Greetings from Cambridge Cay, Exumas

Yesterday we arose to wave good bye to friends on Mustang Sally. It was interesting to watch the large yacht maneuver out of the small basin. They did so in a very professional manner staying as far as possible from other boats while managing to turn 180 degrees.

We shared weather information with new friends on m/v Exodus while watching another big yacht come into the slip next to them. After topping up our water tanks, it was our turn to leave. Rather than backing out of our slip we turned the boat around with lines and headed out past the big yachts in a direction where we have good control. No bow thrusters on our little sailboat!

Motoring out past Mustang Sally (now anchored) we waved as Richard & his family boarded a seaplane to fly home. Winding our way through the shallow sand banks we managed to stay off the bottom on the way out. Our first destination of the day was Bell Island where we rendezvoused with Stella Maris, a Whitby 42 out of Oriental, NC. We’d heard them on the radio and planned to meet up where they were anchored. Although we’ve boated in the same area of NC for years, the families had never met. They have two kids, so Noah was very happy to meet them. Unfortunately, Robbie had a bad ear ache, so they headed down to Staniel to visit the clinic. John and I sounded the narrow passage off Bell Island at low tide and found 7 feet of water. Stella Maris may catch up with us again in a few days as they are planning to go in the same direction on a similar time table as Intuition.

We pulled up the hook at 1618 and wound our way past the tip of Bell Island into relatively deep water. (Earl – we kept a plot of this little pass for your future use!) On a rising tide we went almost all the way out the cut before rounding the corner into Cambridge Cay where we picked up a park mooring ball at 1705. We had traveled 12 miles to get only 2.9 miles from Compass Cay as the crow flies. We were greeted on the radio by Adagio who promised to come over in the morning to give us the highlights of this, the southernmost anchorage in Exuma Land and Sea Park. After grilling hamburgers we found that our one tomato was sprouting on the inside. We cut it up and threw the chunks overboard where what looked like small 12-18″ yellow fin tuna attacked them with gusto.
Winds are subsiding and have been under twenty most of today. We are in the company of six other boats here at Cambridge Cay.