Shroud Cay- Natural Lazy River

Our Thunderball Grotto adventures wrapped up pretty early since we got a headstart on our day, so we hoisted the tender, lifted the anchor, and moved on to Shroud Cay, which is still part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. There is a natural lazy river on Shroud and it sounded like a great next adventure. 

We were underway for a short jaunt before dropping the anchor, applying sunscreen, and loading into the tender. Ben put air in Big Bertha, a multiperson inflatable tube, so that the 5 kids could ride in that while the 4 adults were in the tender, freeing up some space for our journey.

There are 2 different natural lazy rivers to explore on Shroud Cay, and both were pretty close to where we anchored. We set off on the southern river and kept our eyes peeled for anything interesting. I mentioned that if I was a sea turtle I'd definitely be living in this area because it was calm and peaceful, away from the boats and people. The depth of the river was deeper than we were tall, so we stuck our feet over the edge of the tender to enjoy the cool water while the sun beat down on the rest of us. As we got further in, the depth got shallower, so we got out of the tender to float down the river. Ben held the line of the tender and kept it closeby. There was a small current pulling in the direction we were headed and it pulled us along. At times, those of us who are more vertically challenged had to float or hold a boat handle to get through deeper segments. It got progressively deeper and even our tall people weren't able to reach, so we loaded back into the tender and Big Bertha, stating it would only be until we could see when it got shallow again.

We were all a fan of cooling down and exploring by floating along the shallow parts of the lazy river.

All we had to do was kick up our feet and float while the current pulled us.

It wasn't long before we started seeing sea turtles. It can be tricky to spot a sea turtle from a boat because, at first, they look like a round piece of coral or a patch of sea grass, but as they're approached, they zoom off. (Seriously, they're super speedy!) Every now and then we'd find one and watch it long enough to see its head pop up to get a breath of air. We all would take turns announcing when we spotted one and were giddy to be able to see them. I knew the turtles would love this place!

The dark circle was one of the first turtles we spotted.

It is a little easier to see the turtle in the water here.

While on the lookout for turtles and driving the tender, Ben spotted a 7-foot nurse shark swimming in the same direction we were headed, over by the mangroves. Everyone saw it and gasped. No one was expecting to see one there. By that point, we were all thankful we were out of the water and no one asked to get back in after seeing that. Had we seen the shark before getting in the water, I don't think anyone would've gotten in! That would've definitely changed my feelings about this location, which quickly became my number one stop so far.

Shark spotting!

My brother-in-law and I had been eyeing a cloud that seemed to loom overhead and become darker with each passing second. There was a beautiful beach that looked to be a thin piece of land with the ocean on the other side. Everyone wanted to get out and play there, but the impending storm made the adults nix the idea. Watching the cloud move quickly, it wasn't long before it was over our heads, pouring on us. It was a little chilly, but welcomed, due to the heat we were experiencing only a few minutes prior. We couldn't do anything about it or escape from it, so we all just soaked it in and laughed, chalking it up to memories made. I looked back to see the 4 kids on the floor of Big Bertha, with Bear (she must've pulled the short straw) on top of them all, acting like a human umbrella. The 4 adults and my 16-year-old niece were thankful for hats and sunnies to somewhat keep the rain out of our eyes.

A beautiful picture that will become a core memory! We wanted to stop here and explore, but the clouds had other plans for us.

Like storms in the Bahamas do, this one ended after 10 minutes. Of course, we were almost back to the Cartermaran when the sun came out. We set up the Rubber Dockie and jumped and played off the boat. 

Some of us were helping a father and son on a jetski who got separated from their vessel. They came up to our boat while we were playing outside and asked us to help them. We tried contacting their family on the radio, by calling on a phone, and sending texts, with no luck. We were able to charge their phone for a bit so they'd have that and then sent them on their way. About 2 days later, we found out they were successfully reunited!

The next morning, we woke up ready to take on the northern lazy river, with hopes of finding a beach on which to set up camp. Ben read that this one was the more shallow river, so we were looking forward to a peaceful float down this river too. We didn't get in because we saw at least 20 turtles and were enjoying watching them from the Chicken.

As we rounded a corner, we happened upon our own beach at low tide where the lazy river met the ocean, similar to what we had seen the previous day and wanted to stop and enjoy, but couldn't because of the storm. It was evident that at high tide, the waters were all connected, so we made it there at the perfect time. The kids loved jumping the violent smashing ocean waves, playing in the soft sand, and running down the hill into the water. I don't know which made it more enjoyable- being there and having the place to ourselves or watching the kids have the time of their lives.

This beach was accessed by the lazy river, but actually met up with the ocean, which is where the kids are playing in this picture.

Our plan for the morning was to spend a little time exploring this lazy river, hopefully, do a quick beach stop (check!), and return to the Cartermaran allowing enough time for us to travel down to Compass Cay and explore there before too many people got there to do the same thing. Although we were enjoying ourselves, we knew we wanted to get to Compass Cay. So many of us were back and forth about this decision though, because of the opportunity cost. Did we really want to give up what we were soaking in and enjoying for something that could be better or could be worse?!

Low tide makes for a sandy and entertaining beach until it is time to get back in the tender and go to the Cartermaran. We read on the maps about how part of the lazy river is inaccessible during low tide, but we figured with such a low draft, we'd be okay. Turns out, even low-drafting tenders could get stuck too. Every now and then the adults had to jump out of the tender in order to reduce the draft even more and sometimes this even included pulling the tender through the most shallow parts. All of the in and out got annoying, so my sister and I decided to join the kids in Big Bertha. The swing of that thing, while the tender was driving was extreme! We thought it was pretty funny.

This was what it looked like at one point in our journey while walking the lazy river.

Staniel Cay and Thunderball Grotto

Staniel Cay is one of the most frequented Exumas by tourists. This place is home to the Thunderball Grotto and Staniel Cay Yacht Club, along with swimming pigs and iguanas nearby. Often people take a day trip on a boat with other tourists to get here and check off swimming with the pigs, feeding the iguanas, and swimming with sharks. Staniel Cay has an airport, so that's another way to get to this cay. Others, who own or charter a boat, stay overnight or longer to find their own adventures both on and off the cay.

Last summer, after being in the Bahamas for just under 2 weeks, we started making a list of things we wanted to see and do this summer. I put the list on a Google doc and organized it by island grouping. There was a ton on my list for the Exumas since we thought we'd be there for most of our summer (no thanks to our engine trouble...). When we found out my sister and her family would be joining us in the Exumas, I sent her my long list and asked which things she wanted to do with us. The number one thing she wanted to do was snorkel Thunderball Grotto, which is about 90 miles from George Town. That's quite the distance in a trawler, but we had following seas, so that was in our favor over our 2-day jaunt (62 miles the first day and 30ish the next). We figured heading as far north as we wanted to go, first, would give us more time to make smaller day trips and stops along our way back south. Ben's quote of the trip for my sister and her family was, "Only 6 more miles," because it seemed like no matter how much time had gone by that's how much longer he'd announce we had left to travel. The first day of travel seemed to drag on and on. In reality, the sites he wanted to stop at proved not capable for our boat due to the water conditions, so he had to keep picking new endpoints, resulting in a much longer trip than we all anticipated. 

In the early afternoon of our second travel day, we arrived at Staniel Cay. It had been since Nassau the week before that we had seen fuel that was of good quality, so we took advantage of this and filled up a quarter tank for $6.78/gallon. When we are at a fuel dock, the engines and generator are turned off, so we don't have air conditioning or much of a breeze and it gets hot pretty quickly. The kids were all looking off the bow at the fish swimming around the marina and spotted some 6-inch-long Sergeant Majors (which were huge compared to the ones we had been seeing while swimming) and a nurse shark! They were thrilled.

Looking down off the starboard side of the boat, between the dock and the Cartermaran, this school of Sargeant Majors was swimming around and full of entertainment for us.

Thunderball Grotto was just offshore of Staniel Cay, so we pushed off the fuel dock and anchored about 100 yards away from the grotto entrance. Being early afternoon and knowing we'd be close to local eats, we hadn't eaten while underway, so we took the tender back to Staniel Cay Yacht Club's dinghy dock and went ashore. The water was so inviting that a few members of our family went for a quick dip, both intentionally and unintentionally. 

From the shore, looking out at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club docks and Thunderball Grotto, in the distance.

Google listed a restaurant within walking distance of the marina, so we started walking toward it. One of the yacht club workers was hopping back into her golf cart and asked us where we were headed. We told her and she told us it wasn't open until 4 and gave us a few other options and offered to drive us. We took her up on her offer and she brought us to Bottom Line Restaurant, which was in their first 3 weeks of being open. The 9 of us selected our meals- 3 of us had cheeseburgers, 3 had Mahi, 3 had chicken wings, and all 9 of us ordered some Goombay Punch. Everything was delicious and we all finished everything on our plates! That doesn't happen very often, especially with the 5 kids.

This little restaurant had a warm and colorful greeting, right off the bat!

They even have a dinghy dock for quick access from the boat!

The view out the window by our table was picture-perfect!

The chicken wings that everyone wished they ordered because they were so delicious.

A cheeseburger with all the fixins, just how Bear likes it.

Mahi

There wasn't anyone around with a golf cart when we left the restaurant, so we walked back to the marina, with a stop at the grocery store where we bought 10 bottles of Goombay Punch for the boat.

Part of my favorite part of going ashore is taking in all of the beautiful colors of flowers, houses, and water from land. Why isn't it acceptable for our houses back home to be painted so beautifully? I'm always in awe of the simplicity of island life.

beautiful island colors

more colors

Back at the dinghy dock, we loaded up and ventured around the water, scouting out the grotto and its surroundings, all while trying not to mention too many things that would make Bear not want to join us in the water. We pulled around toward the entrance of the grotto when a group of snorkelers was headed inside as the tide was on its way out, which was perfect because that was the part I was nervous about. Their heads and snorkels were easy to spot as they made their way under the cave wall before disappearing inside. Watching this got everyone excited, some even thinking about going right then.

"Welcome to Thunderball Grotto. No fishing. Take only photos," is written on the sign.

 If you look in the shadows between the rock groupings, you can see a person with a snorkel getting ready to enter the grotto.

Between my sister and I, we did all the research we could. Over and over again, we read that the best time to go was slack tide, especially because we were bringing our kids, ages 16, 11, 11, 8, and 5. I was mostly worried about our 5-year-old, Roo, swimming with a strong current and needing to hold her breath for a bit to duck underwater to get under the wall and into the grotto. 

Low tide for the next day was at 8:24 am. My sister and I were wondering if that would be early enough to avoid all of the tourist boats from nearby islands. Our research said over and over again slack tide, which we knew was different than low tide, so we did some quick research on slack tide and found out the slack part is referring to the current, not the tide. Slack is the time between tide changes and lasts about 45 minutes and as the tide starts to go in or out, the current picks up. Slack current happens 1 hour before and 1 hour after both high and low tide, and we knew needed to go during the low tide window. Since we were going to be in the covered grotto, our plan was to skip the sunscreen and wear swim shirts, then apply sunscreen after we were done and back at the boat so we could load up on the tender around 7 am. Both my sister and I are known for being less punctual than we plan, so we figured making the plan to leave at 7 would give us a little buffer and still be at the grotto an hour before low tide. 

For the remainder of the evening, we sat on the foredeck and made a plan for the next few days, trying to pack in as much Exuma fun as possible. Unfortunately, it was trash-burning day and the gusts kept blowing our way. It was difficult to sit outside for very long as we continued to smell all of the smoke.

The smoke column from trash day, clearly visible from our anchorage, was stinking up our outdoor experience.

It wasn't too long after 7 the next morning when all 9 of us were ready. Setting out everyone's bathing suits, snorkel, and life vest the night before was super helpful in getting us out as close to 7 as we did. Boarding the tender, we saw that no boats were anchored at the entrance and we were hopeful that we'd have the place to ourselves for a little bit.

Ben was the first one all geared up and ready, so we sent him out to scope the entrance and let us know if we came at a decent time. He got to the entry and yelled back to us, "Hurry up! It's even better than in the pictures!" He swam back and one by one we all jumped out of the tender and swam in a line to the grotto entrance. Bear was not enjoying herself and everyone else was going in, so I had to turn her around and give her a shove to keep her going. There were gasps and remarks from everyone as they got in and looked around- at the fish swimming under and around us, at the grotto walls, and at the openings over us. Bear's gasps were from hyperventilating, not in awe.

Inside, there were hundreds of fish just swimming around with us. The coral and fish were abundant, in part because Thunderball Grotto is inside the Exuma Land and Sea Park boundary, so there is no fishing or taking anything allowed. The first morning light was starting to peek through the water before streaming through the grotto openings in the ceiling as time passed.

Everyone swam to all of the edges of the grotto, looking out underneath where the rock ended and it looked like the water had no upper boundary. It was like we were swimming in a mushroom stem and the grotto ceiling was the canopy, just barely touching the water.

Under one of the canopies, Ben, who had Roo snorkeling by laying on his back while he swam, announced to everyone that he saw a shark. I was so upset at him because Bear, who I was swimming with and trying to settle down, looked at me and started freaking out when she heard his announcement, which was more like a yell. She wasn't the only one to freak out, so he clarified that it was under the grotto wall and beyond, so it wasn't close or coming our way, thankfully.

Bear finally managed to calm down and start to enjoy herself. She said she started to calm down when she realized she paddled with her hands and it kept the fish from swimming too close to her.

Snorkel Smiles from inside the grotto!

Spelunking the grotto lasted for about 45 minutes and we had the place all to ourselves. We explored every edge, nook, and cranny. Ben and my sister saw a small crevice near the entrance that they wanted to explore on our way out. A few of the big kids swam back to the tender, with my brother-in-law, while the 2 little kids took this crevice with me, my sister, and Ben. We saw a giant lobster (my sister swore it was the size of a small dog, but that was debatable) tucked into some rocks and had to climb up and over a rock fragment to get all the way through. Our two rock-climbing kids enjoyed themselves in this part, as the walls inside the grotto weren't conducive to climbing. This path took us out and around the island as the sun was coming up, illuminating the water, and waking up more of the sea life. We saw another giant lobster in the coral outside. Moose swam back to me and pointed out while shrieking inside his snorkel. 

Since my brother-in-law didn't see the crevice passageway, my sister wanted to take him through it. I wasn't going to go with them, but decided to join them and Moose. Once we were out and circling back to the tender, two boats were starting to anchor and head into the grotto. They asked us how the current was and we told them it was a perfect time to go in, but was starting to pick up, so be careful.

Staniel Cay was a great place to stop. I understand why so many people frequent this cay and know we will be back someday!

Great Exuma

Because the waves were predicted to be 5-6 feet and 7 seconds apart in the Exuma Sound, we went as far south as we could on the west side of the Exuma chain, where the waves were much more tolerable, about 2 feet at 4 seconds apart. It was an additional 30 or so miles, but I'd take that over big-wave anxiety any day.

Our depth reader has been hit or miss with whether it's been working or not, so between 2 charts and having people watch on the foredeck, we have been good. Ben swam down to clean off the sensor, but it didn't help, so we have been helping out in questionable locations. This south cut, Black Cay Cut, just above Great Exuma was looking shallow on the map and narrow on our approach, but we made it through without any issues.

Ben found an anchorage for us, approaching the sound, that had a few rocky islands to act as a barrier from the rough waves. When we got there, we didn't realize one of those islands had pigs on them. We used the binoculars to peek at them and saw a bunch of smaller pigs with at least 2 huge pigs. With the iguana incident and knowing how aggressive the pigs can be, we were hesitant to go visit the pigs, so we just watched from afar.

The things on the beach are the pigs.

Our first mission in Great Exuma was to find a way to get my sister and her family from the airport to us. After doing some research, we found Exuma Point Beach Resort, toward the north end of the island in Rolleville. They had a restaurant and a dock, so we went there for lunch to get the scoop on how to pick up our family. Upon our arrival, we found out they were setting up for a wedding, so they were closed early that day. Ben chatted with the event coordinator who gave him the number of someone who would rent him a car on Monday to drive around the island and, more importantly, to the airport and back. We were also pointed in a direction of a restaurant that would be open, so we loaded up in the Chicken and went a bit south to Shoreline Beach Resort.

That's the Chicken docked all by itself in the beautiful water.

Between the trees, you can see an archway, which is the backdrop for the wedding. Notice where the seaweed got cleared... right behind the archway. Ha! The blue and white building is the restaurant.

We got some orders of coconut shrimp, egg rolls, a conch burger, and fish tacos. Moose decided he wanted a conch burger, and with him being our pickiest eater and having never tried it before, he surprised us by devouring 2/3 of it. Roo finished the other 3rd. Bear didn't care for it and ate her egg rolls. Last summer, the only ones who tried conch were me and Ben. Happy to have 4 of the 5 of us like eating it.

Our view from Shoreline Beach Resort's dining area.

While waiting for Ben to pay the bill, the kids and I explored the hammocks and swings for a bit. Moose said he couldn't see the Cartermaran and then Ben couldn't see it. I looked out and saw it, where we left it, hidden in front of the rocky islands, but Ben insisted the anchor slipped and it was going to run into the island behind it. I think he didn't realize how far south we went, so our perspective from when he saw it last had shifted quite a bit. We sped back to the boat, where it was nestled, anchor all snug in the sand, where we left it.

Climbing onto the Cartermaran from the Chicken was quite bouncy and we didn't notice the roughness when we originally arrived. Once we were in the cabin, I couldn't do much without feeling like I'd be sick, so I took Dramamine and called it a night.

No one slept well (except me because I took the Dramamine!) and we knew we had to move. Ben convinced me we would be okay to move further south on the sound side, as it would be less than 2 hours travel time. He didn't think the waves would be as bad as they said. In true Ben fashion, he tricked me into going because he said we could just turn around and come back if it was too bad. The waves were 4-5 ft and 9 seconds apart. Not too bad, but it was uncomfortable and had me quite anxious. Each time we took a big wave and the boat slammed down, I was yelling at Ben in my head telling him we should've stayed because turning around would be even worse.

Inlets are the worst part of passage days. Not only do you have big waves as predicted on the sound, but wave size, mixed with current strength and wind speed, along with the direction of each all work together to create a ton of anxiety in me. Ha! Kidding. Kinda. They work together to create the sea conditions and amplify the conditions in the inlets. (If you wanna see this in action with some daring boaters, search Haulover Inlet on Instagram reels. You'll see what I mean.) Our Thin Red Line flag and wooden pole didn't agree with the conditions of this inlet and, sadly, jumped ship. I ran to grab them as they landed on the tender and davit, but as I reached out, they slid between the tender and the Cartermaran. Casualty #2 for the summer.

Elizabeth Harbor welcomed us with much smoother waters as we cruised to our anchorage just west of Stocking Island. Just across this harbor sits George Town, which is where we needed to pick up our family. Their taxi ride from the airport would be much shorter to the Exuma Markets in George Town than to the resort in Rolleville.

We rode on the tender across the harbor to see if the marina had any transient slips available the next night, to make it easier to get my sister, her family, and their luggage aboard. Ben had been trying to call them on the radio and the phone numbers we found listed in several resources, with no luck. As we pulled up, it was apparent why the lines were disconnected and no one answered on the radio- it was no longer an operational marina.

My boating friends on Instagram have always posted things about George Town and the one way to get onto the island under a cute little bridge, so I was excited to spot that and go under it into Lake Victoria. There were a few docks to tie up to and head into town. We didn't tie up, but scouted out where my sister would need to tell the taxi driver to take them so we could meet them at the dock. On our way back under the bridge, Ben spotted our first sea turtle, which we were all very excited about. We were just talking about how last summer we saw 1 shark and a lot of turtles and this summer, so far, was the opposite. There were a lot of shark sightings and no turtles. Maybe we would be seeing more and tie the count!

The bridge is a one way road that circles around Lake Victoria. This part of the road is headed north. Interesting fact: all of the major roads on the islands throughout the Bahamas is called "Queen's Highway".

Check out the rolling waves as we approach the bridge.

Looking up the dinghy dock into the walkway to get to town. The warehouse-looking building is the Exuma Markets building. It is more similar to a convenience store at home than a grocery store.

In our anchorage, of course, there was a beach with no one on it. The Exumas alone have 365 islands to explore, so it is very easy not to be in the same place as someone else at any given time, unless it is well-known or a well-established tourist attraction. We loaded up on the tender and rode over to play and explore. Ben found an L shaped piece of wood that he modified and turned into our new flag pole. Walking along the beach, I found a swing. This was something I wanted to do while we were here, so I got on it. I was sad that it wasn't over the water, but swang anyway.

Our beach site for the day was super close to the Cartermaran! Even though we had a few other boats anchored nearby, we had the beach all to ourselves.

Beach site, looking west into Elizabeth Harbor.

Clouds started rolling in and we were watching them trying to decide which way they were moving. Ben said he'd go back to the boat, pack up some food for lunch on the beach, and come get us if it started to rain. As he was getting in the Chicken, the first drops fell. I told him to wait so we could all go back. We quickly threw everything into the tender, in what was now a downpour. Ben had a hard time getting the engine to start, but once he finally got it, the rain had stopped. Since we already were packed up, we went back to the Cartermaran anyways. The kids fished for the rest of the afternoon, eyeing an 18" bonefish that kept swimming around our boat and they wanted to snag, but were unsuccessful in catching it or anything else.

You can see the bonefish, pictured here swimming just above the post.

On the 4th of July, I always take pics of my kiddos. It has been my favorite holiday for as long as I can remember. There was decent weather in the early morning, but we were cleaning up and doing laundry inside the cabin and trying to come up with a plan for picking up our family. By the time the kids were dressed, it got cloudy and was raining, so we waited out the storm.

When all was clear, the kids got super excited and told me the swing was now over the water. Guess where we took our 4th of July (and a few other) pics!? On the swing over the water!

Since their flight was landing at 5 and the grocery store closes at 6, we went to pick up a few food requests for my sister and her family. Masks are still required indoors in the Bahamas, but it was interesting to see how many tourists didn't have one and how many Bahamians wore them incorrectly. No one seemed to be concerned about it.

This was our first time inside a non-US grocery store. It was much smaller than your typical grocery store at home, even smaller than a Dollar Tree. There were probably 6-8 aisles of food, paper supplies, and beverages. We snaked up and down the aisles, looking for our items and grabbed a few more impulse purchases. Grand total: $150 for about 20 items. Ben says it's ~30% more expensive than at home and didn't think it was too bad. Before leaving the US, I was drinking Hint waters pretty regularly. You can get a 12 pack for $13.50 at home. I saw one bottle of the same size as I usually buy, for over $5!! Wow. I couldn't help but wonder if it is because it is bottled in plastic. I packed our groceries into our reusable and cooler bags, then took the bags and the kids to the tender while Ben took the trash to the trash truck (paid $2 per bag) and grabbed some beers before meeting us at the Chicken.

The rain was on and off all afternoon, so we spent most of the day in the cabin. We got the text that my sister was in a taxi, so Ben took 6 giant black trash bags to cover their luggage and the tender to the dinghy dock in Lake Victoria to meet them. He walked up to the store and as soon as he took a seat on the porch, he saw our family emerge from a taxi. They got back to the tender, got a bit wet on their ride to the Cartermaran, and were greeted by all kinds of squeals and screams from the 4 of us.

Chat N Chill is a popular spot among Exuma tourists and the boating community. It was on our list of places to check out, so once our family arrived, we loaded up all 9 of us into the tender for a 4th of July dinner. When we got there around 6:30, it looked desolate, but we figured it was because they were wrapping up for the night. Apparently it closed before 7 on the 4th of July. We saw the Snappy Turtle Bar and Grill, just across the bay and decided to go there as backup. Ben took the empty (and much lighter) tender and the other 8 of us started walking. Bear spotted a tiny sea star as the waves were washing ashore. We all examined it and Ben came back before we made it to him reporting that restaurant had an expensive buffet (we won't pay $60/kid who doesn't eat that much), so pasta on the boat, it was!

Tiny sea star found by Bear that brought joy to everyone.