2024: Bahama Exuma Island tour by dinghy

 20 March 2024

Depart: Georgetown anchorage 2:55

Arrive: Stocking Island anchorage 3:55

Distance: 3.6 nm

Conditions: Sunny and Breezy

Clark thought that today would be a good day to go island hopping and take some hikes. We got ourselves together and got going. We left from the boat anchored near Georgetown (bottom left in picture) and traveled by dinghy along Stocking Island.

Shortly after we got underway, I had a major mishap! I looked down and my right hiking shoe had, quite literally, come unglued! That would make hiking interesting to say the least. Only two of the straps had disconnected themselves, so maybe there was still hope. 

As we progressed, the show fell apart more and more. Then the other one decided to fall apart as well. This was not the day to go hiking! Clark said we could do the beach tour by dinghy today and come out again tomorrow to do the hikes!

Hiking sole fell off completely on the right shoe.

We passed a few beaches that we had heard about on the Boaters' Net over VHF Ch. 72.

Volleyball at "DaSandBar"

Swings at DaSandBar.com

DaSandBar.com

Tomorrow we can hike up to see the monument up close.

As we continued our tour, we passed lots of interesting terrain. I find it fascinating since it is so different than anything I am used to.

Tree as white as chalk

Cave in the coral

Two paddle boarders passed us by on their way to a beach.

In sharp contrast to the rugged terrain, we did see some very nice houses like the one shown below.

Clark found hurricane holes 3, 2, and 0 on the chart. No #1 though. He took the dinghy in for a look around. The further in we went the more protected it became as well as the more shallow the water.

House Boat rentals?

Snappy Turtle Bar & Grill

Kevalli House Marina Cottages

We had to watch the buoys carefully here as the water got pretty shallow coming in.

Trail marker?

Trail up from beach

Clark watched the depth closely so as not to hit bottom with the dinghy prop. Further along we saw two deep-draft boats. How did they get in here?

The lighter the water, the more shallow the water. If the water is sand colored, watch out.

solar-lit buoys through here

Pink houses are popular in the Bahamas

The lack of sea life and birds has amazed me on this visit to the Bahamas. I was so happy to see an egret today wading in the growth at the edge of the water.

Egret!

As we exited the most remote hurricane hole, I spied a collection of houseboats. Now how did they get here. With their flat bottoms, they didn't cross the Atlantic on their own for sure.

About now it was past lunch time. With more to see, Clark suggested we grab lunch at "Chat & Chill". I looked down at my broken shoe and wondered how I would manage. The beaches here have tiny seed pods all over them with sharp spines that are wicked to step on. I decided to rip the outer layer sole off my hiking shoe and hope the rest of it did the job. That worked well enough to order food and walk around a bit while we waited for our order to come up.

Arriving at "Chat & Chill" Bar & Grill

Our dinghy is bulky and heavy so we can't beach it like the one shown above. Clark set a stern anchor to hold it off shore. Stuck an oar in the sand to use as a stake and tied the dinghy off so we could go explore.

Clark rigging the dinghy so 
it doesn't drift away while we eat.

This beach was interesting with lots of things to do and look at.

Tire swing  that got a lot of use
from the visiting children

Road sign to places all over the world

I studied the road sign as I sat waiting for lunch to be prepared. I wanted to find an arrow for a place I knew. I found one near the top (5th one down) for "Danvers MA" where friends of ours, Alice and Tim, live, and Clark's cousin lived for a number of years.

Clark decided we should try out the swing for a selfie. I saw two problems with that - one: my hips were too wide to fit and two: I felt sure the swing would collapse under our joint weight.

Selfie in swing

Narrow swing for the two of us and the
Lines look thin!

Down the way a bit we found the Conch Bar with a man cleaning the shells and tossing them into a pile, and what a pile it was!

Empty conch shells. Sad!

We found a shady spot in the picnic table area to eat our lunch.

Volleyball Net not currently in use

For a while we watched the folks getting friendly with the rays that came to visit. One swam behind Clark as he worked to fix his anchor. At that time we did not know how friendly they were to the visitors! Apparently, they love to come in to say hello and get petted.

High five!

When we ordered our food, we were told it would be about 20 minutes wait. We were lucky it only took half an hour to get the burgers and fries we ordered at the low, low total price of only $19!

Chat & Chill Bar

After we ate, we headed back to "Sunset Delight". Clark wanted to go to the dinghy dock near the NAPA auto parts store to go shopping. Given the time, however, he suggested that we move "Sunset Delight" to a new anchorage spot closer to the Monument for hiking tomorrow and closer as well to the NAPA store for shopping.

My dilapidated shoes went in the trash as soon as I got off the dinghy. I changed to better footwear and we pulled up the anchor. After traveling 3.6 nautical miles, we dropped anchor near the Monument beach (shown at top right in picture of chart at beginning of Blog entry).

Just after 7:00, the sun was setting and we got some pictures at the new anchorage site.

The monument near sunset