Shroud Cay
Ananda
Ron Welch
Fri 25 Mar 2011 20:21
March 21, 2011
"take only photos...leave only foot prints"......I wonder if we will see this saying all over the planet......
Shroud Cay was the first island in the Exuma park and land trust that we visited......arriving later in the day and picking up a mooring ball we waited until the next morning to dingy ashore to one of the many cove beaches that almost completely disappear in high tide.....we took our payment to the honor system drop box on the north end and took off on another walk about......first trail was to the well......the path was mostly made up of craggy lava type rock....a sculpture of fire and water...ocean and land......one moment moving, the next, solid and stagnant.......now a cleared path to a fresh water well.......rain caught water in a man sculpted addition to a natural pool in the lava beds.......leaning over to take a picture of the fish....yes fish........how did fresh water fish get into a "well" on a Bahamian island?......well, pardon the pun, we still don't know.....however, peering into take a photo, the water was so still that the picture turned out to be a well full of sky.......We spent our afternoon relaxing and saved the long dingy ride over to the mangroves channel for the next day......a large part of this experience seems to involve looking for the right depth of water......deep enough to make the cut......shallow enough to anchor........turns out this is important in the dingy too......we found our self in as little as one and a half feet of water at some turns in the windey little creek....a nursery for conch, sea urchins, and sting ray........with some lifting of the engine, depth measuring with the paddle, and paddling with the paddle...we followed the mangrove creek all the way to the other side of the island..... to the sound.........the Atlantic ocean......took a hike up to fort driftwood with it's magnificent view of all the cay...........then back to the boat again....going with the wind back, was a lot dryer of a trip......Staying on a mooring is a great way to get some good sleep......it's also a great place to be if the winds pick up and the seas become too rolly to head off to the next island.....so we stayed a third day at Shroud on our mooring and did some of the necessary maintenance and clean up while the wind howled from the north east ........