Wandering

Tuesday 4/21 - Friday 4/24/09 Tuesday we left Staniel Cay area and travelled north 19 miles to Bell Island and found a nice little cove to anchor in out of the wind. One of the more pleasant nights we've spent in the last few days. No roll and no waves slapping at the hull. We've been in this area before. Cambridge Cay is just a stone's throw down the way so we didn't do any further exploration.

Wednesday the wind shifted making this peaceful anchorage a lumpy spot to stay any longer. We again turned north towards Shroud Cay. Another bumpy ride but not too bad. We arrived at Shroud Cay and anchored near the south end of the island thinking that we would be out of the waves and wind. Wrong! It was peaceful at first but then a swell kicked up about dusk that had the bow crashing into it and the swim platform slapping as the swell passed under the boat. Not a fun night although we did manage to get some sleep. One neat thing while at Shroud was the Manta Ray and the Nurse Shark that kept checking out our boat. We noticed these after I had swam out to check our anchor!

Thursday couldn't come soon enough. After listening to the weather report at 8 am and overhearing a conversation between two other boats we decided to head a few miles south to Hawksbill Cay and tie to a mooring ball. The location was supposed to be better than where we were. Still windy and choppy but not the swells that we had at Shroud. We dropped the dinghy in and went exploring. We shared the uninhabited island with 2 other boats. So running into people wasn't an issue like at Big Majors Spot. Quiet beaches, some nice coral, and a cool sunset.

Friday we checked out the Russell Ruins on the north end of the island. An old settlement dating back into the late 1700's. After a brief hike we found the ruins to be mostly overgrown. Oh well, we need the exercise. Remember. Pam likes this hiking stuff! Wind is still blowing keeping Tourist steadily on the move at the mooring.