We had a hard time with the title for today’s post. Our chosen anchorage for today, and likely the next several days, is officially referred to as “Top of the Majors”. We are anchored in a cluster of five islands – Big Majors, Little Majors, Fowl Cay, Gaulin Cay, and Staniel Cay. Our specific spot for the moment is just to the east of Gaulin and Fowl Cays and in between the two Majors. The forecast for tomorrow night through to Thursday afternoon is for moderate to strong winds from SW to NW and a squall coming through on Wednesday. While the far more popular destinations in this part of the Exumas are the west side of Big Majors and the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, both of those are totally exposed in any West wind and are noted to be very uncomfortable (Staniel Cay Yacht Club will even ask docked boats to leave if a heavy west wind is forecast). What we didn’t expect is just how beautiful this anchorage would be. We mainly came here for refuge from the west wind and not scenery, but the place is stunning. For the moment, it’s only us and one other boat but we expect that to change sometime tomorrow.

Despite having become somewhat accustomed to the beautiful clear blue water here in the Bahamas, the approach to today’s anchorage seemed majestic and alien. During the approach, we saw mega yachts and mega sailboats anchored in front of mangrove and limestone islands and outcroppings. The differing depths of the water showed in the colored bands radiating from the cays and rocks- deep blue, aquarmarine, greenish-blue over grassy bottoms, and nearly clear/white in the shallows. Our path past the popular anchorages was narrow and periodically full of sudden currents, heralded by short standing waves in our path. Rocky cuts around us held out the promise of a short-cut, but at a price- one could see the water coursing in rapid streams through the narrow rock-bound channels.

Once through this tricky part, the anchorage opened up into a wide expanse of semi-arid beauty. The primary boundaries of the anchorage are limestone rock populated with mangroves and some small trees, and thatch palm. Two fishes swam curiously around our boat- Tommy thinks they were yellow-tail snappers. We anchored and then re-anchored to make sure we were situated in no less than 6 feet of water no matter how we spun on the anchor.

We took a quick swim (the water was 76.8 F) and then motored around in Poltergeist, visiting one of the sandy beaches-most are rocky. Here we got a great view of the anchorage with C Ghost looking happy to be here (featured picture – C Ghost in the middle).

Back at C Ghost, Paula tried her casting rod with some good quality raw shrimp. We had trolled previously while on the bank with a squid lure, but no takers. Suddenly there was a jerk, and the shrimp, hook, and some line were gone. We could make out a few sleek, black shapes in the water, no bigger than catfish-sized. A second shrimp enticed these same fish to encircle the hook, but before we could identify them, they darted away. Maybe next time.

By now it was almost dinner time. Since the wind was light, Tommy grilled steaks, and we had them with shrimp souse and rotini with parmesan cream sauce. We also finished off the Johnnycake (sigh). Paula may bake more tomorrow if all is calm.