Cave, Sampson, Pipe, and Shroud Cays 1/12-1/15

We decided to move on and explore some new places. Since the winds have not been good for going south and were not forcasted to improve for that direction, we went North and decided to check out a bunch of the cays we skipped when we were going south the first time.

On 1/12 we sailed to Cave Cay. The waves were forcasted to be kind of big (5-7) feet because of the recent windiness, so we weren't looking forward to that, but it actually went quite well. The waves were that big, but since we were going North/northwest, it didn't feel like we were fighting the waves or ploughing right into them. That really makes all the difference. Sadly sometimes you have to go against the stuff and it is not so pleasant. So anyway, we had a good sail and made excellent time -7-9 knots per hour. We got to Cave Cay early afternoon and dinghied around and took a few pictures. We had only been there an hour or two and decided that we might move on a little more. So we sailed on the banks side -much calmer- a few more hours and anchored at Sampson Cay. It was a really good sailing day.

 

On 1/13 after our church service we decided to go explore the area in the dinghy. We went up through a really pretty area called Pipe Creek. It is a shallow area with lots of small cays and rocks and is perfect for the dinghy. We did some of the best snorkeling we have found anywhere here and then we found a new favorite beach. It was at Pipe Cay and had a a big beautiful shallow area and we found tons of beautiful conch shells as well as lots of live conch. We took a few to cook up. We had a nice day.

another amazing sunset... soon after anchoring at shroud cay

 

 

 

camp driftwood

1/14 We sailed up to Shroud Cay and had good sailing weather again. Nice to have wind with a broad reach lately and have even been able to use the spinaker again -for the first time since being in Georgia.  All this time since Georgia we have had winds at a close reach.  We spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday checking out Shroud Cay.  It has many creeks with mangroves that are fun to explore by dinghy. We also hiked up the trail to camp driftwood and it was a pretty point.It is called camp driftwood because people have made things out of trash and driftwood that has floated to the beach. There were a couple of driftwood -statues and they were funny. The little beach there also had the softest, finest sand we have ever felt. That was nice.