed over to the beach closer to our boat.  It is a very short walk to the other side and the ocean is there.  Absolutely spectacular views from the high cliffs.  There is one cliff that forms a very narrow bay.  As I was carefully peering down I could see two large rays swimming in the clear but crashing water from the ocean.  Wow!  I got back and cleared Kerry for his own time at the beach.  He also came back with a Wow!  This is our new favourite spot, by far.  Calm and picturesque on the anchorage side and spectacular views and energy from the crashing waves on the ocean side.   Tomorrow we will venture out on a hike again.  We will see where this will lead.
Looking down from a 100ft cliff.  There is a large eagle ray bottom left (black spot)

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