Working Around A Rain Delay

Cambridge Cay  

Mother Nature sounded the alarm at 4:00 am. It was raining, and it was raining hard. Barry was getting a shower through the open ports on his side of the master. We sprung up from bed to quickly close everything that was open -- seven ports and four windows, spread across three levels. Heat lightning was illuminating the anchorage, but we did not hear any thunder. I easily went back to sleep for a few hours, but Barry said he stayed awake and watched it pour. I finally crawled out of bed to a gray and still morning. There was barely a ripple on the water. The sky began to brighten and a little blue crept in along the horizon. Barry went out on the upper deck and drained six inches of water from the dinghy before we lowered it into the water. We were looking forward a long dinghy ride in the calm sea state. Turns out it was the calm before the (next) storm. Thankfully I checked the weather radar to see that Round 2 was quickly approaching. Our adventures would endure another rain delay. I went into the commissary and gathered items to restock our galley pantry. It is hard to believe, but we're running low on green beans.   

By 1:30 we had a window to go ashore. We hit low tide perfectly and had hop out and drag the dinghy 200 yards to shore in the calf-deep water. We found the well-defined trail that we've transited many times and started across the island. Several odd plants lined the path, including bushes loaded with a variety of pears and a three-foot tall cactus. We have seen several species of cactus here in The Bahamas, but the sight of them still boggles my mind as being out of place. From the highest point on the trail, we got our first view of Bell Rock. Some say that it resembles an inverted teacup, with the eroded archway forming the handle.

For a while the sun came out and the clouds were minimal. It was another picture perfect day in the Exumas. We walked in the surf and spotted a myriad of interesting objects: a piece of dead brain coral, a sea urchin, a nest of snails that resembled Easter eggs, a prehistoric fossil in the rocks, and a sea biscuit with an interesting star design on top. We are in the national park so the rule is "Take only pictures, leave only footprints."

The shore was quite rocky, but the water was exceptionally clear. We met another couple on the beach and spent a while chatting with the Catalina owners from Arkansas. Clouds began to thicken once more and we cut short our planned climb to the highest peak. There were a few showers once we were back aboard Crossroads, but no downpours. I tried my best to keep up with the basketball tournaments, but really miss being able to watch live action. I fixed pizzas for dinner that tasted really good. I'll have to try them again soon to work on my artistic impression scores and use up all the partial containers of leftover ingredients. The clouds were still thick and low as we closed the book on this last official day of winter.