Bahamas, Present Day…

I’m actually writing this today. I’m skipping the northern Exumas post for now, to bring you up to our present. We are back in the Berry Islands, enjoying our final few days before we start the process of closing up Indigo Lady for the season. 

We arrived at Alders Cay on Sunday the 19^th. Alders Cay and nearby (almost attached) High Cay are one island group further south in the island chain than we got last year. We spent the night and the following morning walked the beaches on Alders Cay and Bonds Cay (one island south of Alders). Funny story from our one morning at Alders Cay. Dave enjoyed his morning coffee in the water sitting on one of our floaty seats. As always, he rinsed it and laid it out after he was done with it. Shortly after breakfast, a rain shower popped up with a gust of wind that blew the floaty overboard. It would have landed on the beach we were going to explore, but instead of waiting, Dave donned fins, mask and snorkel (and nothing else!) and swam out to rescue it. With floaty safely stowed, we went for our beach walks, then returned to Lady for lunch and shortly afterward set out for our old stomping grounds at Hoffman’s Cay.

I refer to Hoffman’s Cay as our “old stomping grounds” because this is the third year in a row that we’ve been here. It’s interesting how familiar it feels here now. We were here in March of 2020 with my folks (before heading back to the US due to the pandemic), in late July/early August of 2021, and now June of 2022. Yesterday morning we walked the mile-long beach (at low tide) on the north end of Hoffman’s and saw our familiar friends the rays, sea turtles and trigger fish in the shallows, plus various seabirds and some lizards on shore. This year, in addition to gulls, terns and osprey, we saw a gorgeous heron. Yesterday afternoon on the rising tide we dingied over to Turtle Bay and up the mangrove creek. We weren’t able to get as far up the creek as in the past because the mangroves have encroached on it a little more. We saw the largest variety and quantity of fish and other sea life in 2020 with my folks. Last year we saw hardly any sea life there; this year was somewhere in between. This morning we walked the trail across to the Atlantic side beach and saw that the wreck of Low n’ Slow is still high and dry. I need to verify it from last year’s photos, but I believe it’s in the same spot as last year, but last year we noted that Mother Nature had moved it quite a distance from where we’d first seen it in 2020. I wonder how long it will be before she batters it beyond recognition. This year we saw three seaturtle nests on the beach (see the picture above)! Every year there has been a different experience. Tomorrow we may revisit the Blue Hole, or opt to walk the long beach again, or maybe snorkel the ledges. Regardless of our decision, we will enjoy the beauty of this island. 

Our time here in this remote part of the Berry Islands is short this year. By Saturday night we want to be anchored back in Bullocks Harbor at Great Harbor Cay. Last year we took two days at anchor there to start cleaning and prepping Lady for closeup, then spent two more days in the marina finishing up, staying at the nearby guest inn those final two nights. That plan worked very well, so we are repeating it this year. Tomorrow we will likely head a few miles north to Soldiers Cay and either stay there a couple of nights or move Friday up to Great Harbor, behind the Stirrup Cays, and then continue to Bullocks Harbor on Saturday. Why gun it when we can dub our way back slowly? We’re hoping to catch up with our friends on Wildly Intrepid somewhere between here and Great Harbor Cay, but those kinds of things are so weather dependent. Our fingers are crossed.

It’s been a short season, but enjoyable. We’re on the cusp of pleasantly warm and unbearably hot; not a bad time to head back to New England where we will cruise the Gulf of Maine on Dumbledore. New adventures await!h

On Friday I will post about our time in the northern Exumas. That will probably be my last post from here in the Bahamas, since next week will be quite busy with closing up the boat. So check back on Friday. Until then, stay safe and take care of each other.