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) |
