The weather gurus have been forecasting a strong cold front to move through the area Saturday night into Sunday morning with winds again gusting to 40 knots. The weather forecasting for cruising sailors is fairly accurate so we knew we had 4 or 5 days to enjoy ourselves before things turned nasty.

We sailed 7 miles north to Pipe Cay, which is home to an abandonned British Radar station, and anchored just outside the dredged harbour. The cay is now uninhabited so we dinghied ashore and went for a nice walk along the pristine white sand beaches. "Thistle" had joined us in the anchorage so we spent time catching up on news of their travels. Talk about a small world, their daughter was on board with her boyfriend from Hamilton, turns out he has raced in Fruit Bowl a couple of times.

Wednesday morning we moved another few miles north to Cambridge Cay, which is the southern boundary of the Exumas Land and Sea Park. We took the dinghy to a beach across from our anchorage where we found a path that lead to the ocean and Bell Rock. We climbed the path to the top of Bell Rock to enjoy the spectacular view of the park and the ocean. On the second day we dinghied out to the Coral Garden to snorkel where we were impressed with the reef and the abundant sea life. After lunch on board the boat we kayaked ashore and discovered another path that lead to a beach on the Atlantic shore overlooking the Coral Gardens. Before we left our anchorage on Friday morning we dinghied to the Rocky Dundas caves. Here we discovered stalactite and stalagmite formations and beautiful coral.

We are now anchored in Staniel Cay waiting for the cold front. We started the day by visiting Thunderball Grotto where the James Bond movie was filmed. We have been trying to visit this site since our first visit to Staniel Cay a week ago. We are glad that we made the effort to see it. The rest of the day has been spent preparing Dagny for the impending weather.