Stats for February 11, 2019

Origin: Warderick Wells

Destination: O’Brien’s Cay

Distance: 13.6 miles

Speed: 7.2 mph

Time on the Move: 1 hour and 53 minutes

Heading towards O’Brien’s Cay we had another windy/choppy ride. As we were getting close we heard a loud bang and Mike realized right away that the antennae mount that holds up our VHF antennae snapped. We quickly slowed the boat to idle so we could handle the problem. I reached my hand out the isenglass window and held on to the antennae (that was still attached by the internal wires, though they wouldn’t have lasted long in that wind) while Mike ran to get some zip ties. In a matter of minutes, he had the antennae laying down on our hard top and zip tied to whatever he could find that would work. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good enough fix for now. Time to send a new one to Grandma for when she comes to visit in a couple of weeks. Thank goodness for Amazon and visitors to bring us our packages.

We pulled in next to O’Brien’s Cay and tied up to a mooring ball that is meant for mega yachts. But it was open, and it was the only mooring available. We figured we’d stay until someone asked us to leave and they never did, so we stayed on it all night.

O’Brien’s was right next to a snorkeling spot called the Aquarium that we were looking forward to. It is also right next to Johnny Depp’s private island, Little Hall’s Pond Cay. It was fun to sit on the sundeck and peer over to his island, just hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the beach. We did see someone playing with a dog on the beach, but I doubt it was him. Regardless, it was still fun to be so close and I did plenty of google searches about the island since I was back in the land of wifi!!

The kids were watching a movie and we could see the Aquarium from the boat, so we decided to head over for an adult snorkel session. The Aquarium is so full of fish that you can see them from the dingy before you even put your face in the water. There are small fish everywhere that just seem to follow you and some bigger ones, too. It was awesome and so easy at slack tide (we hear the current runs pretty fast through there at higher tides). After a short session, we decided the kids had to come back sometime to snorkel because it was so rewarding.

Later that evening we found some more sand bars to explore with low tide being at just the right time. Have I mentioned I love sandbars? This little island near our mooring is surrounded by shallow water, so at low tide it was perfect. At least until the sunset.

The next morning the kids were occupied with legos for the longest time and it was awesome!! They can’t wait to get back to their big lego stash we left at home.

We moved over to the mooring field at Cambridge Cay, right around the corner because we figured some moorings would be available since it was early in the day. Shortly after we were set, we headed off on a hike. It turns out Cambridge has several beaches, sand bars, and hiking trails. We weren’t in for anything to intense, so we decided to do the easy walk across the island to the beach.

After a bit of time on the wavy side, we headed back across the island to play in the calmer water.

After a long walk on the beach and decorating several conch trees, we decided to head back for lunch. Colin wanted to stay on the island and dig for a while, and since we could see the boat from the beach, we thought it would be okay for him to stay for a while.

We ended up not going back to the beach, so I went to pick up Colin in the dinghy after another hour or so ALL BY MYSELF!! Now I have learned how to drive the dinghy, and I have done it with Mike’s guidance, but never all by myself or when I am the only one responsible for driving. The good news is I only hit one sand bar and needed just a bit of help from another cruiser, but other than that, it went great!!

Later that night we headed to cruiser happy hour at one of the little islands/sand bars. It was fun to chat with the other people in the mooring field and hear their stories. We meet the most interesting and supportive people out here!! Plus, the kids played in the sand and collected hermit crabs in between handfuls of popcorn. Win-win for everyone!

The next morning, slack tide was shortly after we woke up, so we decided to head right over to the Aquarium so the kids could have the same great snorkeling experience we had.

This is the day I saw a spotted eagle ray as soon as I got in. I usually do a quick glance around for sharks or other ickies as soon as I get in, just to calm my nerves, and I was surprised to see the spotted eagle ray swooping along the bottom. It was so beautiful, but I had to take a few deep breaths because it surprised me, and sure enough, when I went back down, he was heading out. They move just like the teacher ray in “Finding Nemo” and that’s what I always think of when I see them underwater!

For more footage of this snorkel adventure, be sure to see our YouTube video in the Shroud Cay post from a few days ago.

Next up for the day was some breakfast and then some treasure hunting. We found a Facebook page made just for kids who hide “buried treasure” in the Bahamas and want to post clues so other kids can look for it. They usually have goodies tucked inside some kind of container that the kids pick from and then they refill the treasure with some trinket they brought from the boat. They are very similar to Geocaches, if you have seen those before. The kids were thrilled about the idea of finding treasure. And sure enough, it was buried on the same “sand bar island” we were on a few nights before!

We were so inspired by the treasure hunt that we decided to hide our own treasure on Cambridge Cay. The kids loved planning what the note should say and choosing little toys to fit inside of our yellow pepper jar, ahem, treasure chest.

We hiked across Cambridge to the Sound side where there was a rocky shoreline. We weren’t quite sure where to hide our treasure, so we did some exploring along the way to find just the right spot.

We had one more adventure lined up for the day. Just a short dinghy ride away is a famed place called Rachel’s Bubble Bath. Now I’m not sure who Rachel is, but it has been a very long time since we have had a bath, so we had to check it out. Word is that the bubble bath is best at high tide or when the waves are rolling in from the east. High tide was perfect timing for us to head there to check it out. We anchored the dinghy and then walked down a mostly dry creekbed to an area where a big basin has been washed out of the limestone. This limestone forms a perfect pool for water that rolls in from the ocean. There were just a few fish inside, but several sea urchins, so we made sure to leave our shoes on.

It seemed like a pretty wavy day, but we were surprised that the bubbles weren’t really bubbling. After swimming for a while we had several big waves that came crashing over the small opening of rock leading to the ocean. It was fun to swim in the bubbles, but I couldn’t help but wonder what sea life was getting washed into the bath with us. Luckily I never saw anything creepy. At one point Colin brushed against a sea urchin and got some spines stuck in his leg. He was not a happy camper, but he was brave and we were able to pull some out right then. A few others we had to go after later with the tweezers. If you’ve never had a run in with a sea urchin before, it is not very pleasant. The spines are just like hard, pokey shells that crumble when you try to take them out. Colin was lucky that his mostly stayed together, though some were buried in his leg pretty good, so I had to go after them a big to get them out. Always an adventure, right?!

Later he bounced right back and even jumped off the higher rock ledges into the bubble bath a few times. It is great to see him gain confidence and face his fears to complete physical challenges like this that he thinks of. He got it in his head that he was jumping, and it took a while for him to do it, but he stuck with the idea with very little coaxing from Mike or I to jump.

The next morning, just as we were getting ready to leave, a mega yacht started it’s approach to the mooring field. I was very interested to see them maneuver into the field and catch the mooring ball, so we stuck around a bit longer to watch them come in. Of course, they made it look so easy.

I quick finished rinsing out some pee pee sheets from the night before and we were off. Boat life has pros and cons and accidents at night are a definite con, but luckily it doesn’t happen too much!!

Thank you for following along on our adventure!! On to the next stop in paradise!!