Allen Cays, Exumas, Bahamas

A grey start to the day but we were up quite early so we decided we would make an early start to Highborne Cay, our next destination. We needed a few fresh supplies and this was the nearest place with a store and a good staging post for departing for Nassau across the Great Bahama Bank. We could see squalls all around us and opted for just the full genoa on our 20 miles north. We decided to take the Exuma Sound route, much more relaxing sailing and also less swell in these south easterly winds, so we entered the sound through The Wide Opening the widest of the cuts into Exuma Sound lying north of Warderick Wells.

A fairly quiet sail up the Sound, just a couple of motorcruisers around. Sporadic rain but none of the big squalls actually hit. In contrast with The Wide Opening, Highborne Cut was anything but and even though we arrived within 30 minutes of slack water it was still a simmering cauldron of water surrounding the many rocks strewn in the channel. You have to take a zigzag route through the channel before finally passing north or south of the islet at the end which lies directly in the channel. Highborne marina lies just off the side of the cut within the lower half of the H shaped island and I would guess has quite a considerable tidal flow through.

We anchored in the anchorage to the west of the island beside a superyacht and another catamaran. It was fairly blowing now with another squall passing close by and I didn’t really fancy the route back through the cut to the store in our dingy so Kevin got to go. I called them on the VHF as this is a private island to make sure it was open and check we were okay to come ashore. The marina is $1.95 - $2.50 per foot (£46 - £60 per night for us) making it one of the most expensive in the Bahamas. I guess we should have realised the effect on store prices. Kevin reported the marina to be very well built but fairly empty and the store to be immaculate but nothing was priced. There were tame nurse sharks in the marina and about half a dozen locals just sat around the entrance. I think it was our most expensive shopping so far – 2 loaves of bread $13, 8 beers $32.

Invincible at south Allans Cay anchorage

We decided as the anchorage was very rolly that we might move to Allen Cay. Our pilot book was so in favour of the marina that it briefly mentions an anchorage at Allen Cay but suggests if you want to see the resident iguanas that you should take you dinghy the 5 miles and moor in the marina. When we looked at the charts there is a north and south Allen’s Cay both formed into a horse shoe shape with the open ends opposite forming two very well protected anchorages – though obviously the advertising for these does not pay in the pilot book. We motored round the reef between Highborne and Allen’s Cay and took the southern anchorage to ourselves. The northern already had two yachts anchored but there was certainly room for more. It is a stunning location, secluded, uninhabited, ringed by beaches and wonderfully clear water.

Kevin feeds the iguanas

When in Allen Cay you have to go an see the resident iguanas which are believed to have existed throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean but are now on the endangered list having been a speciality for Arawak Indians and since then their habitats have been reduced by development especially along the beaches. We took the dingy in and were soon surrounded by about 10 iguanas of varying age and with red jowls. They do look quite fearsome and you are told if you wish to feed them it should be fruit or vegetables and you need to watch out for biting. Needless to say by now, Kevin went ashore with the lettuce and I took the camera.

Range of iguanas at Allens Cay

They didn’t seem very impressed with our offerings to be honest, but like on Big Majors Cay with the pigs, there was a resident gull population more than ready to pick up the scraps. I am not sure what their usual food is but they looked fairly well fed anyway and the range of young and old even on this tiny scrap of a southern cay is quite encouraging. We didn’t walk ashore, as the sand dunes behind the beach is apparently where they nest and these can easily be damaged by walking.

Ready to pounce on unsuspecting fingers

A pleasant afternoon, a few other boats came in, a couple of diving charter boats and a small motor boat from Florida with a young couple aboard that shared our anchorage overnight.