Day 262, Tuesday March 11th

Day 262, Tuesday March 11^th

Dawson coming to a dead end

Very clean swamp

We set off early for a kayak paddle up the southern branch of the Mangrove swamps (hardly swamps though as the water is clear and beautiful).  We took one arm of the stream in the hopes of a short cut but it backfired and came to a dead end.  We retraced our steps and took the charted route.  Yesterday in another area of the interlocking streams we had been able to connect some branches of the streams that the charts had said were dry, so we had thought we might be lucky again, but did not happen!

Julie's green toes and very shallow at low tide water

Out to the big water again and found the correct entrance to the arm of the swamp that would reach the Atlantic (Exuma Sound) side of the island.  With all the turns the trip was about an 8kms round tour plus the extra kms. that had backfired on us.  Luckily the winds were not high as we were against the current and the wind so it was a bit of work to get to the other side, but after about 2 hours of paddling we were rewarded with a beautiful spot on the beach all to ourselves.  The last 500 meters we pulled the kayaks as with low tide there was only about an inch or 2 of stream.

Time to tow the kayaks

We have been surprised at the lack of wildlife in these streams.  Previous explorations in similar conditions have provided lots of turtles and rays along with fish, but both yesterday and today we only found a few fish and baby sharks along the way.

Once at the beach, Julie worked on her tan, while Dawson hiked along the debris line.  Sadly there is plastic which is brought in with the storms up high on the beach.  This is very common.  None of it is local litter and it is all plastic which does not decompose.  We all need to think seriously about our plastic usage.

Dawson towing last 500 meters

We have our picnic lunch, and frolic in the beautiful inviting waters.  This is the first time that we have been that there are no people, nor do we expect to see any people.  Generally there are other cruisers around.

We head back to the mothership as it is about 2:30 now and we have at least an hour or 2 paddle to get back.  Our swim was refreshing.  We have not been swimming a lot as the salt water is often not as inviting as we are used to, as we have been spoiled by the Great lakes which are fresh water.  Normally we only swim if we are going snorkelling.

The paddle back was lovely as we had both wind and current working with us.  We were able to shave a good 30 minutes off of our travel time.

Exuma sound side

Back at the boat, we prepped for the next days sail by deflating the kayaks and hoisting the dinghy.  A few games, dinner and off to bed for another lovely day.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson