Complete privacy in Boysie Cay

Saturday 15 Feb, BHS day 47, from Lee Stocking Cay to Boysie Cay: Magical Boysie Cay with no other boat in sight, so time for my bath tub!

Last night, drums sounds started on our stern just after we went to bed, as the tide turned. Earplugs and the exertion after our afternoon hikes did the trick and we managed to sleep through all that noise. We wake up refreshed and ready for another day of action. Today we have a long-ish journey ahead of us, 24 miles to George Town.

Now that our time into the Exuma is coming to an end, during breakfast we have a chat with regards to our cruising plans. Remember how we kind of went from plan A (cross Panama Canal this season) to plan B (haul-out in Trinidad for the summer)? Well, now we bring into discussion plan C: haul out back in Herrington Harbour in the Chesapeake, again. The reasons would be: no bashing upwind 1,000 miles, putting unnecessary strain and wear on Cloudy; too long of a journey back east just to visit the ABCs next season; land storage less expensive in US compared to Trinidad; named storms insurance premium is ridiculously expensive; and the list goes on. Now that we voiced plan C, we are both dwelling on it in the back of our minds. So it was a very relaxing morning onboard, savoring our coffees, discussing, and flying the drone to get the morning aerial view of Lee Stockings.

Two hours before high tide Glen heads out in the dinghy with the hand held depth sounder to survey the shallow areas to get out of here. Depth is just enough already, so time to go. Anchor comes up with a big lump of sand, and takes longer than normal for me to wash it clean.
With Mahina leading the way, we are out through the Adderly Cut just before noon, and into the deep water of the Exuma Sound.
8kts of true wind, almost dead on the nose, so we carry on motoring. The sea is still lumpy but less than the previous two days. As usual in these conditions, main sail comes out to steady us. Only this time it refuses to unfurl. At the mast, Glen shouts “main out”. And in the cockpit I press the button on the pedestal like I normally do. But nothing happens.
Time for the remote control of the furling systems to prove itself. And thankfully it works like a charm. Its purpose as a back-up furling system has made its mark. Brilliant! After a bit of investigation it seems the switch on the pedestal is faulty. Another one for the jobs list.

We continue to motor-sail parallel to the coast as we make water. The fishing line is out and very soon it’s the usual bzzzzz as it reels out. We have to warn Mahina we have a fish, just before they run over it! But it’s the same type of fish we caught in Turks & Caicos (which we could not identify), so back in it goes.

Glen is looking at the chart and the notes I took as Pete Goss showed us all the best places to see in the Exumas. We are passing the only place on his list which we have not yet visited – a beautiful beach and blow hole on Boysie Cay. In the space of two minutes we have a discussion then out of the blue (as we do!) we divert 90deg to starboard heading for Rat Cay Cut. We let Mahina know on VHF that we are going in for a quick day stop then continuing to George Town. And, that was our intention. It’s now 1pm and we calculate we must be on our way again by 2:30pm, to arrive in George Town before dark.

As we come through the cut we are greeted yet again by electric blue water as we anchor behind Boysie Cay in 4m of water, and the dinghy is in the water quick as a flash. But before head off for a dinghy tootle, Glen flies the drone to get the scene and see what there is to see. We immediately spot the beach that Pete mentioned.
At 1:30pm we are heading off in the dinghy. The light wind conditions and for once totally cloudless skies make it a unique day to match the scenery. I don’t think we can ever get enough of riding the dinghy through this crystal clear water.

We arrive at the beach a bit disappointed to find a tripper boat there. But the guests are soon horded back aboard and they speed off to their next destination. We can immediately see two key features that make this little beach so special.
Firstly, the westerly beach is facing into the calm waters of the Bahama banks, but in the middle of the limestone that backs the beach is a narrow cut, no more than 2m (7ft) wide that joins direct to the rough waters on the eastern side of the cay. The waves come crashing through the cut into a small natural pool on the beach side, making it like a wave pool that you find in modern water parks.
Secondly, there is a small but ferocious blow hole. There are two spouts, neither more than 30cm across. You can hear the pressure building with a whoosh of air, then kaboom! The pressured water arrives and shoots high in the air. It’s quite a sight to see. And we now have the whole place to ourselves to explore and to take photos and video. And before we know it, our deadline for departure has passed. So we decide to stay the night! Easy decision when you are again in paradise 🙂

We continue on the dinghy, first to go around Square Rock, a small island with very large wave-cuts, meaning the island overhangs the water by 3-4m, making it look like a giant mushroom. Then we zip down the back of Rat Cay and explore its cute beaches backed by the usual lush vegetation. We also spot a tent on a beach of a small deserted island. We dinghy up to it and sure enough there are campers there. We don’t see people but they are well set up there. No sign of any boat so we guess they must have been dropped off there. Another first for us, to find camping on such an island.

Now, this morning, we took the emergency kit (VHF, flares, tools kit etc) out of the dinghy to sort it out. And guess what happened. Yes, the outboard stops! Never happened before. Glen pumps the fuel and it starts again, but only for a moment, then stops again. Oopsy! Out comes the tank. Nope, still enough fuel there. Then we get out a spare fuel line and that does the trick. Hmm, looks like the underfloor fuel line has a problem. Lucky we had a spare. And it makes us realise how vulnerable we are when out in the dinghy in a remote area. Well, in this case we did have oars … but it would have been a lot of paddling. Not to mention by that stage the tide was rushing out, very hard to row against 2kts of current.

Back at Cloudy it’s mid-afternoon and our solitude in this sunny peaceful place means my bath tub comes out. Well, not a real bath tub … something maybe even better. A blow up paddling pool the depth and size of a big bath tub. It was Glen’s answer to “I want a boat with a bath tub!” So he blows it up on the aft deck and fills with hot water as I make lunch. Soon we are both in, with a picnic table IN the pool between us, and our lunch on it. Now this is like super yacht luxury! We could just do with a couple of stewards to serve us drinks… no, actually we are happy to have this moment totally to ourselves.
After lunch, Glen gets out to let me have my bath-pleasure: to soak and exfoliate in the afternoon sun. Spa time, as I call it. Now, this is the life. I do miss a good bath session when we are on Cloudy.

Before sunset the water has cooled beyond pleasurable and I’m out. Glen then uses the water to wash ropes, rinse down the dinghy and desalt some of the deck fittings. Nothing is wasted. We then watch a wonderful sunset from the aft deck but again we don’t see the elusive green flash. It seemed like perfect conditions for it today.
The rest of the evening we continue to edit videos, while the wind gradually increases. It was only 6kts this afternoon but by mid evening it’s gusting 18. And with it comes the swell from the deep water, making life inside the boat very uncomfortable. I have to go to bed before I get too sea sick. Yes, it was that bad. Shame, because otherwise it was a perfect day. Glen stays up a while longer, waiting for the milk to cool, it was yogurt-making evening.