After one night, we decided to leave Compass Cay anchorage. It just never felt right from the moment we arrived. Even though it looked good on the chart, the usable part of the anchorage was actually very small. There was a lot of boat traffic in and out of the marina on one side, and a long sandbar on the other. When you got far enough away from the boat traffic so as not to be bounced around constantly by wakes, you were too close to the sandbar. There was a strong reversing current as well, causing the boat to travel all the way around the anchor when the tide changed – nerve wracking to begin with, but particularly so in a narrow anchorage where there were jet skis, water skiers, tube riders, and go-fast tour boats. It didn’t help that the one other boat in the anchorage blasted Latin music at top volume all night long. So, we pulled up anchor in the morning and decided to head for Cambridge Cay a few miles north. We had met another cruising couple when we ate dinner at Lorraine’s our last night at Black Point, and they highly recommended Cambridge.

Cambridge Cay is back inside the 22-mile-long “Exuma Land and Sea Park”. It was a bit of a winding route to get into where the anchorage and mooring field is located, but absolutely worth the effort. When we came into the anchorage we saw one mooring ball empty (the last available one of 14). No sooner had we tied up, when a small boat pulled up and “Chuck” very warmly greeted us. He made sure we had tied up OK and told us a little about the place. Chuck and his wife Carmen, who came by a little later, are the caretakers of the mooring field and provide very helpful advice and maps for all there is to see and do in the immediate area. They were wonderful. What a difference a day makes!

The scenery here is gorgeous. There are many snorkeling sites and a number of trails to hike on the island. There is also a nearby sandbar where all the people in the anchorage meet for a social hour each evening. We had some lunch and then got in Poltergeist to do some exploring. Our first stop was the south end of the island to a place called “Honeymoon Beach”. It was a beautiful white sand beach in another Gilligan’s Island type setting.

Next, we took the dinghy to one of the nearby snorkeling spots. Tommy got in the water first to make sure we could swim against the current and see if we had anchored Poltergeist in a good spot. After getting a good look at some colorful soft coral, he got back in the dinghy and it was Paula’s turn. We both enjoyed this a lot (featured picture).

After that we went back to the boat and rested. Paula prepared an early dinner of rotini pasta with thawed sausage, meatball, and vegetable sauce so we’d have plenty of time to get to the sandbar for social hour. As we arrived, there were multiple the dinghies lined up along the edge of the sandbar. We enjoyed the social hour very much and were able to meet people from as close as Rock Hall, and as far away as London. Puffy clouds and a motorized kite glider flew overhead. The group of about 15 or so boaters from the anchorage stayed and chatted until the sun had set. Then everyone took off in the dusk. The little dinghies and their stern lights were reminiscent of fireflies streaking all over the darkened anchorage as folks returned to their boats.