Great Loop Adventures Aboard Next Chapter: Crossing to Eleuthera

The bird in the adjacent pic is a white tailed Tropicbird. Saturday we planned a after lunch departure as we wanted to explore another dinghy route in Shroud Cay. This tiny river requires it be done at high tide or you may have to either walk or drag your dinghy back out. This route took us in crystal clear water with brilliant white sand thru low mangrove marsh. It ended at the ocean on the Exuma Sound. Simply breath taking.

We walked the area for a short while as the tide was ebbing and we did not want to be trapped two miles from deep water. When we got back to the boat we got the boat ready to depart to our next stop 21 miles north at Allen Cay. It was a beautiful calm day on the sound. We wiggled our way into an anchorage between two rocky cays and set the hook. While Sue was on the bow looking for coral heads a Bananaquit came and landed on her hand.

Not once but a couple of times. She put out a slice of orange and it came back and had a feast. The small cays here are crawling with Iguanas. They too have been habituated from people feeding them. When you land on shore they come running out looking for a handout. Later the crew from Unplugged showed up. Jean came over and said, “Hey lets go get dinner.”

So we got in the dinghy and headed to the back side of the rocky cay spear poles in hand. We were in 15-20 feet of water but the good news was there was good size fish. I still had not speared an edible size fish and I was determined to get that accomplished. By time we were done I had speared two Lion fish, a Nassau grouper and a Strawberry grouper. Feeling victorious we headed back to the boat. Cleaning the Lion fish takes a bit of precaution as they have venomous spines all over.

So you have to cut them off with kitchen scissors before you clean them. They are an invasive species wreaking havoc on the reef system due to their voracious appetite. So there is no bag limit on them and even better yet they are delicious. They also are very easy to spear as they have no natural predators so they just float around the reef. Actually they are one of the more stunning appearing fish on the reef. Sue and I gorged on a fish bounty for dinner that night. We capped off the night sitting on the sundeck roof staring at the heavens watching shooting stars streak across the night sky.

Sunday April 23rd we made haste and pulled anchor at 8am and headed 50 miles to Current Settlement just south of Spanish Wells on Eluthera Island. Our track would take us across the top the the Exuma Bank which is pockmarked with coral heads. Good visual conditions are a must to avoid hitting the running gear destroying coral. We also put out a line to try to catch some dinner. We hooked a small baracuda shortly after we entered the Exuma Bank. Then about an hour we got a really big strike. I grabbed the pole and saw a 4’ Baracuda jump out of the water. He gave us quite a fight breaching a couple of times until he managed to break the line and swim off. We certainly are not set up for that size of fish but it was fun while it lasted. Once at anchor we went ashore and walked to the settlement of Current. Now you might ask what do they mean by settlement. Well generally it is a concentrated area of houses with little to no business development. Current Settlement did have a small convenience store and a tiny library. The houses and general grounds here are very neat and clean. We sat in front of the library and took advantage of the fast free Wifi so Sue could have a conversation with Jackie about all things Wedding. A local came up and kindly asked if we were in need of supplies as she quickly guessed we were cruisers. She offered to drive us to where we could resupply. We graciously declined as we were headed to a marina the next day. We had a nice quiet evening at anchor and were even able to watch some TV as the cell reception was pretty good here.