Yesterday we and Walt and Meryl from S/V Flying Cloud went for a long walk at Black Point, crossing from the big beach to the "outside" -- with deeper and rougher water -- at a narrow point in Great Guana Cay.

It was low tide, so in anticipation of the water coming back in, we anchored the dinghy like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean: End of the World:

You can see Parallax anchored in the distance beyond the dinghy!

Derek waded out to try to guide Walt and Meryl past the first sandbank, but it was already too shallow:


The white sands that dried at low tide were covered with complex ripple patterns - the same patterns you can see preserved in fossils from the shallow inland seas on previous geologic epochs:


Miss Ida of the Rockside Laundry also has some guest houses overlooking that beach. There are three small ones, and two large ones are now being completed next to an existing larger house:


As soon as we got up to and across the road, we could see the beach facing Exuma Sound (the deep-water side of the cays):


There are so many different shades of blue out there! It's hard to show that in these photos...

Grant exploring beach on Exuma Sound, Black Point, Great Guana Cay

Once we got down onto the beach, there was less sea grape and such, more very tall sparse grasses and white sand and the usual dried seaweed drifts:


But as we walked toward the next bluff northward along the coast, we found an interesting development:

We came across this natural arch on the Exuma Sound beach near Black Point, Great Guana Cay

Of course, Grant had to climb it :-)


There were many pieces of plastic on this beach, including some very small ones, but also many natural sponges and the ever-present drying seaweed. This sponge just demanded to be photographed... you can see how the man-made trash bits are inextricably woven into the sea wrack...


This cay, like the others, has holes with water in them; this one was maybe 10' across the long axis. The greenish water in there was above sea level, so good chance it's part of a freshwater lens. Of course, none of us was interested in tasting it to find out. Not dedicated enough to experimentation, I guess.


The little graveyard includes a stone for a lady (Mrs. Sweeting) who lived on this cay for 98 years. Sweeting is a very famous Bahamian name, like Rolle and Pinder and Albury.


There is an SSCA Cruising Station in Black Point (we're also Seven Seas Cruising Association members). Flying their SSCA burgee proudly, Charles and Sharon Vassallo are former boat-cruisers who now spend 6 months of each year in Black Point and 6 months "cruising" in their RV in the States:

They told us that Flamingo Air will fly you to Black Point from Nassau for $100. That's costlier than taking the mail boat, but also faster.

***

This morning, we upped anchor around 11 a.m. and headed south to Little Farmer's Cay, along the banks, which are getting shallower the farther south we go. It was, for once, a sail-able easterly, although it faded in the afternoon until we had to turn on the engines again. But at least we did get to sail some of it!

It got notably shallow going into Little Farmer's; we are going to "go outside" to get farther south from this point, either tomorrow or likelier the next day. Flying Cloud actually waited a couple of hours for the tide to rise before coming in (they draw 6'). Here's what a lot of the entrance course looked like, depth-wise (pay no attention to the speedo, it's broken, we use the one on the GPS):

2.6 feet under the keel was the lowest reading we got, coming in by the deeper, southern route

The excessive and varied blueness of all the water was just amazing! But the tide had turned and was coming in strong... getting stronger as we got farther into the anchorage and nearer the Little Farmer's Cut to Exuma Sound... current runs about 4 knots.

We had to miss shoaling and a point to the left...

A point to the left, with rocks


You can "read the water" to see the point's inner shoal in brown - not usually a good color for your boating pleasure

And at the same time we had to avoid a sandbar that led to a lot of turbulence on the right as well:


As swirly as it was, the water was also mesmerizing...


You can see that Heather was enjoying the swirly steering...


This one didn't really show up well, but it's the "outside" -- the entrance to Exuma Sound at Little Farmer's Cut, and that's a tidal overfall, a sort of standing wave that sets up when there is a lot of water coming into a narrow entrance all at once. So you know we will be going out this way at slack tide, near as we can manage it.


Once we were in the anchorage, we noticed that the holding did not appear to be all that great, especially if you go by the note on the chart, other boats' gossip and the shore decorations they have around here:

Not sure how long ago this steel boat went aground, but it's still there...

So Derek decided on a mooring. Well, that and he wanted a real shower from the marina tomorrow, and probably (apparently reasonably priced) dinner as well. This place has really good internet, I was able to update my class website faster than I have been able to in many weeks. Also, of course, I can bombard you all with lots of pictures again. Think how many thousand words THAT saved. Grateful, much? ;-D