Rolling With The Tide

Cambridge Cay  

The operating hours at the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park are governed more by the tide than the sun. Yesterday, we entered the park at high tide and explored the sand bar and beach at low tide. Today's activities were also tide-dependent. A visit to Rachel's Bubblebath is best done at high tide, which today was at 7:00 am. After a quick breakfast, we loaded in to the dinghy and headed out to the northern tip of Compass Cay. We anchored in the surf and proceeded to walk upstream toward Exuma Sound. Along the way we were treated to the sight of small mangroves growing in the tidal flats and a ray swimming along with us.

A short walk though knee-deep water and across some rocky areas led us to our destination. The Bubblebath is a calm lagoon separated from the Sound by a thin rock ledge. When the tide is high, the waves spill over the rocks into the lagoon and creates a bubblebath effect. I ventured out and enjoyed a dip for a few wave cycles. The walk back to the dinghy was one of the prettiest we've had here in The Bahamas ... and we were the only ones in sight. 

It was a great morning. The wind was low and the seas were calm. We took the long way back to Crossroads, but were still home by 10:00. We found her riding nicely on the mooring ball. Soon thereafter our friends from Untethered arrived and anchored a bit in front of us. We said hello and planned to visit the Sea Aquarium together. It is best viewed at low tide and slack current so we had a few hours to wait.

After lunch we went to the northern tip of O'Briens Cay, tied the dinghies to the mooring and jumped in. We were not disappointed and saw plenty of colorful coral and a rainbow assortment of fish dashing in and out.

The pictures don't do the area justice. It was a great experience. We could have stayed much longer, but we had another destination that was also best viewed at low tide. Time was ticking away. We followed in the wake of the Untethered crew to Rocky Dundas. This was a new experience for us and we were fortunate to have Richard and Kelly give us some pointers. Without them, we would have been too chicken to pull up to this steep rock face. The current was pretty strong and the water churned up by the wakes of passing fast-movers, but we hopped in and went for it.

Rocky Dundas is a hidden cave that is accessible only by swimming under a ledge (which is exposed at low tide). Once through the opening you're inside a large, open cavern. A hole in the "roof" allows in ample sunlight. Stalactites reach down from the ceiling and stalagmites rise up from the floor. All of the rock surfaces are covered in a colorful algae. This was an amazing experience we'll never forget. It was an unexpected treat to be able to spend the afternoon with them. We gathered aboard Untethered to relive the day and watch the sunset.