February 2024 Island Hopping in the Exumas

We started our second month in the Bahamas at Norman’s Cay in the northern Exumas. We snorkeled on the plane that crashed in shallow waters in the bay. Going at slack tide meant there was very little current and we could easily swim around the entire crash. We also got to catch up with SV Mojo who we first met in Charleston SC. We enjoyed sundowners aboard their boat and got caught up on our trips so far.

From Norman’s Cay we headed about 5 miles south to Shroud Cay so that we could attend the Young Cruisers Association event- Floatchella. On Shroud Cay there is basically a natural lazy river that runs through the island. The mangrove lined channels cut all the way across the island. If you time the tide right you can float in and then once the tide changes you can float back out.

We had calm winds and perfectly sunny skies for the event. About 15 boats joined. We started with a raft off just outside the entrance to the “lazy river”. It was a really fun event and we got to catch up with several boats we met in West Palm as well as meet some new friends.

Once the event was over the weather was starting to change. We headed back up to Norman’s Cay to wait out the incoming storms. We hoped to make it into Norman’s Pond which is in the middle of the island with land on all sides. It is super protected but has a tricky entrance. We had several other boats helping people find the track in so we figured we would try since it was high tide. We ended up running aground and got very stuck in the sand. Thankfully we had help and two dinghy’s towed us off. We ended up back out in the bay to wait out the weather.

We had some wavy nights while the wind was out of the south but once it shifted to the west and north we were protected. The islands don’t have many anchorages with protection from all wind directions so it can be challenging to find a place to hide. This was a bad blow, we had gusts into the 40s knots range during the worst of it. The whole boat vibrates when the wind is that high. You can hear it howling through the rigging and it is nerve racking for sure. But our anchor held us and everyone else in our anchorage held as well.

We did get some good fishing in before the worst of the wind began. On our way back to Norman’s we caught a cero mackerel and Ryan speared a trigger fish and a large crab once back at Norman’s.

Once the wind shifted from the north west our anchorage became very rolly once again. As soon as the wind died down some we took off, further south for Staniel Cay. We anchored just off the famous pig beach. We saw the swimming pigs and gave them some snacks. We soon realized that our friends aboard SV Sandpiper were also there. They left Muskegon Mi out of our marina about a week after we did. We enjoyed catching up with them on their boat and then later in the day for sundowners on our boat.

Staniel Cay is where Thunderball Grotto is located. This cave has been in several movies and was really cool to visit. Going at low tide you can enter the cave snorkeling/swimming in with your head above water the whole time. Once in the cave there are tons of fish to see as well as beautiful sunny spots streaming into the cave from the openings above you. We finished out or time on Staniel meeting up with another boat we had previously met, SV Sunwise. The following day we did some snorkeling and dinghying around with them before heading into the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for happy hour.

We arrived at the yacht club to find a wahoo fishing competition was underway. They were weighing the fish from the days catch as we arrived. The place was packed and it appeared everyone in the fishing tournament had done quite well! We grabbed a table and enjoyed some rum punch and food before heading back to the boat just as the sun was setting.

The following day we took off for Black Point Settlement. Several of our friends from floatchella where also at Black Point. The restaurants in town all had some type of special for Superbowl Sunday so we enjoyed an evening dinner and drinks with everyone to watch the game.

The next day we walked around town and across to the beaches along the opposite side of the island. The rock formations along the coast here reminded us of Galicia or Portugal. Back in town, we stopped in to grab some local bread- cinnamon raison coconut bread. It was so good!

The following day we had our weather window to jump down to George Town. We had a great sail down, buddy boating with SV Mojo. Another boat even called us out on the radio to give us an “at a boy” for sailing so well upwind. We were healed over all day, the cats had a hard time walking around the boat. We arrived into George Town/Elizabeth Harbor and dropped anchor right in front of monument beach. The anchorage was crowded (as it always is) but we found a spot without any trouble.

Making it to Georgetown near the end of the Exuma island chain was pretty exciting for us! We have traveled 3891 nautical miles since leaving Muskegon. When we left the dock in July 2023 we had no firm plan and no firm return date. Our goal was the Bahamas and then we hoped to do the Caribbean but from there who knew? We also said we would cruise as long as we loved it and it made sense for us.

After lots of discussion and thinking we have come to a decision. For now Georgetown will be the furthest we travel. We will be heading north, back through the Bahamas, hitting some islands we haven’t visited along the way. We will enjoy our entire three month visa here in the Bahamas and then cross back over to the U. S. Resande and her crew will then sail all the way back to the Great Lakes. By the time we return it will end up being just over a year that we will have lived and traveled full-time aboard our boat. We are looking forward to setting up land life 2.0 and taking a break from cruising.

This won’t be the end of boat life for us. We love Resande and plan to cruise again some day. Our decision started with Erika being nervous about the multiday, upwind passage from the Bahamas to the Caribbean. We also realized we have lots of other hobbies and things we enjoy doing such as backpacking, camping, hiking, hunting (Ryan) and traveling to other parts of the world. While we thought we’d possibly end up somewhere other than Michigan after this journey we didn’t actually find anywhere else we’d rather live and keep Resande. We are both happy with our decision and looking forward to the journey back to the Great Lakes.

George Town is a big hub for cruisers. Many boats hang out in this harbor all season. There is always something going on and so many people to meet. We happened to be in town during the start of the annual cruising regatta. We enjoyed watching the junkanoo parade where local groups and a group of cruisers dressed up in costumes and danced through the streets. The Bahamians celebrate junkanoo on boxing day each year. This event was used as a fundraiser for the following years junkanoo. The cruisers who attended and participated in the event raised about $5700.

Outside of scheduled events there is still plenty to see in George Town. We were anchored near monument beach on Stocking Island. Stocking Island is full of beautiful hiking trails. The beaches along the Atlantic side of the island are stunning.

No visit to George Town would be complete without some time spent at the Chat N Chill. This local restaurant/beach bar/hang out is right along the beach. There are tables, volley ball nets, yard games and always plenty of cruisers hanging out, having a good time. We met some new boats here and got to catch up with many of our friends we had met along the way.

Our final day in George Town we explored further south in the Harbor. On Crab Cay there is a man-made cut that doesn’t go all the way through the island but does go back pretty far. The project was abandoned but the cut is deep enough to take the dinghy through. We also found some more beautiful beaches and shallow sand bars to explore.

After almost two weeks in George Town it was time to begin our journey north. We have about six weeks left on our Bahamas cruising visa. We plan to slowly work our way north, stopping at smaller, lesser known anchorages that we passed by on our way south.

We had a great sail to our first stop which was an anchorage between Norman’s Pond Cay and Leaf Cay. We really enjoyed this spot. Ryan did plenty of spearfishing, he got a couple lobsters, two trigger fish and two snappers. The anchorage was surrounded by several small, really pretty beaches. There were a few other boats around but overall this was much more secluded and quiet than George Town.

Our next stop was Rudder Cut Cay and we again had a great sail! We caught two little tunny fish on the way. When entering the anchorage we had a dolphin swim around the boat. The single dolphin stayed with us the entire way into the anchorage, moving from the bow to the stern just playing around.

This anchorage is known for having the mermaid playing the piano statue underwater that you can snorkel around. We also found a shallow bay full of turtles that didn’t mind at all if you snorkeled with them. They just swam slowly by, eating seagrass without a care in the world.

The following day we jumped up the Exumas about 10 miles. We stopped at the Oven Rock anchorage to explore a cave with a salt water pool. We opted not to get into the pool but we read that you can cave-dive and it actually winds back pretty deep into the cave. It was a really cool to see the pool inside the cave. We stayed in this anchorage one night then continued hoping north. Our next stop was a small bay just south of Black Point.

We will end February waiting out some higher winds before continuing up the Exumas. We are off to Staniel Cay this morning, another 10 miles north. March will be our final month in the Bahamas. We plan to do a couple more stops in the Exumas that we missed on our way south. Then we will go back up to Eleuthera and up to the Abacos which we haven’t visited yet. There is still plenty of Bahamas to explore in our last few weeks here.

February 2024 Cruising Stats and Spending

January 2024 Berry Islands to the Exumas

March 2024 Our Final Month in the Bahamas