Stats for February 3, 2019

Origin: Norman’s Cay

Destination: Shroud Cay

Distance: 10.4 miles

Speed: 7 mph

Time on the Move: 1 hour plus a little

After heading out of the pond, we headed to the south end of the cay where there is a sunken plane to snorkel. Supposedly it was one of Lehder’s planes that was too loaded down to fly, so it crashed just off the end of the runway and still sits there today.

The kids all got in the water, so I’ll call that a win. Tobin didn’t actually swim over to the plane because he was done snorkeling by the time I was actually ready to get in the water. So instead he sat in the dinghy and watched. I held Hayley’s hand the whole time and Mike held Colin’s. There was a fair bit of current, so we wanted to be careful, and the kids are still kind of hesitant to snorkel. It’s funny because they practically won’t swim without their goggles on, but call something “snorkeling” and give them a full face mask (or not) and they get kind of weird about it. Hayley usually prefers to wear just her goggles and hold her breath. Colin is creeped out by the idea there could be sharks or other creatures down there, so he takes a little convincing to get in saltwater. Regardless, the 4 of us all circled the plane a few times and saw plenty of fish and even a ray resting down at the bottom of the plane. I’ve heard there is a resident nurse shark that lives there, too, but I didn’t see him. It was a pretty cool structure.

Only part of this video is from the plane, so consider the rest a preview of the blog posts to come!

After the plane, we hopped a bit further south on the Banks side to the north end of Shroud Cay. Shroud is the northern most part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park which is a 176 acre protected area with no-take rules. There are mooring balls for a fee and anchorage fees as well. There is also absolutely no data service at Shroud to speak of. Poor Mike hoped to hear a bit of the Superbowl that night, but there was no way.

Before sunset we had just enough time to sneak in a partial trip down the north creek at Shroud for a bit of dinghy exploring. There are 3 creeks that cut through Shroud, and I’ve read that this north creek is the only one deep enough for a dinghy and even then, only at high tide. The creek has a 3 mph speed limit, so basically it is a quiet, calm creek without boats ripping through it.

We were instantly amazed by how calm it was in the creek and right away we spotted a small sea turtle swimming in front of us. Of course we all got excited and started talking and pointing and standing up to get a better look, which really does no good for Mike who was trying to maintain a calm speed and steer close to the elusive sea turtle, all without scaring it away. We were surprised that the sea turtle let us follow it for a short bit before it got spooked and headed off. Usually they zoom off as soon as you set eyes on them. Shortly after that guy left us, we found another sea turtle and another and another. That creek was filled with them and they were so calm and welcoming, inviting us to follow after them without even being scared and running away. Right away we realized they must actually FEEL protected here in the Exuma Park, knowing we can’t capture them, we can’t go faster than 3 mph, and we actually have to pay to drop an anchor.

Whatever it was that made the sea turtles comfortable, it was an amazing experience to be so close and get such a good look at them. Soon, though, the sun was getting low and the noseeums were coming out of hiding since it was such a calm night. We knew we would be back the next day to dinghy all the way to the end of the creek, so we turned around and headed back for the boat. But not before running aground on a sand bar. And also spotting 2 more of those huge rays. What a cool spot!!

The next morning we headed back down the creek on a falling tide. We brought plenty of toys and food to enjoy the day at the beach at the end of the creek on the Atlantic side, and it’s a good thing, too. With the tide down, we couldn’t have made it back to our boat if we’d have wanted to.

Again we saw all kinds of turtles that swam nice and slow so we could get a good look. It was amazing, once again. At the end of the creek there was a deeper cut where water ran out to the ocean with beaches on both sides of the cut. We beached our dinghy next to another one on the north side beach and got out to explore. The water leading to the Atlantic was shallow and so clear, you could see the sandy bottom clearly. Right away the kids were walking around in the shallow water, exploring and playing. I stood there and took in the beauty of the spot for a bit, and before I realized what was happening, the tide was going down to the point that the shallow water was becoming an area of extended sand bars off the beach.

It was awesome! Colin got to skim board and dig holes for hours. Tobin swam on his boogie board and played a game where you throw small coconuts into a hole for points. Hayley snorkled with me and played with her brothers. The huge area of sand bars and unique channels of deeper water that cut between them were beautiful. We stayed all day and played, amazed by the view.

There is a very short hike up to the top of the hill right there called “Camp Driftwood.” We went up and took in the sights from a higher elevation, and you could see the creek winding it’s way from the Banks side over to the Sound side with expansive views of the deep blue water.

We didn’t really want to leave so we went ahead and walked the sand bars again and then went exploring on the south side of the cut for a slightly different view. Then we swam through the cut which is actually called the “washing machine” at higher tides because the current pushes you back and forth down the cut until you get to the sand bar blockade, and then it pulls you back again. It was so picturesque, we were happy to spend the day playing.

When it was finally time to head back to the boat, I thought the tide was high *enough* to make it through the center creek through Shroud for some different scenery. I was wrong, though, and the creek was actually not deep enough at all, so Mike ended up pulling our dinghy for quite some time and he wasn’t thrilled about it, believe me. I would have gotten out and pulled, but we saw a lemon shark zipping around in the clear knee deep water a few times and I was too chicken, so Mike *HAPPILY* did the honors.

After we got back to the original north creek, the dinghy ride back to the boat was fairly uneventful, though we did see a few more turtles on the way. We were exhausted from a long day of playing and ready for some relaxing before bed.

While the sand bar at Norman’s was amazing, the beach at Shroud just can’t be beat. It sure helped that we had perfect weather, good timing on the tides, and content children. Put Shroud at the top of the list for amazing beaches!!

Thanks so much for following along on our adventure!!