I’m having a pretty nice time. Today I’m sitting here at a picnic table in shade, at the beach. I’ve now reached a place called Long Island. The palm trees are blowing in the warm wind, the water is shallow and many different shades of turquoise and green. It’s always completely clear in this beautiful and unspoiled place.
The story left off when I arrived in Nassau, limping in after a chunk broke off my motor, being towed by a fishing boat.
It took me about 10 days or so to get the problem sorted out, and in the end I bought a new motor. Fortunately, it was no more expensive there then buying a new one in the states. I got incredibly lucky actually, because the motor decided to quit not in the middle of the passage, but when I was less than a mile away from my Nassau anchorage. That is the capital city of the Bahamas, and probably the only place where buying a new motor would have been possible in the entire country.
The first day ashore I met a guy named Ross, who was having problems with his dingy motor. It happened to be the same size, 8 horsepower, as I had on my sailboat. I saw him there struggling on the beach trying to get it started… I had plans for my day but saw this as a calling to go and help this guy! Because obviously we were BOTH having motor trouble.
We changed out the spark plugs, still couldn’t get it to start. I eventually used my dingy to run out to his boat, making a couple trips and shuttling his family to shore. From there on we were friends, the family kind of adopted me! They were the nicest people, and I drove all around the island with them in their rental car.
Let this be a lesson to always help out whenever you have the opportunity. Ross did all the research for me because he decided to buy a new motor as well. We bought twin motors! He found the best deal, and got me back and forth to the marine store with his rental car. The reason it took me nearly two weeks in Nassau is because they ordered a part for the motor to allow it to charge my batteries as it’s running.
The time I spent there I biked the entire island over and over, there was a lot to explore! The place was paradise, the city was hectic and the traffic nearly killed me. There were beautiful sea cliffs and crystal clear water, as well as secrets spots I found on the beach, and long dirt roads through the wild forest. Overall, there’s definitely worse places to be stuck for a while.
Ross and the fam stayed around for that entire time as well, and even postponed leaving for an extra day to help me install the motor onto the back of Simplicity. I had many different breakfasts and dinners with them, and couldn’t be more thankful to have met them. We both left early on the same morning, they were going north to the Berry Islands, and I was headed as always, south.
The Exuma Cays….
The trip began with leaving Nassau. It was a good long 60 miles across the banks to Shroud Key, an uninhabited island within the Exuma Cays Land and Sea National Park.
I left at 5AM, expecting the sun to rise at 6. However, I forgot about the time change! The sun wouldn’t rise until 7 now. (Which made no sense to me!) So I left my little bay in the dark, to greet the huge, mysterious waves of the ocean. I had to “break in” the motor today, this was my first time using it. That added some stress, constantly changing the idle speed and hearing it make awful sputtering noises. The morning was a little scary, and I was happy when the sun finally decided to rise.
Then I made my way out onto the shallow area of turquoise water that stretches between Nassau and the Exuma Cays. The wind decided not to blow. At… all… At some point I put the sails up and turned off the motor to try and sail. I was going nowhere!
It was very calm, the water became like a smooth, giant emerald beneath me. It was hypnotic to look at. I couldn’t go anywhere under sail though, I was moving along at 1 knot (1.5 mph) or less… I took advantage and pooped off the boat while sailing!! An accomplishment.
Good thing I have this brand new motor! It actually needed 10 hours to break it in fully, and it happened that the trip across took me 10 hours. I ran the motor the whole time, which honestly sucks, sailing is so much better. Something about the loud noise of the motor and ripping aggressively through the water (still only going 5 or 6 knots) grates on your nerves. It also was going through a ton of gas, that gets worrisome too. But with still a few hours before sunset I pulled into Shroud Key.
What I saw there was awesome. It was rocky. The Exumas are an underwater mountain range of limestone, just barely poking up above the surface. They make a 120 mile long ridge of various islands, leading south. Leading… to the Caribbean. This route of travel I am on is called, “The Thorny Path.”
Here it is! I thought. Seeing the Exuma Islands, it looked like the Thorny Path. Like I had discovered a secret trail through the mountains to take me to the Caribbean, looking south through those ragged islands. I’m no longer in the flat land of Florida. They are not mud and mangrove, but rock and sand, covered with pines, palmettos and scrubby bush, but also studded with cactus. The water where it met the sand bars and shallow places was electric turquoise, a brighter shade of blue than you could ever experience elsewhere.
I was thrilled! So happy to be anchoring in a pristine cove in Shroud Key, a place I’ve been curious about for a while. There were other boats there, but with Simplicity I can tuck up real close to land in the shallows. This way I’m more protected from the elements, closer to shore if I want to swim or dingy there, and I get privacy because the bigger boats can’t go so shallow as me.
Then I don’t feel like I’m offending the neighbors by being naked all the time. The night here was warm and the sunset was excellent.
3/16- Cistern Key
So, I’m not supposed to rush through this area because it is the best part of the entire trip possibly! I decided instead of island hopping around, I’d take my extra time just relaxing and thoroughly exploring Shroud Key… Unfortunately I don’t have a lifetime to spend here, as that’s what it would take to really see the whole place! And I’m still on my mission south, to get “home.”
I woke up at sunrise, and as the water started lighting up it’s fierce blue color, went ashore to the deserted beach. I hiked into the wild.
The island was limestone, very rough, sharp rocks. It was hot and dry, salty, sunny, weatherbeaten. In the interior I found a marsh. The mangroves grew out of crystal clear water which flowed around them in streams and currents.
I didn’t know where I was really going, but hiking the island was like a puzzle or a maze. I would try to cross the marshlands on rocky areas, but then would get trapped and have to wade through the mangroves. I was getting very muddy! I had to double back because of deep mud, except one time I didn’t and tried to cross. I got caught in quicksand. It slurped my sandals off and tried to keep them, it actually became pretty dangerous feeling when I was up to nearly my waist in mud and realized if I sunk much deeper I couldn’t get my legs above it!
Got out of that predicament. Then I made it to the coastline on some small cliffs.
I hiked around and found a beach where luminous turquoise streams cut through the island to meet the ocean. There were sandbars which I walked out on, and the whole place was very picturesque. This was the scenery I had seen photos of, (on Instagram). This was the quintessential paradise.
After a very long time relaxing and it still wasn’t much past noon. I decided, ah let’s sail! See some more of the place from the water and go to another island.
The breeze was blowing nicely which made me want to go. It seemed to be coming from the southwest, but that was all but an illusion along the shore. Once I was out in the crystal waters of the bay, surrounded by the little islets in the fresh wind, I put up the sails and cruised offshore.
The wind was definitely from the dead south, which was the exact direction I wanted to go. I was trying to get to Warderick Wells. It was only 15 miles or so, I figured it would cut some time off tomorrows sail. Sailing is always about thinking on your feet and dealing with whatever different situations the day is throwing you. Every sail is different. Whatever I did this afternoon, I did something wrong.
I decided to go way out to sea on a tack, and then tack back into Warderick Wells. Essentially zig-zagging to sail properly, but still go the way I want to. I was trying not to use the motor at all today. Just to sail for fun, but today was supposed to be my rest day.
Well I didn’t use the motor but I couldn’t make any headway into the wind… After my huge tack, I realized I couldn’t make it all the way to Waderick Wells before sunset. It would require another tack, it’s hard going into the wind!
I would have stopped at a closer island, but after Shroud Key there were two other islands where you could anchor, then a vast gap between the island chain. The only things in that area were the “Lightning Rocks”, and “Danger Key.” Well that’s right where I was headed at this rate!
Well I’ve done it now, put myself out here in ocean again… I had to weigh my options. I could keep going, but it may be dark pulling into Warderick Wells and that’s not good. I could turn back, but then I would have wasted these miles I worked to get. Or… I could head into remote and rough Cistern Key, two keys down from Shroud, which is where the wind really wanted to take me anyway.
The problem is, I was a little scared to go there. It’s a network of shallow areas with reefs and epic sandbars, before it meets open ocean all around it before the Danger keys. But supposedly there was an anchorage, as long as you could anchor in 3-4 feet of water.
So, fearlessly as possible, I went for it. After sailing 25 miles… I had only made it 5 miles further south. Pretty disheartening, and now the sun was getting low and I got myself a bit stressed unnecessarily. Can’t seem to help myself.
Pulling into Cistern Key I had to pass between the “sand bores”. You can see them from the google maps satellite image, they are fan-shaped sandbars that extend out from the cuts between the islands, into the bay waters. The currents that happen from the ocean ripping through the island chain deposit this sand.
They are beautiful, but extreme. They make the water all various shades of blue and turquoise. Navigation here is by sight, and umm, I took a shortcut. But later realized on my chart I was in a place designated “unsurveyed area,” so that was a little not-recommended. It was high tide however, so I had a pretty good chance everything was deep enough for me.
The water is an intense azure in 20 feet deep. As it creeps up to a 15 foot sandbar, you can see it is vibrant sapphire blue. At 10 feet, the real shining turquoise water starts, getting lighter and lighter in hue as it creeps up to 5 feet. Below 5 feet (as I would learn later in the Exumas) the color of the sand shines through and the water is suddenly golden. You don’t want to be sailing over a place like that!
I stuck to the azure water passing through the sand bores, shortcutting through some turquoise on my way across to the anchorage. The waves were big with the incoming tidal current. I made it to the lonely bay. The place is a national park but apparently Cistern Key was also a private island. A “National Park Private Island” it said on my chart. Such a joke.
But it would seem no one goes here, and the big house on shore was boarded up. The bay was so shallow I could see every ripple in the soft looking sand on the bottom. I took in the sunset, alone in the beautiful place, with only a little bit of fear.
I had 6 feet of water at high tide, but I woke up in the night with about 3’8” under the keel. In the light of the full moon it looked like the boat was just hovering in air above a sandy beach.
3/17 Staniel Key
Dawn brought the high tide back with it. I left rugged little Cistern Key and continued on, back out through the sand bores, I didn’t take that shortcut this time…
The morning was absolutely gorgeous, but with a pink sunrise along the many ominous clouds. The rays of light shone between the various hills and rocks rising out of the sea. A big rainbow formed to one side of me. Hmm… Never in my life have I been scared to see a rainbow until this morning!
It was definitely unsettled weather, and the wind was very weak. I motored for a while. I put up the sails, then took the front sail back down, kept motoring. As the morning continued, huge thunderheads formed all around me. I was now going to pass under one.
I watched it above me. It twisted and morphed, it was moving, growing. It was like a mountain. Didn’t seem to be producing rain yet though, lets get passed it. It was fascinating to watch.
Oh, then… at some point I saw the rain. Well, here comes the squall! I got ready. In front of me was a line of grey, literally a wall of water. I motored right at it. As the rain started to engulf me I had tons of adrenaline. What was going to happen?
Boom! It came crashing down. No real wind though fortunately. I went into a whiteout of rain. I was totally soaked like I was swimming, the cockpit actually filled up with rainwater faster than it could drain out. The boat was thoroughly washed! The water was pouring off the sail in buckets. I let it splash down onto me. Then I made it out the other side!
The sun shined strong and warmed me back up, before long everything was dry again. It was great.
The breeze picked up from the south, but I had come out to sea far enough that now I could carve southeast to get to my destination. Off with the motor and up with the jib, and I sailed fast and great the rest of the way.
Coming into Staniel Key, I passed a little sandy island out in bay where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, the island Jack Sparrow was abandoned on. I should have stopped there. But I continued and decided to take my lunch at the pig beach.
It was kind of a tourist trap but it was awesome. There is a beach here in the Exumas where wild pigs swim around and you can go swim with them. So I dropped the anchor among the other boats and dingyed to shore, and swam with the pigs! That was pretty fun.
There’s people here everyday, and the pigs get fed by them, so they are perpetually in and around the water swimming with people. Pretty unique. After I was done with that I went over to Staniel Key and got a beautiful spot to anchor by the little town there.
The place is really a “destination,” it was definitely paradise. Three huge rocks stick up from the harbor, big hills surround it, and the water is many different colors. I went ashore and ran all around the island. The town is tiny, and one of the loveliest places I’ve ever seen. I soon found a hiking trail that took me to the top of the tallest hill. From there I could see everything.
It was the most beautiful place I had been yet on this trip!
I spent two days on Staniel Key enjoying the place thoroughly, and waited for a little wind to blow through. The strongest came from the west before veering north, so I tucked into a different anchorage behind one of those rocks.
There was a snorkeling trip to take over there, Thunderball Grotto. The current grabbed me and I was flying alongside the rocks with manta rays and barracudas, tropical fish all around. Then you swim INTO the rock, into a cave, which opens up to an awesome area. It was filled and crowded with people taking the tour, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to swim out the other side of the island through a different cave and ride the current back the entire way.
I was on a sandbar, anchored in 5 feet of water. Other boats were there, but mostly anchored around the sandbar, while I could just sit right on top of it! The colors soothed me, at times I am just in a trance floating in this sea of blue paint.
Always floating, there’s no escape from this adventure. I never know whats coming around the next corner. It’s teaching me to not be fearful, to just enjoy it and let it carry me on. Deal with everything as it comes.
It’s a shame to be alone. I’m not really lonely though. I’m too distracted by the task at hand, I have a lot to learn and my survival depends on it! But the incredible beauty also keeps me entertained, I just wish sometimes I had someone to share it all with. It sort of feels selfish to be here alone, in this awesome paradise. But I enjoy what I’m going through, and appreciate the moment.
This trip is probably the beginning of something great though. I believe that anyway, we’ll find out! I can’t really imagine what my future holds from here… So I’ll take things one step at a time.
