Seattle Kayaking Crew: March 2012

Another great guest post, coming from our friends from the Emerald City. On a side note, could you please send us a  bit of the rain you are probably getting?? Thanks, we could sure use it :) Now, on to the good stuff: 

 Day 1: 

Dallas picked us up at 9am from Marshall’s Guesthouse in Georgetown after breakfast at the busy café associated with the motel.  We had shopped Monday at the Exuma market to supplement our food from home (don’t plan Sunday as a shopping day, stores are only open for a couple hours first thing in the morning).   Drove to Barraterre on the N end of Great Exuma, with stops for kayak gear and to fill water containers.  Our group of 5 rented 2 doubles and a single  (along with stove, fuel and sunshade).  Boat packing took a long time—turned out we had too much gear and had to leave some with Dallas.  Our route was Barraterre to Staniel Cay over 6 nights—do-able for us, but not a trip for beginners.  We started with a windy, wavy 5-mile crossing to Norman Pond Cay and camped at our first of many beautiful white sand beaches.  It had been windy for several weeks before we arrived, and wind remained at 15-18 knots per hour throughout our trip (fortunately, though, coming from the East).

 Day 2:

Rainshowers and wind overnight.  Woke up feeling a bit glum about the weather but then looked out of my tent and saw a rare full rainbow which lifted my spirits.  We also learned that, even if it rained, we and our gear would dry quickly in the sun afterwards.  Great day paddling, passing several small islands (some owned by the rich and famous) and camped on Darby Island.  The beach was endless and several of us wanted to stay an extra day but our progress was slower than expected  (due to some combination of unfamiliar boats, a winter without paddling and the weight of a week’s worth of water) so we did not have time for a rest day.  Trip was at time of new moon and sky was a dome of stars every night. 

 Day 3: 

Paddled to our next spot via a large sandbar in the middle of open water we’d heard about from Dallas.  There we met a kitesurfing couple travelling on a sailboat. 

  When we got to our campsite on Big Farmer’s island, their sailboat happened to be anchored off the beach—they came to visit in the evening and then brought us fresh muffins the next morning, a welcome addition to our daily oatmeal.  

 Day 4: 

Paddled to settlement on Little Farmer’s Cay where we paid $4 to dump our garbage and visited JR the local woodcarver; a school group on a day trip was there at the same time.  In addition to kayaking the blue waters of the Bahamas, interacting with the local people was a highlight of the trip.  

Spent the afternoon paddling up Great Guana Cay. Came to a headland (White Point) with campsites on either side—chose the far side where there was only one boat anchored off-shore (other side had a number of boats).  

 Day 5:

Paddled to Black Point on Great Guana Cay, another, larger settlement where we had lunch in a restaurant and talked with an American woman building a house outside of town (we’d paddled past her house that morning).  

 Continued on to Gaulin Cay South, the smaller of the 2 islands with endangered Exuma iguanas. 

This was everyone’s favorite campsite for several reasons; interesting scenery including large rock with occupied osprey nest, short walk over rocks to view of ocean at low tide, good snorkeling…and of course our iguana friends.  

They might not have considered us their friends though because we actually obeyed the signs telling us not to feed them.  One actually seemed to spit at us—or did he/she just sneeze?.

 Day 6: 

Paddled to Bitter Guana, another island with iguanas.  It was our only mild surf landing (the wind had shifted to the Southwest).  Then, we had a challenging paddle kayaking to Staniel Cay; we were glad to arrive in the calm harbor.  And even more glad to have a meal at the Staniel Cay yacht club.  Camped nearby at Big Majors Spot since we were getting picked up on Staniel Cay the next morning.  We were pleasantly surprised to find the best snorkeling of the trip off our campsite.  Two of the 5 of us went out towards evening to see the swimming pigs on the East side of Big Major in a double.  When they returned, the rest of us got a report that a pig tried to jump onto the kayak from the water (perhaps to get at the bag of garbage behind the seat?).  Had snacks for dinner; we’d planned for each of the 5 of us to cook one dinner and had lunch out the 6^th night instead of cooking again.  

 Day 7-8:  

Packed up early and got to Staniel Cay in time for breakfast.  We’d hoped to eat at a local café but only the yacht club was open.  Dallas picked us up around 10:30 and loaded up the motor boat, leaving the kayaks behind to be returned later by the mail boat.  We went to Thunderball grotto but the tide was high and current too strong for us to go in.  Boated down the ocean side of the islands, the calmer side that day; this allowed us to see new territory.  We had a special treat about halfway back to Great Exuma—we saw several dolphins.  Watched them for a while, but by the time we jumped overboard to swim with them they had moved on.  Dallas took us right to our dock at Hideaways at Palm Bay and we ended our trip with 2 nights of luxury.  

 Had a final happy hour on the deck with our favorite camping drink, local rum and pineapple juice.  Perhaps we will return to do another trip, starting from Staniel Cay and heading North into the Land and Sea Park.  Not to be missed while in Georgetown: the weekly Monday night “Rake and Scape” local dance at Eddie’s Edgewater. 

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Thanks again to our Seattle Friends. Hope to see you again someday! :) And thanks for the post and pictures!