Hawksbill to Shroud (a less than 4 mile trip)

There wasn't even time to roll out the jib (plus we needed to make some hot water and boost the batteries a bit) as we headed to Shroud on Tuesday morning. We found several open moorings in the mooring field and were ready to swim and adventure ashore right after lunch. Patrick found a sharksucker lurking under the boat during his morning swim and got a few good pictures of it. We also discovered we could just hold the camera underwater while cruising around in the dinghy and get some decent pictures!

Patrick's sharksucker is top left, note the conch shell in the crevice lower right. I caught the snub tailed ray on a trip to shore and didn't see the bar jack until I put it on the computer. We wondered what happened to it's tail.

High tide was around 4 pm, so we took the two kayaks into the lagoon off our anchorage while we waited for our trip through the mangroves to the windward side of the island. Patrick and Dan pedaled their way as far as the shallows would let them while Rose, Betty and I adventured on the beach, there was lots more to see here and we were amazed at the number of tiny shells that lined to the high tide line.

The lagoon at Shroud is a nursery for mangroves, note the sprouts next to Patrick. The old conch we found was sporting a funny "hairdo" of growth.

The trip to the north end and up the "river" is always amazing, so Andiamo decided to join us. We split up, I went with John and Betty to even the dinghies. We were surprised to find several other dinghies there and many people swimming on the ocean side of the island. We joined them for a bit and then headed up to Camp Driftwood on the highest point of land. Reportedly the original inhabitant was a hermit who built a shack out of driftwood and then the story continues that the FBI stationed a "watch " there to keep an eye on drug traffic on Norman's Cay. The view from the top was spectacular.

It was a beautiful calm day and the swimming on the windward side was amazing.

We all hiked to the top of the hill at Camp Driftwood to see the view.

The top shows the winding river leading to the windward side of Shroud and the bottom shows the view from Camp Driftwood. There is nothing left of the structure, just a flat site and a cairn marking the spot.

Tomorrow we head back to Nassau to avoid some "weather " that is due on Thursday. ~~~_/)~~~ M&D, P&R