Between the Majors to Warderick Wells to Shroud Cay to Nassau (via Highbourne Cay)
May 10, 11, and 12, 2022
Lailia is our home. When our alternator is not working, the motor will not charge our batteries to provide power for our refrigerator, lights and water pump. If we are motoring, we also need battery power for our navigation instruments like our Garmin and our autopilot. We also need power to run the windlass, which pulls up our anchor.
At anchor we can usually generate enough power using solar and wind, but that’s not guaranteed (we have had some cloudy and windless days). We have our gas-powered generator, too.
While John is very handy there is only so much he can do on Lailia with the tools that we have. We decided to go to Nassau; we can get the alternator bench tested and either repaired or replaced there. This is a very big change of plans for us as we had hoped to go east to Eleuthera.
Much of this trip was through the Land and Sea Park which has no wifi.
May 10: Warderick Wells
We stopped in Warderick Wells on our way south but were not able to get the dinghy and motor in the water because it was so rolly. This time the weather was great and we were able to walk on some trails through the park.
The trails here are fairly well-marked but because we got here after the park office closed, we had no maps. The terrain is pretty rough with lots of uneven ground. We turned back on several trails because we did not have the right shoes.
John made it to the top of the Davis Ruins trail – I chose to protect my knee and stop at the halfway point.
I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of a hutia – this rodent only lives in the Bahamas and is considered vulnerable to extinction. They are about as large as a muskrat or groundhog.
May 11: Shroud Cay (anchored)
It’s a short hop from Warderick to Shroud. Both of the these cays are in the Land and Sea Park, so no wifi. While I love the idea of no wifi, it leaves us a bit vulnerable because we can’t get updated weather reports. We checked the weather before we left the Majors to get a sense of what was forecasted but we had no up-to-date information.
We wanted to spend more time on the dinghy trail here. Although we did not see as many turtles this time, it’s just such a lovely place with calm water that’s incredibly clear.
We tied the dinghy to some mangroves and John jumped in to snorkel for a bit. He was able to swim with a few turtles.
We were way back on that trail, looking down at the beautiful water and trying to spot more turtles when I looked up and saw lots of clouds rolling in. All of the big sky with no reference points makes determining distance difficult but it definitely was coming our way.
The water outside the mangroves was very choppy but we were able to get our dinghy hauled up and secured. That giant cloud bank never dropped any rain on us although we did get some rain as the evening progressed.
When we originally arrived at this anchorage there were a large handful of boats. It felt a bit disconcerting to see many of the boats leave as squalls were coming in, especially when we could not get any weather info. Those boats that left may have had plans to travel that had nothing to do with the weather but it certainly felt eerie.
Our night in Shroud Cay was pretty rolly due to those squalls coming from the north – we did not have great protection from that direction. Dramamine helps me sleep in these conditions.
May 12: Shroud to Highbourne Cay to Nassau (docked)
We got lucky. The wind and the water calmed – no rolls, no chops, no waves. We could see the bottom through 20 feet of water.
We couldn’t sail with no wind but motoring was very pleasant. We went north to Highbourne Cay. When we were last here it was rolly and a bit unpleasant. Not so this time – the water was gorgeous and calm.
Since we were out of the Land and Sea Park we were able to get a weather forecast. We could see that Friday would be rainy so we decided to go directly to Nassau. We followed the tracks we made in April.
The Exumas Banks are shallow – most of the time the depth is 20 feet or less. The calm water allowed us to see the bottom and it was pretty barren. There were some rocks and few spots with sea grass but there’s a lot of sand. We spotted a few starfish and maybe five fish the entire way. This was not what I thought was happening under the surface.
Close to Nassau we saw what we think is a bunch of smoke. We have no idea what this was – it disappeared about 15 minutes later. There was nothing on the VHF about it and we did not see any rescue-type boats there.
We have returned to the marina where we stayed in early April. We were lucky enough to meet up with boat friends who are leaving to head back to Florida tomorrow, so we had one last Bahamas dinner with them.
There’s a list of tasks we hope to accomplish here in Nassau – getting the alternator tested and fixed is the highest priority. My phone has died and I hope I can get an unlocked phone here – right now I am using an old, cracked-screen phone that also functions as a hotspot so I can’t text or use Signal/WhatsApp (which is how we talk to our friends and family). We’ll get laundry done (one washer in the marina is currently working!), provision, and I am going to run the dehumidifier. In between, we get some Starbucks and some ice cream, too (*since we’re here).
Life on Lailia 
Good luck!!
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