








We left Black Point and headed to Sampson Cay on Friday morning. On the way there, we stopped at Big Major Cay which is also known as “Pig Beach.”. The only inhabitants of this island are a few rather large pigs who seem to be well fed by passing cruisers. We had saved a few food scraps to feed them so we were prepared. We watched from our boat and saw that the pigs seemed to be conditioned to the sound of motors coming toward shore. We took our dinghy close to shore and threw some of our food in the water. Three large pigs waded into the water to eat it. As we were getting ready to leave, a motorboat of tourists came up. These people had obviously paid plenty of money for the excursion and they had cups of fresh fruit to feed the pigs. The pigs swam out to the boat and the people put the food into the water to feed them. It was fun to watch but the pigs got a little close to our boat for our comfort!!! In fact, it almost looked as if one of the pigs was going to get into one of the other dinghies when some people tried to feed it!
Our anchorage tonight was at Sampson Cay. The island has a few nice buildings that looked like they were private homes. There is also a marina here. We decided to stay on board and have dinner on the boat. We had several sailboats in this anchorage with us. One was a large sailboat about 85 feet long named “Seahawk”. There was a crew onboard this boat who were obviously busy getting ready for the arrival of the boat’s owners. They were very busy cleaning and polishing this beautiful boat.
Our next stop was just a short sail away to Hawksbill Cay. This island is a part of the Exuma Park. There were some ruins there from the days of the Loyalist plantation owners who had fled colonial America in the late 1770’s. Wonderful beaches there, we had them all to ourselves.
We set sail for Shroud Cay right after a nice night at Hawksbill. It was just around the corner from us. We got a call on the radio from our friends, Rick and Doreen on “Breathless” and they invited us to go with them through the mangroves at Shroud. Our friends had done this several times before so we were glad to have someone to show us the way. Because the water is so shallow through the mangroves, you can only get your dinghy in at high tide. We wound around the clearing in the mangroves through the crystal clear water from the ocean side of the island. When we got to the end, we left our dinghies and walked up a small hill . On the other side, was a nice beach. We walked on the beach and did a little beachcombing. It is amazing the kinds of things that wash ashore! We did not find any treasures but we definitely will put this spot on our list to return to in the future!
Late in the afternoon, we headed for the anchorage at Norman’s Cay. As we came into the anchorage, we looked at the boats and were surprised to see one that we recognized! We had spent some time with a very nice couple while staying on our boat in the Dry Tortugas four years ago! Pat and Kat live in Sarasota and have a sailboat named “Jade”. We had corresponded with them only a few times since meeting them and knew that they had been cruising in the Bahamas a few times. We were very glad to have the chance to spend some more time to catch up with them. Unfortunately, they are headed the opposite way on this trip but we will definitely get in touch with them when we all get back home to Florida.
We were hoping to stay to stay to explore Norman’s but the wind was perfect for our sail farther north. We decided to leave and get a little closer to Nassau. The day was just perfect and we sailed all of the way to Rose Island. Tomorrrow (Tuesday), we will sail just about four miles to Nassau.. We plan to stay in the marina there and get some things done. This will definitely be a “work day” because this destination had all of the modern conveniences of civilization: a grocery store, laundry facility, and internet nearby! We also plan to get fuel and water for the boat before we head to the Berry Islands, then Key Largo on Monday about 5 days from now. Then it’s back towards Tampa after that.
Glad your provisions are holding out. I could just imagine, Billy trying to wrestle one of those beasts into bacon, ham sandwiches, tenderloin!
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