Hawksnest Cay, Berry Islands, Bahamas

 Before I start with the fun, I'd like to send out the best of wishes to Ed and Cathy as Ed recuperates from his open heart surgery yesterday in Jacksonville!

In the morning, Cerca Trova called on the VHF saying they were headed our way from a few miles south - and would we like to join them for a snorkel.  Sure!  They appeared around the cay shortly and anchored near us.

 

And off we both went in search of a spot to snorkel that a buddy had told them about.

 

But we looked and looked - could not locate the coral....but it was a pretty place.

 

Lots of birds - we had heard them cawing in the night last night - and now we see why.  There appears to be a rookery of some nature on the small island with hundreds of these dark birds.

 

We gave up on snorkeling and went back to the boats.  Sails up for a 9 mile trip north to the wide open bay near the airport on Great Harbour Cay.

 A few years ago when we were on the other side of Great Harbour Cay, I'd really wanted to explore the "shark creek" - a tidal creek that crosses the island.  But the winds had us pinned down and it's complicated by the fact that you MUST go near high tide.  But this time everything was right for exploration!  Into the dinghies with Jennifer and Royce.

 

We are a couple of hours before high tide, so we had to briefly pull the dinghies along the sandbar.  With the rising tide, this area will be deeper when we return.

 

Beautiful going into a little tributary in the mangrove.

 

Just exploring the peaceful creek.

 

From above I could see a moving shadow - sticking my camera under the water gave a nice shot of this turtle.

 

The mangrove started to close in....very shallow - Duane had the dinghy motor tilted up so we didn't scrub bottom.

 

Cerca Trova was wondering if we should continue!

 

 

After about a half hour, we came to the opening on the other side of the island.  Time to turn around as the tide was about at it's highest and we needed to make sure we could get back over the sandbar.

 

On the way back I saw another shadow - this time got an up-close shot of the turtle.  Doesn't look real does it?

 

So peaceful!

 

And near the mouth of the creek I did spot a baby shark!

 We attempted a visit to the little beach bar for a cold beverage but they were closed.  Back to Sojourn for an early night.