Great Guana Key Cave

Thursday, May 30





This morning I hold my friends on the S/V Full Deck, John and Barbara, that I was planning on heading south. When they expressed an interest in going to see the really cool cave mid-island from Oven Rock that I had mentioned I was stopping at, I changed my plans to remain on the hook one more day in the lovely Black Point anchorage. We convinced Scott and Heather on the S/V Simpatico to join us for the adventure, and we were all off in the Whaler, leaving the three bigger boats nestled in the great holding sand anchorage of Black Point.







We followed the coast close in, enjoying its rocky, craggy shoreline, with overhanging rocks, and interspersed with gorgeous sandy beaches. We ran in relatively protected water, in spite of the 20kt wind that was blowing out of the SE.










Not the cavern, just a recess along the coast


We anchored just to the north of Oven Rock. Sandy, or one of the storms in the past year has moved a lot of sand around. All the sand was gone from the beach inside Oven Rock, making it a little difficult for me to locate the trail up to the cave. With partners in adventure, however, we quickly located the trail, and walked up to the inland cavern whose slopes drop to a water filled lagoon.





It is hard to imagine that, in the middle of the island, in the side of this rocky hill, there would be a cavern with stalactites, stalagmites, and columns in a room that drops down to a cool, clear salt water grotto. John, Scott, and I snorkeled around the backside of the huge rocky area in the center of the cavern, and with our dive lights could look down into the depths of an underwater cave. It was spectacular. It is always fascinating to me to see cave decorations underwater, since they are formed by the sediment deposits from water dripping in a dry cave.





For boaters following the blog, and wishing to find the cave, go to Little Farmer's Cay town dock, and ask for Dino, and he can guide you to this fantastic cave.





After enjoying the cavern, we continued on to the east side of the island, to look for sea beans on the exposed shoreline. Barbara found three heart beans, while John, Scott, Heather, and I pretended to play with Mercy-dog while we hunted unsuccessfully for beans. Mercy was ecstatic to romp the beach with friends who were keeping her entertained.





It is really amazing all the junk that washes ashore, and is littered along the beaches. I understand why international laws prohibit the dumping of plastics at sea. There are bottle caps, plastic containers, shoes, (yep, always!) line, toys, bags, and anything else made of plastic that you can imagine.





We trekked back across the island to the anchored Whaler, and decided, since we were so close, to go visit Little Farmer's Cay. Dino greeted us as we entered the basin of the gov't dock, helped us tie up, and was quickly showing us his latest huge shell collection. He said he'd make us some fresh conch salad, and we hired him for the task. We all wandered up to Ali's bar to say "hi" to my friends from last year and enjoy a cold drink. Then we returned to the dock, and watched Dino fix the conch salad from pulling it from the water, to ready to eat. (We took it back to the boat to eat it, however.)







Black Point, Exumas, Bahamas





The harbor there is full of rays and turtles that are fun to watch swimming. Dino showed us an octopus he had captured, and had penned.





We ran back to Black Point almost point to point, which made for a rougher ride than in the morning, but the seas were on our stern, so it wasn't too bad. We munched conch salad on the Simpatico.





I don't know how the guys had enough energy to go ashore to watch a Miami Heat game, but, I pretty much chilled for the evening.