Good morning from the Exuma’s. We finally made it across to as far east as we plan to go on this journey. We are also 15 miles from as far south as we plan to go, Staniel Cay.

This post will have some older pictures that I finally got to the computer as well as updated pictures of just how beautiful the waters are in the Exuma’s.

First, here are a couple dive pictures from Amy’s and my first dive after being certified for open water back in Key Largo.

We did go down with a guide, as I was not that sure of finding our way back yet!

Even our guide had some trouble equalizing, it not just a problem for new divers!

All smiles after the second dive!

We really enjoyed diving and hope to do a lot more of it, especially in the Bahamas.

We left Chub Cay in conditions that we knew would not be perfect, but also knew it was our best window to get over here.

Saying goodbye to Chub Cay and the protection of the island.

We ran a total of 95.2 miles that day. We were in 4-8′ waves for the first 33 miles to the southwest corner of Nassau. Then we were protected for 20 miles while under the island. That was when we were boarded by the Bahamian Defense Department for a customs and immigration inspection. Took them about 45 minutes to board, inspect, verify all paperwork, and depart. I will not lie; I was not sure what was happening when 5 guys in a 35′ go fast boat came flying up behind us before they turned and I could see the letters on the side of the boat. They were very nice, but Amy did not like the guy with the machine gun pointed at me the entire time from our back deck area!

After the boarding, it was back out into the open ocean, but we only had 2-3′ waves the rest of the way to Shroud Cay. I can tell you all three of us were very happy to pull in and get set up on a morning ball at Shroud!

Arriving at Shroud Cay!

Found a very small beach among the coral to take Memphis out. She was very happy to be on solid ground after that ride today.

Memphis’s little beach area with our dinghy.

The boat in the mooing field from shore!

We are in 12′ of water, but you can see the bottom clearly.

Shroud Cay is the beginning of the famous Land and Sea Park of the Exuma’s. We will be in the chain of park islands until just north of Staniel Cay.

We did some dinghy exploring at Shroud up the lazy river and over to the washing machine!

Entering the lazy river.

Out in the ocean looking back at the washing machine and the lazy river.

We are still having a great time traveling with our buddy boat Saga.

Large leopard ray swimming by us in the dinghy. Had to be at least 6′ across.

Then it was back to the boat to relax and grill some dinner. Our last day in Chub Cay, some of the sport fish boaters on our dock shared some of their daily catch with us. They had gone out spearfishing and had grouper, hog fish, and lobster.

These are gallon zip lock bags with hog fish and a single huge lobster tail.

After enjoying the sunset while cooking up a lobster appetizer before hog fish dinner!

This tail was huge but had great taste!

We cut up the lobster and used it as finger food for Saga and ourselves.

This was the Bahamas we have been waiting for.

Yesterday we moved again from Shroud Cay to a protected anchor hole by O’Brien’s Cay. The winds are supposed to blow from the southwest at night and the west side of the Exuma’s are not protected. We came up a narrow channel and into a small gap with land to our west!

We ran only 29 miles in calm seas for the first time in weeks!

Approaching O’Brien Cay.

We spent the day relaxing and exploring the Aquarium. It is a small round reef in about 20′ of water that you can snorkel around. We did so for about an hour before we got cold. Really should have put our wetsuits on! I will post some of those pictures later when I get them off the GoPro.

We are on our anchor with two other boats rafted off of us for the night. There is a strong current running through the gap, so the current decides our direction, not the wind. As we have been told by more experienced boaters, tide trumps wind!

Today, 2/24/2024, we are supposed to arrive at Staniel Cay for a week. Darrin and Janet fly in today at 9:15am for some fun in the sun. We did receive an email notification from Staniel Cay Yacht Club yesterday stating that they might not be allowing us to tie up there because of the expected winds. They are not protected from the west-northwest and clear the docks to protect them from the boats tearing them up. We will not know until later today if they will allow us there. That is the fun part, Darrin and Janet are staying on the boat tonight and we need to be able to pick them up! We will see how this works out.

Every day on the loop brings new experiences and challenges. It has certainly not been a vacation, but it has been a great journey with lifetime experiences. There are occasional lower points, like when thing go wrong with the boat, or the weather doesn’t cooperate, but we wouldn’t trade those moments for rest of them!

Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for crossing all your parts so Amy, Memphis, and I could make it over to the Exuma’s.

I will post again after we are tied up at Staniel Cay, whenever that might be!!