Arriving in the Exumas

Finally got out of Nassau on Wednesday January 15th.  The wind finally quieted down enough for us to head out,  We topped off the fuel at Hurricane Hole Marina and off we went to the Exumas.  The Exumas are a chain of 365 islands and cays also a part of the Bahamas.  They are known for their beautiful water and beaches.  With so many islands, one could explore one each day for an entire year before seeing them all.  We plan to spend several weeks in the Exuma chain before moving to additional islands within the Bahamas.

Fueling up before leaving for the Exumas
Not to be out done, Capt Keith had to add a Southern Style sticker to the mix

The cruise from Nassau to the northern Exuma island was pleasant with 1-2 foot seas with an occasional 3 footer.  We ran at "trawler speed"; about 8 kts and Capt. Keith put out two fishing lines.  We only caught a barracuda, but Keith still had fun.  We arrived at our anchorage spot around lunch time.  

Southern Style at anchor between Allen Cay and Leaf Cay

A little bird decided to be our welcoming comity.  She flew all around us as we anchored and then followed Keith inside the boat.  She obviously has done this before and likely got a hand-out.  We only gave her a few crumbs of some crackers, but she did follow us to shore and I got a picture of her.

Our feathered welcoming comity eating crumbs from Keith's hand

Allen Cay and Leaf Cay are the home of a colony of Rock Iguanas.  These iguana are somewhat famous residents of the northern Exuma cays.  They were once plentiful throughout all the Bahama islands, however they were hunted extensively by early explorers and inhabitants of the Bahamas as a food source. Ongoing loss of their habitat and domestic dogs have also significantly reduced their numbers.   Now it is estimated that there are less than 5,000 Bahamian rock iguanas left.  

They are now a protected species.  Their diet is primarily plants, flowers, and leaves but insects, slugs and crabs are also on their menu.  Rock iguanas have a breakaway tail.  If a predator latches onto the iguana's tail, the tail  will come off leaving the predator with nothing but the tail as the iguana escapes.  A new tail begins growing immediately.  They can  live up to 40 years.

Here come the parade of Rock Iguanas, also looking for a potential hand-out from the tourists.

They are just the cutest lizards ever (if you are into lizards).

After visiting the iguanas, we took a dinghy ride around the cays.  We were looking for a good snorkeling spot, but the limestone shoreline made it impossible to land the dinghy.  So we settled on looking through our new glass bottom bucket we got in Nassau to check the anchor.  It worked pretty well as a "hybrid" snorkeling device.  We saw a few fish, but nothing amazing.

The following day we had a pretty lazy morning.  Keith jumped in the water to check the running gear on the bottom of the boat and took a brush to scrub off a bit of slime on the waterline of our bottom paint.  Later in the afternoon, one of our boat neighbors came over and asked if we wanted to go snorkeling.  So we jumped in his dinghy and went over to a sandy spot inside the cay in about 5 feet of water and snorkeled for about a half hour.  Again, nothing special at this spot, but the water was crystal clear, refreshing, and made us feel good to finally be in the southern Bahamas.

Tomorrow we are off to our first marina in the Exumas, Highborne Cay Resort.