Didn't quite get away today
07 January 2007 | Shroud Cay
Sunny, Temp 86F, Wind E@12-15
Our plan for today was to head for Allan Cay where there are some large Iguanas and some good snorkling. But that was just the plan. After breakfast, we headed out to explore Shroud Cay. We stopped here on our way from Nassau to Georgetown, but didn't spend much time here. It's not one cay, but a number of cays forming a sort of atoll that is filled with mangroves in the center.
Anchoring on the western side (the leeward side), there are a number of passages to dinghy through that can carry you through to the Sound. So we headed out to explore. Our route was to take the northernmost passage that would take us through to a place called Camp Driftwood. Camp Driftwood was originally a camp that some hermit set up back in the '60's. When he died it was abandoned until the US Drug Enforcement Agency took it over as a spying post on the drug operations that were centered at nearby Normans Cay. The drug runners name was Carlos somebody, and the DEA eventually got him, but not before he had built an extensive operation on Normans. There are still traces of his operation on Normans including an airstrip, some buildings complete with bullet holes, and a sunk plane that presumably missed the runway.
But today, Normans is a popular stop for boats heading down (or is it up?) to Georgetown. And Camp Driftwood is abandoned, but still has a nice view. And a beautiful beach where we ran into the couple on the other Canadian sailboat. They are from Shediac, NB, where Jeannie grew up! So we had a nice chat and talked about mutual acquaintances. Back aboard for a late lunch, some reading, and we decided it was too late to head out for Allans, so we will stay here another night. But tonight our boat count has swelled to 15. There are two identical sailboats (Caliber 40's) and two identical motorboats (about 60') and they seem to be travelling in pairs. I also heard on the SSB this morning that there are quite a few boats in Normans, about 75 in Nassau and still more in Florida waiting to cross, so it sounds like it will get much busier here shortly, so we are talking about plans to head further south after we receive our parcels.